I Found a Dog on the Side of the Road This Morning

I woke up this morning in a crappy mood. It is dark and rainy and will continue to rain all day long. For some reason, every piece of clothing I put on was either unbearably uncomfortable or I just wasn’t feeling it. I really just wanted to crawl back into bed with a travel mug of coffee and a fully charged Kindle.

But, I’m a grown up. So I got ready and hit the road to drive the 1 hour 15 minute trip to work.

About 15 minutes into my drive, traffic started getting kind of crazy. It was just a two-lane rode with medians on each side, but cars were swerving all over the place. We live in the country, so my first thought was that someone hit a deer that was taking up one of the lanes.

However, when my truck got closer I saw what appeared to be a large goat or small polar bear ambling down the road. I got even closer and realized it was actually a HUGE fluffy dog with a muzzle on his mouth.

And nobody was stopping.

So I pulled over, put on my flashers and jumped out of my truck to go check out the polar bear. Um… dog. Once I had my hands around his collar, another lady stopped her car and came over with a leash she just happened to have with her.

He seemed pretty friendly and just quietly sat there while I checked his collar for a tag. No tag. No embroidery. No way of telling where he belonged.

So, my new friend with the leash called Animal Control while I soothed him. Or her. I didn’t really get a good look at the undercarriage area.

My friend had to go on her way, but Animal Control asked me to hang out for a while so that they could send someone out to get the dog. I didn’t have any meetings this morning, so I lead my new furry companion – who I decided I would call Big Bertha – into the back of my truck and waited.

See, here he/she is:

About 5 minutes into waiting, I received a call on my phone. Big Bertha’s mommy was coming to get her! YAY for her. YAY for me. YAY for Big Bertha!

The owner showed up, thanked me, took her dog and was on her way.

The whole thing from start to finish probably took about 30 minutes. She was incredibly lucky that with the rain and slippery roads nobody hit her dog with their vehicle. She was incredibly lucky that two random strangers decided to stop and help. She was incredibly lucky that we called Animal Control and I decided to sit and wait there for them to come.

Just 30 minutes.

You know what could have made it go even quicker?
A dog tag or collar with her contact information on it.

There is NO REASON not to have identification information on your dog. Even if the dog never leaves the house other than to be walked on a leash, GET A DOG TAG. You never know when it will come in handy. And if your dog never gets out, gets lost, or is found wandering down the middle of a country road… well than they just have some cute as hell jewelry. Ollie has one from here.

So yeah. Moral of the story, make sure your dog has your contact information on them. And if you see me today and you’re wondering why I smell like wet dog, this is why.