SO scared.... Will I have to give him up???
First, a warning: this is LONG, so get comfy!
I am near tears over this right now.... I've already cried about it twice.
For those who have not read my profile: Two weeks ago we found a male corgi wandering around our neighborhood in the country. He had no tags of any kind, and appeared to have been dumped, because we noticed him just wandering around aimlessly without any supervision. We had seen him a few times before, and this was the case every time (wandering without supervision).
So two weeks ago, I coaxed him over to me in my front yard and fed him, talked to him, and after awhile I even convinced him to get close enough to let me pet him. After about half an hour, I had to go back inside, but he stayed in the front yard, laid down under a tree and watched my front door. He never moved from that spot until I went back out to him, then he immediately jumped up and seemed so happy to see me again! It was SO sweet and I was amazed at this behavior..... he seemed to be completely devoted to me already, and we just met! This went on a few more times throughout the day..... I would go back inside for a couple of hours and he waited for me under the tree, then get so excited when I came back out!
Needless to say, I fell IN LOVE! But of course I wondered where he came from. Every time my husband or I went out to him, we looked all around at the neighboring houses to see if anyone seemed to be looking for him. They weren't. I had fed him that morning, and he stayed at our place all day. Very late that night, when we still had not seen anyone looking for him and no one calling him, we coaxed him into our fenced backyard to keep him safe from the cars we knew would be speeding down our road the next morning. He's been "ours" ever since. Four days after bringing him into our yard, I took him to a groomer to be dipped, bathed, etc., and also got his shots. I named him Doc (Doc Holliday).
He's been with us for two weeks now and no one has come to our door asking about him, we've not heard anything about anyone missing a dog, and there have been no signs posted anywhere. Every weekday morning I have taken him out in the front yard on a leash while we wait with my daughter (and all the other neighborhood kids) for the school bus. No one has said a word about him being "So-and-so's dog" or anything else indicating that they recognize him. We live in a small neighborhood; maybe 20 houses total, and they are all pretty close together. If I lost a dog, I could walk door-to-door here and hit EVERY house asking about it in less than one hour EASILY.
Today my little girl was at a friend's house, and a little boy who was also there was asking if anyone had seen "his" corgi, and he described Doc. Aislyn (my daughter) came home and told me and pointed to where this little boy lives. He lives right across the street, 2 doors down! When these people step outside their home, they have a full, unobstructed view of my entire front yard. But he was in our front yard from 10:00 AM until after midnight that night and they never even looked outside to check on him?????? Because if they had looked for him AT ALL that day, they would have seen or "found" him instantly.
What am I going to do??? I am SO attached to him now and the thought of giving him up hurts SO much! I'm sure you all can imagine how heartbroken you would be if faced with the possibility of losing your baby! I want to do the right thing here, but I honestly don't know what that is! This little boy cares enough to ask about Doc now, but what are his parents feeling? If they miss Doc, WHY haven't they looked for him? I would have gone door-to-door looking for him AND put up signs all over the neighborhood, and every place possible within a 5-mile radius! I wouldn't let him run around freely, especially without tags displaying my phone number or something. They have a very large, fenced yard.... when he needed to go out, that's where he should have been; not running the neighborhood right next to a road that cars go 60 MPH on! Their apparent lack of concern makes me think that he was neglected.... like they just didn't care. And if that's the case, I certainly don't want him going back to that kind of home! When he first came here, he was so timid and anxious..... he seemed to be afraid of everything. We thought then that he might have been abused, but who knows? I don't like to jump to conclusions, but I couldn't help but wonder. Now he's relaxed quite a bit with us so far and seems to be more so every day. He lays on his bed at my feet while I'm sitting here at my desk, and if I get up to go to the kitchen for a drink, he follows me. If I get up to go to the bathroom, he follows and waits for me right outside the door. If I go outside, he goes too. When I go to bed, he sleeps on the floor next to my bed (on his own bed, of course!) He and I are just SO attached to each other, I can't stand the thought of losing him! But now I'm afraid to even take him out on the leash again because I don't want to risk them seeing him! One part of me feels like I'm doing the right thing, because he's happy here, and I strongly suspect that he was not happy before. The other part of me now feels like I'm stealing him, and that's a horrible feeling!
Well, I'm sorry to have made this SO long..... I guess I just needed to vent, and I am SO CONFUSED, scared to death, and just don't know WHAT the h*** I'm supposed to do!
Any advice or opinions here would be SO appreciated!
Thanks,
Starr
I am near tears over this right now.... I've already cried about it twice.
For those who have not read my profile: Two weeks ago we found a male corgi wandering around our neighborhood in the country. He had no tags of any kind, and appeared to have been dumped, because we noticed him just wandering around aimlessly without any supervision. We had seen him a few times before, and this was the case every time (wandering without supervision).
So two weeks ago, I coaxed him over to me in my front yard and fed him, talked to him, and after awhile I even convinced him to get close enough to let me pet him. After about half an hour, I had to go back inside, but he stayed in the front yard, laid down under a tree and watched my front door. He never moved from that spot until I went back out to him, then he immediately jumped up and seemed so happy to see me again! It was SO sweet and I was amazed at this behavior..... he seemed to be completely devoted to me already, and we just met! This went on a few more times throughout the day..... I would go back inside for a couple of hours and he waited for me under the tree, then get so excited when I came back out!
