Talk about a crazy way to start a day. My wife and daughter were about to leave the house when I looked out the window and saw a car pull up on the curb behind my car. I took noticed because we always have cars who park there which makes it inconvenient when backing out of our parking spots in our community. Some people will park there for days on end which just frustrates myself and my neighbors. So, I was curious where that person was going to go when they got out of their car.
I was standing well inside our house, but I had a clear view out the front window, past my car, and on to the car on the curb.
As I was watching, I noticed quickly a dog in the car. Then the door opened, which wasn’t unexpected. However, the door seemed to then shut and the car started moving again. When it drove away… there was a dog standing on the grass next to where the car had been.
I ran out the door in time to see the car pull away, but that was it.
The dog looked at me and then started walking around the parked cars seemingly wanting to get into a car. He looked confused.
My wife and I (followed by our daughter) tried to figure out what to do. My wife couldn’t corral the dog, so I put on my shoes and jacket and went to help along with one of our neighbors. At this point, the dog was hiding under another neighbor’s car and was clearly scared.
Of course our neighbor whose car the dog is hidding under comes out to leave for work, so the group of us work to get the dog out from under the car. We first started with starting the car – dog won’t budge. Next the car is slowly backed up (while watching the dog carefully) – dog just follows along, staying underneath. Finally, we get a big rack and encourage the dog to come out from under the car. My wife was able to grab it’s collar without scaring it and then I was able to pick it up.
We decided to put it in our back yard, which is fenced in, until we could figure out what to do next. I noticed it preferred to go up the stairs and sit on our porch than hang out in the grass. I got it some water and then called Animal Services.
I honestly didn’t know what else to do. It turns out it didn’t matter if we took it to a shelter, Animal Control would first be in charge of the animal since it’s considered a “stray” or the simple fact the dog is clearly owned by someone else.
I also put together a flier, with advice from my sister, and posted it on several Facebook lost and found pets pages. I conversed with a few people online who were trying to help. I even talked to a man who was missing a very similar animal, though a good distance away from us, though in the same county (it turns out it wasn’t their pet who may have been spotted today).
But what gets me is someone would just drive into a neighborhood, drop an animal off, and drive off. I understand that maybe the person couldn’t have the dog for any reason. I get that leaving the dog in our neighborhood might have been a sign that they hoped someone could care for it (versus leaving it in the woods or a field or something). I just hope it wasn’t for malice reasons like to punish someone else.
I also can’t believe I watched the whole thing happen right in front of our house.
The dog eventually came in our kitchen which I cordoned off with baby gates (we still have ours!). I heard it cry a few times, but I didn’t know what to do. If I wasn’t up to my forehead with work, I would have tried to hang out with it more. Just when I was going to try and give it some treats, my wife came home and then Animal Services arrived.
The dog had no microchip. And since it didn’t have an ID on the collar… we didn’t know who it belonged to.
Here’s the hard part: my wife and daughter clearly fell in love with the dog even though my daughter saw it all of a few minutes. The dog looks like a stuff animal my daughter loves, the dog was dropped off in front of our house, we found and cared for it, it was wearing a collar that had a somewhat specific tie to our family, it’s hypoallergenic (cockapoo) which is huge for my wife, and he clearly started to be comfortable with our company.
My wife went to Animal Services to check on the dog and I suspect to put a deposit down on adopting him. But she found that someone had already staked a claim to adopt the little guy… within an hour of him arriving. Incredible.
So at least this dog will have a nice home to go to because I know if anything happens with the current adoption, that guy is coming to our house.
In the meantime to the person who abandoned him in front of my house: the least you could have done was take him to a shelter or Animal Services. Hopefully this little dog isn’t scared the rest of his life just to get into a car.
If you want to learn more about our friend, you can find information on the Baltimore County Animal Services website – they named him Pickles.
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