I had to swing by the Sheriff's office this morning to pick up the paperwork to renew my concealed carry permit, so I headed out of town a different way that took me up a rural road. As I passed the brick plant, I saw him sitting beside the road, with his head on his paws and his rear sticking out in the road.
I don't normally stop for EVERY dog I see sitting by the side of the road, but the way his rear was out in the road made me think he might have been hit by a car and unable to get completely to the side. As soon as I slowed, his head popped up and watched my car as I turned around and drove back past him to pull into the gravel area on the side of the road.
I got out of the car and he hopped up and came loping over to me, slobber already flying from his mouth. It was obvious at this point he hadn't been hit, but he was so friendly I had to love on him a bit.
I couldn't leave it at that though. He had a chain around his neck, but he was a little thin for a mastiff and he had a spot on one of his rear legs that looked pretty raw. And so the fun part began.
I checked with the office of the brick plant to see if they knew who he belonged to, but no luck. I noticed a house just down the intersecting road that had a dog in the yard, so I drove over there to ask if they knew anything about him. My new buddy followed my car as I drove, and when we got there the dog in yard was jumping all over him wanting to play, but he just stood there and looked at him.
The woman at the house didn't know him, but told me there were several houses down the road that had dogs. She gave me a couple of dog treats for him, and I managed to get him in my car. The front seat of a Mustang was not made for the likes of this dog. He eventually got mostly settled with his rear in the seat and his front paws in the floorboard, and off we went.
I spent the next hour or so stopping at houses up and down the road trying to find an owner, but with no luck. By this time, the passenger side of my car and the gear shifter were covered in drool. I finally decided his best bet was to take him to the animal shelter, where hopefully someone would look for him. My plan also was to start calling vets to let them know he was there, and to locate a mastiff rescue group that would come get him if his owner couldn't be found. He was too sweet to let him be put down, but I had nowhere to put him at home. Even as thin as he was, he still weighed at least 140.
Fortunately, that turned out to be the best decision. They scanned him at the shelter and he had a microchip, so they took my info anyway, but said they would call the owners. I called back late this afternoon and they said the owners were coming to get hi. Yeah! He didn't appear to be abused, so I can only hope that his thinness is due to having been lost for a while. The shelter can't tell me who the owners are, so I can only hope for the best.
I finally made it to work after lunch. After all that, I had to go home and change into clothes that hadn't been slobbered all over, and my car really needs a bath!
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