An amusing afternoon with a lost dog

For some reason, lost dogs keep coming to my door. Literally.

In the past, I used to just shoo them away. Then I realized what a terrible thing I was doing. They were just lost, tired, thirsty and probably very scared - and just looking for some place to rest.

So I was doing pruning my roses in my garden in the afternoon when I see this dog, come running down the pavement path. I gave it a friendly holler and it came bounding up to me like a new found cousin. It had been drizzling for nearly the whole hour - and its fur was wet with rain. It seemed very happy to see me - I couldn't see anyone else around - so I guessed it must be lost.

I checked its dog tag - and called the owner's phone number inscribed on it. But got no reply or message machine.

Hmmm... what to do? I dished out a T-bone (just the bone) which I had salvaged from a dinner I had a few days ago - and gave it to the dog. Its eyes opened wide and gave me this OMG look. And gave it some water to drink.

I guess in its mind - coming to a stranger's home and being treated like royalty - restored its faith in the Almighty. It laid on its back and I gave its rain soaked fur a clean with a rag. It seemed positively ecstactic.

But I still had my pruning to do and I was worried that he'd go running out onto the road. After 30 minutes, I tried calling the owner's phone again - but no reply. So I put him into my backyard - which is fairly large. He didn't like it.

Next minute I hear a yelp. I go running and find the silly dog had attempted to crawl underneath the gate and had got its head stuck underneath the door. And it seemed to be choking. Good god, its going to die and its all my fault.

Bloody great - I just went from Hero to Zero. The dog had this, "FU, I am so screwed now" expression. It just wouldn't budge.

I took out its collar so that it wouldn't choke. Then I opened the gate slightly and tried to nudge it back. But no luck, its head was still stuck. So I went around the back to try and pull it from behind.

To my surprise when I got to the back, it had disappeared. Oh no, and the collar with its ID was in my hands. Now its totally lost.

Thankfully though, it had spotted, or heard its owners who were walking down the street. I see the happy union. They seemed grateful to get the dog back- and didn't go... "Hmm... why is its collar missing? Were you trying to cook it, you....?"