A Neighborhood and a Dog

Three cold days ago, to be exact, I drove onto our street and came to a complete stop. There was a dog, apparently lost, sitting in the middle of the road. He, or she, looked like some kind of pit bull and boxer mix. I remained in the car momentarily, and when I got out, it ran down to the end of the cul de sac, afraid of me. My neighbor’s car stopped as well, and the two of us stood about 100 feet from it, trying to make it less scared. As I approached it, cooing and speaking softly to it, it ran hobbled away into the woods, as if one paw was hurt. It was limping.

My neighbor and I were jupset, and the other neighbors came out of their houses, wondering what was the matter. The five of us went looking for it, following its tracks in the snow. “I know it’s her, because you can see she’s dragging her foot in the prints,” he said. As I reached the summit of a hill, I spied an older man, standing in his driveway. He was hunched over in his garage. There was a plate of dog food by his side and a blanket on the garage floor.

“Have you seen a dog here?” I asked.

He looked at me, concerned, and said, “I want to talk to you about this dog.”

I got nervous. He seemed angry, as though he thought it was my dog, who I had left out to die.

“Oh, it’s not my dog,” I replied, backing away from him. Even though he seemed feeble, I was nervous. “I just saw it on our street, and followed its tracks to here. It seemed lost and hurt. Is it yours?”

“No,” he asid. “I have been so worried it, but it comes to my garage sometimes, so I left out this food for it. My neighbor across the street, Rob, has fed it as well. Let me call him.” He grabbed his cell phone out of his pocket to dial Rob. I didn’t know either of these men, and it was getting dark, so I was a bit apprehensive to meet Rob but feared for the dog. It was snowing, and it was going to freeze overnight.

Rob came out of his house, and he showed me the food he left out for the dog.

“She has come by here too. I saw her a couple days ago and can’t sleep. I wake up and think of her freezing outside,” he said. “I bought dog food for it, and gave some to my neighbor to feed it. I also bought a portable space heater for his garage, so the dog will have a place to sleep.”

“That’s so sweet of you,” I said, noticing he also had three cats in the slider window, crawling up some sort of carpet condo, like you see in Pet Smart.

“Your cats are cute,” I said.

“Yes, we have three,” he replied. “I feed all of the animals in the neighborhood. This is why my porch looks like this.” I peered around the cobblestone porch, and there was birdseed strewn about and salt licks for the deer.

“Wow, you’re like the animal whisperer,” I joked.

We chuckled, and I said my goodbyes. I was going to look in the graveyard across the way for the dog, before sundown. We exchanged numbers and promised to be in touch if we found it. I searched and searching, hiking steep lawns, the graveyard and trampling through the snow until it was near dark. Then, I cried. I don;t even know this dog, so I wasn’t sure why I was so upset. I realized, too, taht none of us knew this dog, and six of us were very concerned.

We reported the lost dog to the police and to the animal control and lost and found.

Roberto called me yesterday morning, elated, because she had come by at 7 a.m. and eaten some food. She also visited the old man in his garage, and he had a moment with he where they exchanged glances. He said they determined the dog is a “she” and that it has a collar on it. But when the old man tried to get closer, the dog sprinted away. She was no longer limping.

When I went to sleep last night, I heard a bark outside as I watched television with my husband.
“Is that your dog?” he asked. I jumped up from the couch and peered out the window, turnin off our lamp so I could see the streetlamp. I didn’t see the dog.

When I awoke this morning, I texted Roberto. Here is our text:

Today, I will go out and look for the dog. But, what I realized this dog did for me was give me a neighborhood. Before this, I didn’t know many of these folks. We have lived side by side for two years. But, now, I have the cell phones of four of them, and we have been checking in. Rob JUST texted me as I’m writing this. Here is his text:

I hope we find this dog, and that she is safe. And I hope, too, that us neighbors now remain friends.

Thank you, Dog.

UPDATE! A Day Later:

Hooray!!! ❤️