Happy ending

It occurred to me tonight to look on craigslist to see if anyone had posted about a lost Pom, and to put up a found ad myself.
Well, lookie here! Dog lost last night, six blocks away. Small, friendly purebred Pom.

I called, and they were ecstatic. Charlie belongs to a woman who just had heart surgery and daughter is there taking care of her, but the daughter's not used to little dogs, and Charlie got out without her noticing. (Considering how he has tried to sneak past me every time I have opened the door, I can see how this happened.)

Charlie is not debarked, but only barks when someone comes to the door.

Son-in-law picked him up just now, and Charlie was very excited to see him.

"Do me a favor," I told him. "Get a microchip."

Still here

He's still here. He's quite well-behaved, mild-mannered and doesn't bark. Because he's been de-barked, sadly. He pants a lot and makes little squeaks and coughing noises, but that's it. I had him in a cage next to the bed last night, but he was not happy with that, so I finally took him out and let him sleep on the bed with Sophie so I could get some sleep.

No one has reported him missing at the Dumb Friends League or the city shelter. I just took him to the neighborhood vet and had him scanned. No microchip. They guess he's about 7 or 8 years old; he has a little arthritis in his feet. One of the vets there does sheltie and pom rescue, so I'll hang onto him for another day and then give him to her.

My neighbor who knows most of the dogs in the neighborhood has never seen him before. She suspects he was dumped.

Alley find

As I was saying the other day (in commenting on Breezy's blog), I sometimes find interesting stuff in the alley. That little table in the upstairs hallway, for example. And the wine rack in my cellar.

Tonight I got home from work about 10:30, and as I pulled into the alley, I saw a really fluffy cat. "Wow, that's a really fluffy cat," I thought. Only it wasn't a cat. It was this:
I pulled into my garage and hopped out, and he'd actually come over already, so when I squatted down, he was all "Hi! Can you pick me up please?"

No collar, no tags, no tattoo that I can discern. Not a puppy. Can't tell if the eye-cloudiness in the flash is indicative of old age, teeth look OK, not very worn down, but not very white either. Coat's good, a little matted. More important, this little guy is picky about treats and disdains kibble, so clearly he's not been lost long. I imagine he must live nearby, but I've never seen him before. Might be one of those never-gets-walked house dogs.

I left him in my house (he seems well-behaved and hasn't barked once) and walked around the block with Sophie to see if anyone was out yelling for him. No luck. It's about 20 degrees out and starting to snow.

I left a message with the Dumb Friends League. I guess I'll drop him off there in the morning.

Sophie's not terribly thrilled, but she'll deal.