Lost Doggy.

Not ours! Poor thing though.

We were driving back to my mom's house with Jonah, having just picked him up from our version of doggie day care - my dad's house.

As we rounded a long curve down a hill, a fluffy white dog darted in front of our car. We slammed on the brakes and didn't hit it, but it looked like it had been recently groomed and may have had a collar and we were concerned about it.

We got to Mom's, crated Jonah, grabbed treats and a towel and went back out, hoping to find the dog again. If it had a collar, then it belonged to someone and maybe we could prevent it from being hit. God knows if Jonah ever got out, we'd pray for someone to do the same for him (and that is why his collar with his identifying tag stays on at all times, the only exception being bathtime and why I need to take the bell off Barney's collar and put it back on him).

We found him again, again in a near miss, only with a different car. Dog was running back and forth across the road, in a really bad place. It would be really easy to hit him blindly - a lot of deer get hit out on that stretch of road. It took some coaxing, and he ran away twice, and it was clear he was not, in fact, wearing a collar.

(Inserting a note to say - we aren't foolish. Had the dog shown any sign of injury or aggression in any way, we'd have been out of there and on the phone with animal control. We have no desire to pen a terrified or angry dog or risk rabies ourselves.)

In the end, DH was able to get close enough to hold out a treat, and the dog responded immediately - sitting down and waiting to receive it. It was perfectly clear that he had been owned before, and recently. We bundled him in a towel and returned to my mom's house. He was perfectly patient and quiet. No aggressive moves, no noise, just waiting and watching. We settled him into the garage and waited with him, observing him for awhile. He was clearly housebroken, had been groomed within the past three months (he appeared to be a poodle mix - his hair was long and shaggy, and the back end was terribly matted and dirty, but it still held the shape of a good grooming), and was used to being inside. He settled right down on a towel and pretty much stayed there. He enjoyed attention and petting, and ate. He appeared well fed and showed no signs of hunger or starvation (he ate the food we gave him, but slowly).

We think he was dumped. Despite being fed, he was too matted to have been well cared for until recently (as if he had just escaped or something). He was so trusting and sweet. Bless his heart.

We took him to the humane society this morning. We don't know if he is perhaps lost after all. Or if he might be ill. And certainly we couldn't keep him. And I think we did the right thing, rescuing him - after all, he's clearly socialized to people and trusting, was dodging into traffic and likely to be hit, and it was also below freezing last night. But I still feel a little bad for that poor dog.

This morning, he was more outgoing, and friendly. He wagged his tail and licked at us, grinned at us and was very reluctant to leave DH's side. He was terrified by the car (reinforcing our opinion that he was dumped), but relieved when we let him out and took him to the shelter. I so very much hope someone adopts him and loves on him because he deserves it.