DeeDoo’s Digital Scrapbooking Blog

We are dog people. We have a house loaded with dogs, big dogs. Really big dogs. A lot of them. Every one of our dogs wandered into our lives without warning, bringing nothing with them but a heart full of love and a very empty belly. We always wonder if someone cast them out, or just tired of trying to work with them. You see, with one exception they are all males, about a year old, and none of them had been neutered. An intact male cannot help himself; he will always be wanting to roam in search of a female. It’s nature. And it’s a recipe for a very lost dog.

It seems few people are interested in taking in a large dog. First, did you see how big he is?!? Did you see the pile of poop he left in the yard?! Did you see the size of the hole he dug next to my favorite mums? And good grief, that bark!! Oh, yeah, and he chews Everything. Oh, and not to forget, he can eat his weight in food if you let him.

All of those observations are true! That’s pretty much what all dogs do, but you notice it a lot more with a big dog. We have cared for ours through all their growing up issues, and things are relatively settled down now.

So of course it’s time for a new fella to appear on the scene. Only this time, he’s a little bitty guy, and good grief he’s a cutie. Just look at him!

Seriously, we don’t go out looking for these dogs, they just appear, usually at our front door. But this little guy was desperate to find someone to love him. Or so it seems. On two separate occasions he ran out into a busy thoroughfare, right in front of my car. The second time he’s lucky my husband was with me, because I didn’t see him.

It was evening rush hour traffic, so I pulled into the neighborhood and was able to coax him to come to me. He wasn’t timid – such an outgoing little fella. I grabbed him up and went looking for his owner. I was just sure he had gotten out of someone’s back yard, someone nearby. However, it turns out he had been in the area ‘for several days’ and the neighborhood kids had been playing with him, but he didn’t belong to anyone and no one was taking him in. It’s hard to believe he made it that long without getting squashed, what with his disregard for busy streets and traffic.

We brought him home and cleaned him up and began the search for his owners. A fruitless search, unfortunately. Although we would love to keep him, we have reached maximum overload here – we had to find him a home, and soon.

What luck that we did find a wonderful place for him with a family that already has one Pom so they are familiar with the pitfalls of owning a small dog. (And there are pitfalls!) Our little guy soon found himself with a new family that wants him. He has a huge, fenced backyard to romp in and a new doggy friend to curl up with at night.

That’s a happy ending to what could have been a pretty sad tale. This little fella was also a male and not neutered, which I’m sure contributed to his lost situation. He had no collar and was not chipped for ID. No one posted fliers looking for him. No one placed a ‘lost’ ad in the paper, wanting him returned. No one responded to our ‘found’ ads. Maybe it’s been so long the owners gave up. But maybe not. Maybe someone dumped him in that neighborhood, counting on someone else to take him in. We’ll never know. But we do know that no one in that neighborhood took pity on him. We do now that he could easily have been killed in traffic. And we do know that because someone with a big heart wanted a second puppy he found a home.

I wish all dogs were this lucky. Please think long and hard before you spend money buying a puppy from an individual or breeder. There are so many lost and abandoned dogs, both purebred and mixed breed, that need homes. And they reward your kindness every single day with their love and affection. You’ll be glad you did.