Wednesday, August 22, 2007

How Do You Lose a Dog?

It's something I've wondered about. I feel sad when I see flyers stuck to telephone poles, with photos of sweet-faced dogs and notes about "lost dog!!" or "have you seen this dog?", "answers to the name Maya", but I have to wonder how a responsible dog owner "loses" a dog.

Was it inattention? Was the dog running in the park off-leash when the owner get distracted by the ice cream truck? Did the owner really believe you could leave a dog alone all day in the back yard, that a fence would hold in a determined dog? Or that the meter reader wouldn't leave the gate open?

And no one ever tells us how the story turned out. No one puts up flyers that say "Never mind! We've found Maya!" And I want to know. I think these people have some responsibility to relieve my concern. The damn flyer has been up there for two months and I still have no idea whether Maya found her way home, or whether the owners had the good sense to have an identity chip inserted in the dog's skin so the Humane Society could track them down. Are they doing a better job of keeping an eye on the dog?

Maybe the Humane Society has a list of dogs that have been happily restored to their humans. And I hope those people got a good talking to, as well. "You can have your dog back and soon as you put up those posters apologizing for worrying your neighbors."

Don't even get me started on cats.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Good for people to know.