Strays

As my son and I took our daily walk/run, we spied two stray dogs in the woods by the road.

They eyed us warily as I talked to them.

They were medium size, with golden coats, looking very much like our Steve and Carmen.

How they got there is anyone's guess.

They may have jumped the fence, but I don't think so.

Maybe they were abandoned, just dropped off to fend for themselves because the owner couldn't afford to take care of them anymore. Or worse, the owner found them to be 'too much trouble'. It's a cowardly 'out of sight, out of mind' event all too common.

If so, why not take the time to find another home for them. Too much trouble?

Did they think dumping them was more humane than at least calling animal control who would take them to a holding pen for a few days. The hope would be that they would find a home before they would be 'put to sleep'.

Then there is the animal shelter where more of an effort is made to place animals with caring people.

Yes, animals can fend for themselves-sometimes. Like humans some are better at it than others.

Dogs are made particularly to be companions with humans. What is need? They ask little.

Some food, a roof over their heads, even just simply being with someone. Being with someone. Unconditional love. In spite of conditions good or bad. Dogs can take a lot.

One of the numerous drug dealers that lived next door to us had a dog, paradoxically named Angel.

She was an ugly mutt and was meant to be mean as sort of a cheap alarm system.

They kept her tied to a tree and would sparsely feed her and of course, treated her with disdain.

No loving word, only rebukes and for nothing. Mean for mean's sake.

Her ribs started to show.

We began giving her a mixture of dog food, some scraps and suet, mixed in a coffee can.

She gradually went from being distrustful of us and snapping, to getting excited and waggung her tail when we came to feed her. She got so that I could pet her ugly old head (She was so ugly she was cute.).

You might ask why we bothered. We tried to call animal control. The bureaucracy let her fall through the cracks. So much for dealing with the state. We even offered to take her. They refused.

Long story re these sh*tems. They tried to get a drug lab going etc. We not only foiled them, they moved after they tried to get me arrested for pointing a gun at one of them. Didn't work.

After they moved, we learned they killed Angel. She was useless to them.

Better off dead under the circumstances?

Justice came their way, some sooner, some later.

One of my several jobs in college was as a liquor store clerk. It had its perks lol.

I worked one Christmas Eve.

The owner supplied us with deli food, the good stuff.

We had a picnic and plenty of beer! I was taking stuff to dump out the back door.
There was a whitish colored mutt rummaging round the trash bin.

I talked to him and went back in, retrieving some of the deli meat.

I threw it to him and he gratefully gobbled it down.

The owner had seen me doing this. He grunbled that I was giving a stray perfectly good food out of his pocket.

Then he remembered, it was Christmas Eve, after all. Even a stray dog deserved something.

Personally, I could have cared less that it was Christmas Eve, or any other day.

I saw a stray and my heart reached out.

Compassion is not a bad thing sometimes.

I'm reminded as well that teaching a man to fish is a great thing.

But that man must be able to stand up.

Don't give a handout.

Give a hand.