God Hears

I forgot the most important part of our story about the dog.  I was the one who was panicking about perhaps keeping a big dog in the family.  I was crying out to God to find the owners.  On Monday, I made more posters with Max's picture on them. (My daughter had done this on Saturday and they put them around our neighborhood.)  I left the house fully believing that "by chance" the owner would see the posters as I was putting them up, and all would live happily ever after.  I went to Petsmart and the Vet and put them up, no one recognizing him.  I was going to put one up at the pound, but needed to get home. 

The next morning, during our family prayer time, my youngest daughter prayed that his family would find him.  Then when it was my turn, I prayed more fervently for a miracle, that by some miracle the owners would somehow find him and call me. Having been reading God's Smuggler again to the kids, and his stories of praying for finances and meetings of other Christians in miraculous ways, I prayed with the same kind of faith in believing that that would happen to us, too.  And so it did! God heard my prayers and answered, helping Max go home.

Max is home!

After 11 days of living with us and certain people in this family starting to get attached and others starting to panic, the dog is safely home.  I think the reason it took so long was because I failed to post pictures of him at the pound.  I had called and they wrote out a description and posted it on the wall, but I thought he was a boxer mix and he isn't. Instead, I posted several places on the internet.  The dear gal that contacted me through petharbor.com didn't look at the boxer post at first. But since one of her little dogs had gotten out the day before and ran over, she was determined to find Max.  My kids named him Max.  The two little dogs that Max was found walking with that day ended up at a local restaurant that coincidentally employs the neighbor of the dog owners. She called the owner who came to pick up the dogs, but of course, Max had vanished.  When she came to see if it was him, the reunion was so sweet.  He clearly missed her and I was so happy that he was with his Mommy.  And another thing,  I couldn't believe it when she called him Max. The kids have been calling him that all week! They tried all kinds of names and he responded to that one the best, so it stuck. Funny.

Whew!

Lost Dogs

A few months ago, we found two Bluetick Coonhounds roaming our neighborhood. The kids begged me to put them in our yard to keep them safe.  We walked them around the neighborhood. I posted their info on the County websites. Checked if they had a chip, they didn't.  No tags either. The next morning, I finally posted them on Craigslist and the owners called within the hour! 

Last Friday, we were out walking our dog and came up to three dogs walking together. They all had the same kind of collar on. The big one followed us on our walk. The little ones went their own way. The big one came home with us. Thinking that the box on the collar was a tracker, I let him stay in our yard until the owners found him. I took him to the vet, no chip. It isn't a tracker, either, it's a bark collar.  When he barks he gets zapped. Oh. 

A week later, he is still here.  I have posted on Craigslist several times, with pics.  No calls.  Why don't owners put tags on their pets?  It would be so much easier to get them home.  There are so many posts about lost and found pets.  Some pets are even stolen from their backyards!  Why don't the people who steal dogs, go find a stray one? The SPCA is full today.  I went to see if the owners made a poster. Nothing.  Where are the two little dogs that were with him? Why aren't they calling????  He is crying now, wants to come inside with our other dog.  He is a big dog and may get bigger. I'm not even sure of the breed, boxer/pit mix??  We do not want to take him to the pound, though he is so cute, he will probably get adopted.  But he wants his family. Sigh.

Then we went to Target.  As we were about to drive away, I looked in front of my car and sitting in a Target cart I see a box with two puppies poking their heads out! I said, "Look! There are puppies!"  My kids jumped out of the car and picked them up, counting five in all!  My daughter picked up the whole box and was about to bring them in the van, but I told her to put them back in the cart. We took the cart and puppies to the outside front of the store and I told the security guard who came out to see.  He thanked me as he reached for his radio.  I am hoping that some soft hearted Target workers will take each of the puppies home.  They were so cute and not crying at all, just kind of bewildered. :(  And hopefully, weaned. So sad.  People are so stupid.

Please put tags on your pets!

Here is our house guest: