Lost Dog, Found Dog

Lost Dog, Found Dog

  Last Thursday, I had a medical appointment that took me out of  Fayetteville to a small town, called Bladenboro. I went there for a appointment that was a speciality medical referral. As I was getting ready to leave there, I said my good byes to the kind medical staff there, and the lady who worked the front office told me to drive carefully of the expected bad weather that was about to arrive. I went out to my car, I could see that the sky was turning dark and cloudly, and it rain started to sprinkle. It rained sort of hard, but as I was getting closer to home, the rain subsided. I finally arrived into my housing subdivision, and as I was pulling into my cul de sac.

  I saw a large dark shape curled up on the door mat right in of my front door of my home. At first, I thought that our dog had gotten out of the back yard and was now waiting to be let in at our front door. As I walked up to our home, I discovered that this dog was not our dog, this dog was a stranger. I didn't recognize the dog. The dog got up from the door mat, I could see that it was a female, she looked scared, had her tail between her legs. She moved out of the way just as so I could open the front door and enter my home.

  When I entered our home I asked my wife if she knew anything about the large dog  at our front door. She said she did. I asked her who brought it home. She didn't know. I asked my children if they knew anything about this dog, laying in front of our door. They all said they didn't have anything to do with the dog. They didn't bring the dog home. The dog just found her way to our front door all by her self.

  I thought, " Well this is odd, why would a dog lay in front of our home, which is a strange home to her?"

I waited for about a couple of hours to see if the dog had gotten up and left. To my surprise, she was still there, all curled up in a tight little ball sleeping right in front of our door. I said, "Well if she going to stay there, let's get her something to eat and drink". I had my son fill up a large bowl with water and another large bowl full of dry dog food. I told him to set the bowls at the opposite end of our porch, away from the front door. After he set the bowls down, the dog immediately went to the bowls to drink and eat. The dog ate and drank her fill. She must have been on the road for quite awhile.  


  Later, one of my sons ask me if we can put her in the backyard and keep her. I immediately said no to this. I said, " If we put her in our back yard, she's not going to be motivated to find her way back home, and we'll end up with another dog. We already have three dogs, two female chihuahuas, and one large young male chow/sheppard mix dog". I ask my kids if her got along okay with one of our chihuahuas, named, "April", was out in the front yard, my little daughter said yes. The dogs played with each other. The dog is friendly, they assured me. One of my kids opened the door to see if the dog would come into our house, the dog didn't. My son tried to lead the dog into our house by gently pulling on her collar. The dog wouldn't budge off the front door mat. As the night began to approach, we all prepared to go to bed. I looked out the front door window, the dog was still there, all curled up in a ball, sleeping.


  The next morning, I opened the front door, maybe half expecting the dog to be gone by then. The dog was still there. My wife wanted to call animal control, I persuaded her not to. I said maybe the owner will drive throught there neighborhood looking for their lost dog and maybe see her on our front porch. I said to just let her stay there.


  It was during in the course of this morning, when my kids getting ready for school, my youngest daughter could not find her new school shoes.  She looked all around for them, then all my kids joined the search to find her shoes.  Finally, I enlisted in the search to find her shoes, all to no avail. I decided after 20 minutes of looking for them, to put another pair of shoes on her, a pair of Converse athletic shoes. This search made her late for school, and she missed her time to eat breakfast at school. My wife stopped at a Short Stop convenience market on the way to her school to get my daughter something for breakfast, like a honeybun or something. She never stops at that particular Short Stop store. 

  On this day, she did. It was on the way going outout of the store, she saw a posted sheet of paper, for a lost dog with the dog's picture on posted on the door. My oldest daughter called me as I was driving to work on the All American freeway on the way to work. She said, "Mom just saw the picture of a lost dog posted at the door at the Short Stop store, and it looks like the dog that's in front of our house. She gave me the telephone number to call.  I called the number, and said I was calling about their lost dog notice. The person answering the phone said their dog was indeed lost and I described the dog to her and said that I have their dog, she then scream with joy, and handed the phone to her husband. I told him that I have their dog, and her was on my front porch. I gave her husband my street address, and he said that he was on his way to pick her up. About 20 minutes later, her called back and said that was indeed her dog, and thanked me several time and She said that she will give me a reward for finding her dog.  I said please don't. I said, " You don't have to give me a reward." She insisted, I said, " From one dog lover to another, I was just glad that she got her dog back, and that she does not have to give me a reward. She thanked me again and said good bye.

  Later that day when I came home from work, I found myself on the front porch talking to a solicitor, then  a vehicle pulled up into my cul de sac, and parked in front of my driveway.  A young man exited a SUV and approached our home, and walked up to the porch, and asked me if I was the one who founded their dog, I said yes. He then offered me to the reward for finding their dog, I told him that they, ( he and and his wife ) didn't have to.  He insisted and said that it was a gift card to PetSmart,  I could get something for my dogs. My wife was standing there, asked said give it to her, my wife, which he did. I thanked him, and he thanked me again and left.

  I was thinking about this incident, about that dog. That dog knew by staying on my front door mat, she would be able to find her way home, and be reunited with her master. Her master would eventually come and get her. She stayed her ground, she wouldn't budge for the world to get off that door mat. How did she know to find my house, out of all the homes in that area,  that my home would be the one to get her home. What a strange sequence of events had to occur for that to happen. Somehow, I think that this dog knew, somehow forsaw the future maybe by whatever means she had, or maybe just by sheer desperation.
She knew the future outcome of her actions, which would eventually bring her the reunion she longed for with her master.


 I marvel at dogs, and for all the other pets for that matter, on just how special they are, with that special unbreakable bond they possess for their masters.

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