Get A Pet Rock

Last week my doorbell rang. Ugh! I hate it when people ring the doorbell, it is almost NEVER anyone I wish to see let alone talk to. This was no exception.

A young man who lives down the street was standing on my porch with a dog. The dog was an enormous Chow, obviously in heat and the young man was asking for a leash. Now this young man routinely comes to my house and asks for things, paper, pens, saws, brooms, leaf rakes, tools…you know anything he has spied in my garage and feels he has a use for. They never come back home.

I got an old leash and took it outside and sat down on the step to try to help him leash the dog. She promptly snarled, snapped and almost bit me. Her owner promptly threw her to the ground, put his knee in her throat and started threatening her. Young man is a minor or he would have suffered a similar fate, however, I used small words in all caps to emphasize the need for him to remove himself from that dog….NOW!

At this point, I noticed her collar. It was hard to see as it was buried beneath a heavy winter coat and the fact it was of a sufficient size for a dog ¼ of her size made it almost invisible. I immediately got a pair of scissors and instructed “young man” to remove that collar from that poor dog. It didn’t remove easily…the fact it was not embedded in her flesh is nothing short of a miracle to me.

Young man explained to me that his neighbor’s Rottweiler had “hooked up” (his words…not mine) with her along with several other random passing strangers and his dad had instructed him to “get rid of her”. When quizzed about exactly what that meant, he explained they needed to find someone to take her who would take care of her. YOU THINK?!

I’m quite sure that dog has never seen the inside of a vet clinic and has never had even minimum health maintenance performed and now there will be more of them. That being said, I understand not everyone is like me. Dogs eat better, have better health care and far more grooming maintenance than owners…………but……they didn’t take ME in….I took them, therefore they are MY responsibility. They are also my heart.

Young man……get a pet rock. You aren’t deserving of a living creature, even one that bites.