Fritz - A Stray Dog Saga

Once upon a time, Papillon, Marge and I went for our traditional morning walk. As always, it started off fairly uneventfully. The sun was shining, Marge was whining at squirrels and Papillon was staring skeptically at the world going by.

As we crested a hill at about the halfway point of our walk, we saw a small dog, prancing around in the road. I looked about for a human to which it might belong, but saw no one. Since it was a friendly looking dog (and since I am perpetually haunted by the time I did not investigate a small stray dog and ended up letting my neighbors Yorkie escape) I went over to see if it had a collar.

It had a collar, but no name tag or contact info. Which I took to mean that it had an owner, but was definitely lost. I debated what to do, and thought perhaps it was best to let it find its own way home, but then it started following me. (Perhaps it wanted to be friends with Marge?).

It followed me about halfway home and then started to stray. Well, at that point I couldn't not try and help the poor thing. So I made a make shift leash and brought it home with me. On the way home, I determined to call him/her Fritz. It seemed to fit.

While Papillon napped, I made some "Found" signs for Fritz that I intended to hang up later that day. Unfortunately, while Papillon napped, Fritz slipped under our fence and walked away. Even though I saw her escape and offered her treats to come back in, she would have none of it. And I knew the only way to get her back was to actually pick her up, and I didn't feel like getting that close to a some what dirty looking stray.

A wave of guilt washed over me as Fritz disappeared around the corner...heading towards a very busy road. That guilt haunted me for quite a few hours as I wondered if perhaps she would have been better off if I had never coaxed her back to my house.

But then, just as suddenly as the guilt set in, it vanished and by the time I had gotten Papillon down for her 2nd nap, the guilt was gone. I had moved on.


Fritz, however, had not. As I sat guilt free, typing at my computer, I heard something rattle our fence. I looked out to see Fritz, wriggling back under the fence into the back yard.

By this time, I knew that I wouldn't have time to put up posters that day, and I wasn't upon to keep this on-again, off-again friendly pup for too many days. So I determined that the best course of action would be to return Fritz to where I found her. If she could find my house after only one visit and hours and wandering, I felt confident she could find her way home.

Before we dropped her off, we took a little video of her. Isn't she sweet?

As we walked Fritz back to where we found her, we encountered a neighbor who exclaimed "Oh you found her!". Music to my ears - deep down inside, I felt pretty guilty about deciding to abandon Fritz. Turns out it was not that neighbor's dog, Diamond (that was Fritz's real name) belonged to another neighbor, who, while reportedly distressed at Diamond's disappearance was hardly grateful that I returned her. Sketchy.

Oh well. The first neighbor was lovely and glad that I brought the dog back. And I was relieved to know Fritz was home again. Our dog rescuing day was over...or so I thought.

The very next morning I actually rescued another neighbors dog. This was a little less complicated cause I knew this dog. Dolce is this little terrior's name (the one I had previously let escape...they found him a couple days later that time). As Dolce trotted past my house, I dashed out and grabbed him. Walking him back to his house and promptly returning him to my grateful neighbor.

I was glad to help in that case.
But seriously, my dog rescuing days are done for a while.
I saw a stray lab that same day, and turned the other way.
Sorry sad pet owners looking for your lab. I can't help. I get waaay to emotionally involved in these rescues and they are waaaay to complicated when you have a baby (and a dog) to look out for.

Disclaimer for all the concerned parents/grandparents: Don't fret, I wouldn't try and approach the lab anyway, I know better than to take my beagle and my baby close to a large stray dog. We went immediately home upon seeing the lab. Fritz was clearly friendly, and his legs were so short, I could easily out run him even with Papillon in the sling if I needed to. And Dolce I had met...so I knew he was not a threat. So in summary. Don't fret. I generally do keep my good sense about me.