Busy Day

[nekosensei]

Today was also a fairly productive day. Let's see...I went grocery shopping, took a 3.5 mile walk, graded (eek!), and did some weeding outside. doomsey went for a short walk this evening, and when he got back, he told me that he saw this little blonde dog following him around. He noticed that it didn't have any tags and he thought it might have been socialized.

I had talked with some of the neighbors previously, and they mentioned that lately, people have been dumping their dogs either in the cemetery or the park by our house. Animal control eventually comes to pick them up and, in the end, they wind up getting put to sleep. My neighbor mentioned that she had seen a black and white dog wandering around the neighborhood. When I was walking past the park a week or so ago, I saw what I thought was a Schnauzer type dog wandering around the parking lot by itself. No one seemed to be watching it. And then, there was this dog.

So...I went outside to see if the dog was on our block, and it was. I tried going after it to see if I could get him corralled and possibly find him a new home. He ended up leading me on a wild goose-chase through my neighborhood. Some neighbors took pity on me and handed me a couple of milk bones to see if I could convince him to come over, but it didn't work. When I did manage to get close to him, he didn't even touch the milk bone I tossed at him. He just sat and barked at me. When I tried to get close, he backed away. I'm wondering if he had been abused by a woman because he seemed to be interested in doomsey when he was out there, but not me. (By this point, doomsey had given up and gone home. I was the only dumbass out there trying to help out this dog). Eventually, I ended up giving up and going back home. The dog didn't seem that social and he probably wouldn't have made a good pet. My guess is that he would have ended up being put to sleep at a shelter anyway. Damn it. I really hate people who just up and abandon pets.

I still have two milk bones. I'm thinking that I'm going to carry them in a pocket or something when I go for my walk. That way, if I see something like this again, I can try to do something about it if the dog is sufficiently socialized.

Comments

[emygination.livejournal.com]

That's funny, because I had a loose dog trailing me today when I went for a walk, too. Unfortunately, my walk already included two dogs who freak out when other dogs are around, so it was decidedly unpleasant. :P

This dog was most likely owned by someone in the neighborhood; it had tags on, and came over from by some of the houses down the street.

It just certainly did NOT make my walk simpler. :P

[mrscake.livejournal.com]

An article in the local paper talked about pets being abandoned in Champaign County around this time of year - some students relinquish them to the Humane Society, but other pets have apparently been left in dumpsters. I thought briefly about trying to take on another dog, but the vet bills from this weekend (almost $500) made me think twice.

[lucy-burb.livejournal.com]

It's frustrating. I fall in love with almost every animal I see!