Rescued (Part 3)

6/7/2012 - Rescued (Part 3)

 

With no hesitation on his part, but plenty on mine the dog leaps into the backseat of the car and sits down just like a gentleman.  I get in the driver’s seat and back out of my parking spot.  I keep one eye pealed to see if anyone is running toward me calling me a kidnapper.  Nobody comes, so I guess I’m in the clear.  During the short ride to my house many thoughts are running through my head and most of them not good.  Is the dog housebroken?  A barker? Does he chew shoes or furniture? What will my

sons think?  Besides I’m just keeping the dog until I can get the Humane Society to come and get him.  I don’t want to think about the possible outcome for the dog once he has been turned over to them.

Once I get home I pull into the garage and open the back door.  The dog bounds out with seemingly much more energy now than I had seen in the parking lot.  I do have a small fenced yard and the dog runs outside to do his business and give everything a good sniff.  I leave the kitchen door open a bit while I put away the groceries and in just a few minutes there is a rather large black nose poking through. 

“Come on then.  Inside with you and it’s a bath straight away.”  I shake my head when I realize that I’m talking to a dog and then decide that it’s very nice to have another living being around to talk to.  Particularly if they can’t talk back and maybe that’s the best part.  As I climb the stairs towards the bathroom, the dog silently pads along behind me and definitely with no hesitation.

After I go inside the bathroom, I grab a couple of towels and set the shampoo and conditioner on the edge of the tub.  I am certain that here is where the rubber is going to meet the road so to speak.  I’ve known only a few dogs in my time that really loved to get in the tub and there was no guarantee that this was going to be one of those dogs.

I start the water and wait for it to warm up.  I call the dog over to my side and I sort of pull him toward the tub.  To my surprise the dog jumps in like he is used to taking baths.  I am relieved that I’m not going to have to fight a dog, and a strange dog at that, to get clean.  I find a plastic pitcher under the sink and use it to get the dog wet.  I put a large dollop of shampoo on his back and begin the business of soaping him up.  The water is slowly turning black and the occasional leaf and tree debris float around his feet.  After shampooing and conditioning the dog turns out to have a beautiful rust-colored coat.  I allow him a good shake but only after I have used two towels on him to remove most of the water.
 

We head back downstairs and I open up the can of dog food and put it in the food dish that I had just bought.  Beside it I place a bowl of clean cold water.  He wolves down the food but takes his time drinking the water and is even rather dainty about it.

Now that I have bathed and fed my temporary house guest, I grab one of the many frozen dinners in my freezer, place it in the microwave and within 5 minutes have a gourmet meal, more or less.  As I sit down at the table to eat and read the day’s paper, the dog curls up on the kitchen floor, sighs briefly and then closes his eyes.