July 04, 2005
Timeline Of A Beagle Rescue
7:30 PM Friday: Neighbor boy calls through the back door that a loose dog is running around and wonders if it's Oscar. Oscar is safe inside but we step out the back door and look through the boys apartment complex and see a full-blooded Beagle. We call for it but it runs scared. I go get a handful of treats and walk the block till I turn onto Whipple and see the Beagle in the street. I call to it, she does scared circles till I toss a Charley Bear her way and she grabs it. She comes for more and is obviously hungry. I pick her up and walk the alley back to the apartment. The neighbor boy yells, "She's got it, she's got it!"
7:45 PM: Check her for tags. All she has is a Rabies tag with a San Francisco number. I call it but the office is closed. We feed her and she eats as if starved, drinks as if dehydrated.
8:15 PM: Spot fleas. Give the Beagle a bath, she's pretty filthy as it turns out.. I have one more Frontline dosage so I split it on her and Oscar.
9:00PM: David takes Oscar for a walk and canvases the nearby blocks for anyone looking for a dog. Nobody.
9:30 PM: David takes another walk on his own, further around the neighborhood to look for signs or someone looking for a dog. Nothing.
10:45 PM: Set up camp on the couch for the evening. Put two dog beds near me for Oscar & Beagle to settle in. They don't - they play, they fight for territory, the Beagle paces.
3:00AM: Fall asleep maybe for an hour. Dogs have been circling and Beagle restless and sometimes crying.
4:00 AM: Beagle gets up and drinks entire bowl of water. Circles for a while.
5:00 AM Fall asleep for maybe an hour and a half.
7:00 AM Saturday: Get on the computer, upload a picture of Beagle, design a FOUND DOG flier.
9:00 AM: Printer is not communicating with new Operating System. IM friend, drop & drag file to her and she prints out 20 fliers.
10:00 AM: Drive with Beagle to East Valley Shelter to see if she has a micro-chip. She doesn't. They try to get me to leave her there but I decline and fill out a FOUND DOG paper for them.
11:45 AM: Paula brings over the fliers.
12:15 PM: I call the San Fran number again and get the vet's office that distributed her one and only tag in 2004. They take the number and call me back in fifteen.
12:30 PM: Learn that the Beagle hasn't been in in a year and that the two numbers for the owner are no good. I ask for the name of the owner, the name of the dog and her age. "Penny", and she's three. I'm told I'm a good samaritan.
1:00 PM: Do internet people search on three different search engines. Lycos gives me some matches and one of them is on WHIPPLE! I call the number and it's no good. I call another one that's in N. Hollywood and get a guy who says, Yes, that's my daughter's dog. He just heard about the missing dog a couple hours ago and she must have learned to jump a fence. He's actually 150 miles away and gives me the number to his daughter. I call it and get a guys voicemail. I leave a message and my phone number. I call the Father back. He says yes, that's the husband's voicemail, and that he'd try to get in touch with them too.
3:00 PM: Still no call back. Beagle is sound asleep in a ball on the couch. I try the number again and a woman answers. I ask if I have the right person. Yes. I ask if she's missing something. Uh, a dog, she says? So she says its her sister's dog who is visiting, they are just returning from the shelter and admits that they DIDN'T KNOW SHE WAS MISSING TILL THIS MORNING. She says they'd be home in five minutes. I say why don't you come here. Oh, yeah, okay.
3:10 PM: Woman arrives and I have to coax the Beagle from the couch to come outside and give this woman a very lukewarm greeting. The woman calls her a bad dog. I point out that the tag is old and no good. She says they are going to go right away to get a new one. She ignores me when I tell her Penny was really hungry and she has fleas. She never asks how I found them.
3:12 PM: The husband comes in and coaxes Penny out of my patio by the collar - never picks her up. The woman says she IS SURE that her sister will want to call and thank me. I say great, I left my number on your voicemail...
3:13 PM: Penny is gone and I'm thoroughly tired, pissed and depressed. Nap till 4:45.
5:00 PM - 12AM: Consider dognapping.
Monday: Still no call.
Posted by nora murphy at July 4, 2005 01:04 PM | TrackBack|