A couple of Friday’s ago, the Friday before the whole herniated disc/back surgery incident, Brent went to Northport to pick up some lunch at Zaxby’s (one of our favorites – best salads ever!). While there, he found a stray dog in the parking lot and, well, it sounds like it was love at first sight. He has a soft spot in his heart for misfit dogs (obviously). He finally persuaded it to get in the car (the dog was scared of him at first), then drove to the neighborhood behind Zaxby’s looking for its owner. It didn’t have tags or a collar, but he thought it was too cute to be a true stray dog. Everyone he talked to said that they did not recognize the dog, so….he brought him home. She was scared to death. We could barely get her to move! When we gave her a bath, she just trembled in fear.
On Saturday morning, Brent took her to our vet, to see what he thought we should do. The vet thought that she was definitely a pet, so he suggested that we take her to the animal shelter, because her family would likely look there first. Well, not much longer, I got a call from Brent. There were tons of dogs barking in the background. He said that after going in, there was no way he could leave the sweet little dog at the shelter. He couldn’t even imagine it. He asked if he could leave his number with them, so that if he did leave her, and no one came to claim her, that he could come back and pick her up. They said that once a dog is surrendered to the shelter, you have no further claim to it and they will not call you back or contact you in any way. This particular shelter is not a no-kill shelter (not sure of another way to put that), and honestly, we just weren’t willing to risk it! I told Brent to bring her back home & we would search for her family.
So, I posted her on Facebook, BRENT made a “Found Dog” flier that HE posted around the area she was found and at nearby vets, and we posted an ad to the Humane Society & animal shelter website (edited: just giving credit where credit is due, ha ha). So far, nothing.
So, we have been calling her “Zax.” She is sweet, gentle, and perhaps most importantly, housetrained. She rarely barks. And she is super cute! She loves attention & playing. I can’t wait until my back is better so that I can really run & play with her. The pugs really don’t mind her at all. Actually, this is not entirely true. Milly desperately wants to be her best friend/adopted daughter, but Zax isn’t having that.
She has slowly warmed up to us & is now practically part of the family. We really hope that if her family is looking for her & missing her, that they will see one of the posters or ads that we placed. I don’t think we’ve really decided what will happen if no one claims her, but she will not be going to a shelter.
So, we are, at least for now, a three-dog family. The humans have been outnumbered. And our home has turned into the land of the misfit dogs. We have Oscar, the runt of the litter that was the last-chosen pug at the flea market (ha!), Milly, who is on her 4th home after a brief stint with the Alabama Pug Rescue, and now Zax, the stray. And if there is any question why these dogs are misfits:
Looks like she’s fitting in just fine!
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