Rescue Mission Number Four

Four you ask?  What happened to one, two and three??? 

OK, so I’m behind in my blog postings…  So I’ll start with #4, and most recent.

By way of background, you may remember I’ve mentioned the “wild dogs” on the reservation.  These are ownerless dogs, some of whom may be injured, unfriendly because of being on their own for some time, or recently on their own.  In fairness to my reservation friends, rumor has it some of these dogs are brought out here and left; others I am sure are left when owners have lost their housing, had to move, or otherwise could not/would not care for them.

Enter this animal lover onto reservation land…

October 10^th two boys were biking down our street with this feisty little black dog running along with them.  I didn’t think much about it but a little later they were back, this time with two dogs in tow, the black and now a tan – both mangy, matted messes.  The boys stopped to talk and I asked about the black one.  Our postal worker had told me about a small black dog that seemed to be on its own, and very fast (which she was/is).  They were going to check around and see if someone claimed her, if not get her to me.  I was pretty sure this was the same little dog – maybe 4-5 pounds, likely a shih tzu from the looks of her.

The tan one, a little bigger, I had seen a couple weeks before at the store.  He was skittish and wouldn’t come although I tossed some treats out for him.  He disappeared into the cornfield and the first I saw of him again was this day.

The boys put the black one in my crate and she stayed around the first time I let her out.  I always feed them which usually secures that they will stay around if they’re homeless.  And she, and he, stayed.  The boys came back, and we put her back in the crate so she wouldn’t follow when they left.  This time when I let her out, she took off, with the little tan one in hot pursuit.

I didn’t see them until a couple of hours later when the little tan one was back.  He stayed right at my house, went with us for our evening walk, played with all the neighborhood dogs and slept on my porch all night.  He was so dirty and stinky I could hardly stand to be near him.  Here he is in his “glory”:

Please excuse the lousy photography...one of these days I'm getting a new camera...meanwhile the cell phone has to do.  Yes, I know, the shadow is the camera's fault...

The next day was Columbus Day – one of the cool things about working for the government, I get banker days!   My neighbor helped me entice him into the crate, we loaded it into my car and I drove him to the vet (windows cracked open) for a stay and flea bath, haircut, bath, shots.  A few days later he was picked up, “naked” but clean.  Here’s “Sir Quigley” as I dubbed him.

They said Quigley was a Lhasa Apso, 13.5 pounds, one year old.  Quigley seems to like being a house dog just fine.  He and Phoebe chase each other in the house, unless they are fighting over food.  He has one of those tiny tennis balls and loves to chase it along with other toys.  He finds the cats quite fun to chase as well.  He has some trouble knowing about outside as the toilet, hence his make-shift “belly band” for in the house.  We are working on that.  He doesn’t like sleeping in the kitchen at night and definitely would like to join Phoebe and I in the bed – ha!  Not going to happen, Sir Quigley.

It is my hope that Quigley finds a good “forever home”.  He’s definitely a little lover dog and will fit right in.

Stay tuned for more “Rescue Missions”…this is all for now from “the little house on the res…”