Lost & Found

My story with Lucy begins Sunday morning.

While walking into work at 6:30am, I noticed a nervous dog running around the parking lot. I stopped and called her, and she ran right up to me wagging her tail and licked my hand. She was wearing a collar but no tag. I felt awful, as stray dogs make me so sad, leaving her there to go into work. I knew she was lost and confused. That evening when I walked out, there she was laying in the dirt, wagging her big tail at everyone who walked by. I offered her water, which she gulped down, and then when I opened my truck door she leaped in. She curled up in a ball on the driver's seat, and looked at me with "don't leave me here" eyes - and how could I make her get out?

So home we went, and I introduced her to Sarge and they loved each other. Ran around playing fetch, wrestling, and licking each other, and then I fed and watered her and she spent the night outside in the yard. Monday morning I made what seemed like 100 phone calls to shelters, trying to figure out what to do with a found dog. All turned out to be dead ends, and sadly, no one was very helpful. I was near tears, because I knew I couldn't keep her but didn't want to send her to the pound where I knew most likely she'd be put down. So while lamenting over my situation with Julie, my go-to dog guru, she suggested I take the dog to my vet to have her scanned for a micro chip.

I took her to the vet, where they scanned her and thankfully she had a chip with an ID number. We were able to call the 800-number for that company, and they gave us her owner's contact info and her name - Lucy! As soon as I said her name she leaped up and wagged her tail, it was like finally someone knew who she was. I called her family and within ten minutes her dad called us back. She had jumped their fence two days ago, and he'd about given up on ever finding her. She had traveled about three or four miles to the hospital where I found her. So Lucy and I waited at the vet, where she played happily with the other puppies, and her dad came and met us there to pick her up.

It was one of the most moving things I've witnessed, a dog reunited with its owner. Lucy jumped and licked and yelped in excitement when he walked in and said her name. He just hugged her and scratched her, and off they went together.

Needless to say, there wasn't a dry eye in the office this morning, and I felt so satisfied knowing that sweet puppy was back home with the family that loves her.