This is going to be kind of a long post, so go refill your coffee or tea or whatever and make yourself comfortable ..... its a good story!
A week ago Friday, house mate Rich called me at work and said that "Beagle-Boy" was back at the house.... Thought it was the neighbor's beagle that had gotten loose and come down here for the night a month or so ago ..... He took him down to their house, but they were not home, so left a note on the door and brought him back here...... Fast forward to Friday evening, neighbors come home and the fella at my house was not their's .....
.... uh oh!! too late to take him to the vet to be scanned, so we just settled in for the evening.......
he is grown, perfect house manners, knows sit and come.... coat is in great condition... got a collar, but of course, no tag.... obviously someone's pet..... and just a TOTAL LOVE.......
next morning, we are at the vet's office at 8:30 AM and of course, no chip......
..... come on back home and make 4 big poster signs and about 10 smaller signs advertising him..... put the big signs up at entrances to my subdivision and the 3 others that butt up to mine..... put the smaller signs up in various businesses in the area..... our last stop was the gas station / convenience store at the entrance to my subdivision.... the clerk reads my sign and grabs another that someone had left there a couple of weeks ago.... this one has a picture of him and it is the SAME dog.....
.... called the number and find out it is for a neighbor across the street and 2 houses down.... she tells me where his house is and adds that the owner does not really seem to care when the dog goes missing.... has lots of excuses, etc ...... and he has shown up at her house several times since she initially found him a couple of weeks ago....
we go to the owner's house and the following conversation ensues:
me: (showing the guy the older sign with the picture): is this your dog?
dude (dressed and tattoed like a wanna-be gang banger): yeah
me: do you know that he is missing?
dude (so nonchalant it is hard to believe): yeah
me: do you know HOW LONG he has been missing?
dude: nope
me: he has been at my house since noon yesterday!! (it is now noon on saturday)
dude: he climbs the fence, i have a 1 year old kid, blah blah blah
me: he doesn't even have a tag or a chip!!
dude: i just got him, someone gave him to me, i have a 1 year old, do you want to keep him?
me: i can help you find a new home or a beagle rescue for him if you want...
dude: NO! YOU KNOW WHAT!! THATS MY DOG!! WHERE IS HE??
me: he's at my house.....
dude: BRING HIM BACK!! HE'S MY DOG!! I'M GOING TO CALL THE POLICE!! (walks out and takes a picture of Rich's license plate)
me: ok, ok ... give me 5 minutes....
dude: ok... you have 5 minutes and i'm calling the police...
so, go home and load him up and take him back to his house.... dude runs out, snatches my leash off of him and grabs him and runs back into his house.... i have a sick feeling in my stomach.... dude is mumbling something about taking him to his uncle's farm where he can run around with a lot of other beagles.... i offer apologies for being sharp about the lack of id on the dog, but he was having none of THAT.... didn't even thank me for taking his dog in and spending my ENTIRE saturday morning looking for his owner......
later saturday evening, i get a call from one of my other neighbors..... she lives directly behind this guy and also happens to be a vet tech at our vet's office.... she tells me that the dog escapes ALL the time.... she has caught him and taken him home more times than she can count.... when she saw my sign, she knew IMMEDIATELY who it was about..... there is another, larger dog in that household that is VERY aggressive towards beagle-boy.... and beagle boy has lived there since at least last summer.... we talked about him for about a half hour or so and based on the conversation, i was REALLY sick to my stomach for him..... told her next time she saw him loose to bring him to my house.... also called the other neighbor and told her the same because beagle-boy had been to her house several times since she originally found him.....
i was worried worried worried about this little fella.... was hoping that i hadn't inadvertently made his life worse.....
fast forward to wednesday afternoon... get a call from vet tech neighbor that he is loose again.... called rich and sent him out to get him and now beagle boy is safe in my house again..... its day 3 now and the butthead dude has not shown up or otherwise tried to find him .... my signs are still up in the area businesses... the large poster signs fell apart in the nasty weather earlier in the week....
we are calling him james-beagle.... he and dave play well together, although he is less than half of dave's size.... my cats are NOT happy because james wants to play with THEM too and doesn't understand why they won't reciprocate.......
going to take him into the vet later next week when i take bailey in for her annual shots.... will have him vaccinated and chipped and get 6 months of heartguard for him.....
BUT, i am going to have to find another home for him .... as sweet as he is, THREE dogs is just too much for me.... physically and financially.... managed to take all of them for their walk in the park yesterday.... and it was a challenge, to put it lightly.... he is a TYPICAL beagle and on his nose and pulling the whole time..... i am doing a rather long transport today and will have to take him to my friend's house because i don't trust him to NOT climb the fence out of my yard .... and my cats are REALLY unhappy with him.... although i suspect that that situation will calm down eventually, this was their house first and i have to respect their feelings......
SSSSOOOOOOOO .... any of you interested in a sweet, smart, loving, sort of trained beagle-boy?? he snuggles up to my stomach and sleeps with his head on my stomach at night..... wants to be a lap dog and is about small enough for it.... not sure yet how old he is, but will try to get a better idea of that at the vet's office next week..... can probably set up a transport for him if he has to travel.....
will try to get some pictures of him tomorrow and post them.....
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