houseguest

The other day as I was loading up the boys to head off somewhere I noticed this adorable dog limping along the sidewalk across the street. It was an all too familiar limp, the kind of limp Misha would get when I would take her jogging on trails. I whistled to him but his paws were so sore he only made it halfway across the street. Sure enough he had goatheads in all four paws. Not wanting him to go back where he came from I put him in the backyard and made a call to animal control. I'm such a sucker for a basset hound.

Since we still haven't had Misha spayed I put her in her kennel and let "lost dog" (Cameron's name for him) run free while we were gone. (Although if you try to imagine a male basset hound and female golden retriever trying to mate it is a comical notion.)

I called several locations/organizations to report a found dog and they all asked me if he was neutered. I kept saying to them "How would I know?" Some chuckled and some just ignored my naivete. After keeping him and Misha separated when it was clear they wanted to play I decided to investigate. Turns out it is pretty obvious if a male dog is no longer "intact". I guess you can learn something new every day.

The boys got pretty attached to "Max" for the two days he was with us. In every prayer Cameron asked for help finding "the lost dog's person". The first day when I had Misha in the kennel, Max sat by the kennel and barked, and barked. I heard Eli (who was supposed to be napping) shout out the window "Shhh doggie! I am sleeping!"

Max's owner picked him up last night. The boys both stood in the doorway and shouted good-byes. I got sort of attached to the little guy too.