my "humans suck" post of the week

this morning as i was leaving for work, a gigantic chocolate lab came bounding toward me. he was a friendly dog who clearly had a home, so i reached out for his collar to read it. he ducked when i reached to pet his head like he was afraid i was going to hit him. i hate it when dogs do that. makes me want to beat their owners.

his tag said "Miles." had a phone number.

i put Miles in our back yard and called the phone number. a man picks up the phone (sounded like a cell). i said, "hi. i have your dog." the man, clearly irritated, responds, "where do you live?" i gave him the major cross streets and he responded, "okay, i will have my wife come and get him." he doesn't ask my name, my phone number, my address - nothing. i told him to call me back on my cell phone number, and he hung up on me.

jerk. as if i get paid to rescue dogs for a living. i have a job to get to, too. and i know exactly where MY dog is (at that moment, i'm sure she had crawled into the still-warm-yet-forbidden bed and was actively shedding all over my pillow).

J was in the house sleeping after working last night and i felt genuinely bad for him because i knew that the min-ute that valkyrie (our 20lb miniature pinscher) discovered that there was another Dog in her backyard she would go nuts. which she did, all morning long, according to J, who called me groggy around lunch.

unfortunately, J also told me that Miles dug out of our back yard at the gate and was gone.

this sucks for a handful of reasons, including that we just paid a pretty penny to have that fence put up and we're going to have to fill that hole in so that valkyrie doesn't get out. also, i was kind of hoping that the guy didn't call me back and we could keep the dog. it was such a nice dog, and based upon my 30-second conversation with his owner i'd convinced myself that these people didn't deserve the dog, anyway.

so i called the number back and no one picked up. i left a snippy voicemail indicating that this was the person who had their dog calling again, and no one ever called me back about him, and now the dog has dug out of the fence and we no longer have him, but call me if you have questions.

i hope Miles comes back, or i hope he finds someone who loves him, or at the very least finds his way home without meeting disaster. if valkyrie got out and someone called us to let us know that they had her, i certainly wouldn't let 3 or 4 hours pass with no contact--i'd be right over there. before she yipped them to death.

people are such jerks. i hope the dog is safe.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep

But I have promises to keep, 

And miles to go before I sleep, 

And miles to go before I sleep.