The Ants Go Marching One by One

Seriously, have you ever just watched them work?

The world would be different if everyone
had this type of work ethic.

What to do, what to do

Allow me make something clear. We. Do. Not. Take. In. Stray. Animals. The definition of stray is quite clear to me. Stray = doesn’t appear to belong to anyone based on its’ appearance. Lost = appears to be lost and definitely has an owner somewhere.

Enter stage left: “Bubba”

Bubba is a boxer, possibly mixed with a Bulldog or Pit Bull. He’s very sweet and older, probably 8 or 9. He will get in your car if you let him and he is overweight (think table scrap dog), though I’m no vet. He knows how to sit and is not neutered. His nails are short, his coat is in great shape, his ears are natural (uncut) and he has the typical boxer attitude (visualize happy-go-lucky with much twisting of the body to form a C).


He showed up at my office, which is on an extremely busy street at around 5:00 PM on September 24th with… you guessed it, no collar or tags. Everyone at the office noticed all those things I listed above, but one by one, they left the office and “Bubba” did not go with them. Are we seriously the only ones that feel bad for not only the dog, but the person who lost him? This is somebody’s dog! All I could think of was…. If this was K or Jake, I would hope someone would hold on to him/her long enough for me to find him/her.

We put up signs, contacted all the local vets to put him on their lost/found list, contacted the local shelter and humane society, and added him to every lost and found website we could find. We also took him to the local emergency vet to see if he is micro-chipped. No such luck. We’ve received 3 calls, but not a single one panned out.

Now almost two weeks later, “Bubba” is in our kitchen because the temperature outside is dropping rapidly and it is going to rain from now until Saturday. Jake is not social so we have installed a door… to the kitchen. Seriously, the shape this dog is in, it never crossed my mind that his parents might not come looking for him. I don’t have a clue what to do. I’ve called the local boxer rescue and have not heard anything back.

It’s a running joke at work now because I took him home. I know in my heart of hearts that I cannot keep him. This was not in our budget. Not to mention that fact that three people and two dogs are enough for a 2-bedroom, barely over 1,000 square feet house without adding one more.

I could totally stand on a soapbox right now because this situation breaks my heart and happens all too often. I can’t think of a single thing that would let me leave my dogs behind or allow me to believe that everything will be okay because someone will take them in.

I’m not asking for your help, I’m asking for your prayers. That his owner has been unable to look for him (maybe a hospitalization or something) and that soon they will contact me.