Needless to say, I fell IN LOVE! But of course I wondered where he came from. Every time my husband or I went out to him, we looked all around at the neighboring houses to see if anyone seemed to be looking for him. They weren't. I had fed him that morning, and he stayed at our place all day. Very late that night, when we still had not seen anyone looking for him and no one calling him, we coaxed him into our fenced backyard to keep him safe from the cars we knew would be speeding down our road the next morning. He's been "ours" ever since. Four days after bringing him into our yard, I took him to a groomer to be dipped, bathed, etc., and also got his shots. I named him Doc (Doc Holliday).
He's been with us for two weeks now and no one has come to our door asking about him, we've not heard anything about anyone missing a dog, and there have been no signs posted anywhere. Every weekday morning I have taken him out in the front yard on a leash while we wait with my daughter (and all the other neighborhood kids) for the school bus. No one has said a word about him being "So-and-so's dog" or anything else indicating that they recognize him. We live in a small neighborhood; maybe 20 houses total, and they are all pretty close together. If I lost a dog, I could walk door-to-door here and hit EVERY house asking about it in less than one hour EASILY.
Today my little girl was at a friend's house, and a little boy who was also there was asking if anyone had seen "his" corgi, and he described Doc. Aislyn (my daughter) came home and told me and pointed to where this little boy lives. He lives right across the street, 2 doors down! When these people step outside their home, they have a full, unobstructed view of my entire front yard. But he was in our front yard from 10:00 AM until after midnight that night and they never even looked outside to check on him?????? Because if they had looked for him AT ALL that day, they would have seen or "found" him instantly.
What am I going to do??? I am SO attached to him now and the thought of giving him up hurts SO much! I'm sure you all can imagine how heartbroken you would be if faced with the possibility of losing your baby! I want to do the right thing here, but I honestly don't know what that is! This little boy cares enough to ask about Doc now, but what are his parents feeling? If they miss Doc, WHY haven't they looked for him? I would have gone door-to-door looking for him AND put up signs all over the neighborhood, and every place possible within a 5-mile radius! I wouldn't let him run around freely, especially without tags displaying my phone number or something. They have a very large, fenced yard.... when he needed to go out, that's where he should have been; not running the neighborhood right next to a road that cars go 60 MPH on! Their apparent lack of concern makes me think that he was neglected.... like they just didn't care. And if that's the case, I certainly don't want him going back to that kind of home! When he first came here, he was so timid and anxious..... he seemed to be afraid of everything. We thought then that he might have been abused, but who knows? I don't like to jump to conclusions, but I couldn't help but wonder. Now he's relaxed quite a bit with us so far and seems to be more so every day. He lays on his bed at my feet while I'm sitting here at my desk, and if I get up to go to the kitchen for a drink, he follows me. If I get up to go to the bathroom, he follows and waits for me right outside the door. If I go outside, he goes too. When I go to bed, he sleeps on the floor next to my bed (on his own bed, of course!) He and I are just SO attached to each other, I can't stand the thought of losing him! But now I'm afraid to even take him out on the leash again because I don't want to risk them seeing him! One part of me feels like I'm doing the right thing, because he's happy here, and I strongly suspect that he was not happy before. The other part of me now feels like I'm stealing him, and that's a horrible feeling!
Well, I'm sorry to have made this SO long..... I guess I just needed to vent, and I am SO CONFUSED, scared to death, and just don't know WHAT the h*** I'm supposed to do!
Any advice or opinions here would be SO appreciated!
Thanks,
Starr
Comment
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Comment by Geri & Sidney on August 27, 2008 at 2:04pm
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Me too, I've been thinking about you these last few days and really hoping and praying for a good outcome for you.
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Comment by Suzanne on August 27, 2008 at 2:00pm
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Any news? We're all thinking about you and are hoping for the best.
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Comment by Ziska Childs on August 26, 2008 at 7:49pm
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Seriously, you don't know what the situation really is. The boy may have lost his dog, or he may have invented a dog which he lost when he saw you with one, or they could just be neglectful dog "owners". It's all hearsay and conjecture at this point. I think you need a third party whose only priority is the wellbeing of the pup. Is there a local corgi rescue or a local dog rescue? You may need them to come in and mediate. Tell them the situation- let them do any contacting which is necessary. You don't know if you have a dangerous domestic situation next door (if it is animal neglect domestic abuse normally isn't far behind). Look after yourself as well as your new four legged friend. JM2¢
Ziska
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Comment by Parker on August 26, 2008 at 3:10pm
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Oh, what a messy situation! Sorry you're going through this! One time, when I was a kid, we had an Australian Shepherd wonder onto our property. We lived in the country and a lot of people dumped dogs out there. So usually, we just ended keeping them. But this was a very pretty, obviously pure-breed dog, so my mom and dad asked around about him. No one claimed him. Turns out, like 3 months later, a couple stop at our house because they see the dog in the yard. They say it's thiers and that they live near our house and that it got out of the yard. But once the lady realized that my brother had gotten attached to it and that we had been taking such good care of it, she said we could keep it. Now, they didn't show up until a while after we had the dog and they obviously didn't go looking for it or put up signs or anything, so we figure they didn't really want the dog that much anyway.
Maybe that will be the outcome in this situation!!
I think everyone here is giving great advice! Let us all know how it turns out!
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Comment by Alla on August 26, 2008 at 2:03pm
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In case it's their corgi, you might want to suggest that kids would go to your place and play with Doc. May be this arrangement would be best for the parents who don't want a dog in the first place?
I think you already have rights to that dog. My heart is with you! Good luck!
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Comment by Caitlin on August 26, 2008 at 12:45pm
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Maybe it's possible that your daughter said, "we found a corgi!" and this little boy saw an opportunity to create a missing corgi story. It's amazing some of the things kids come up with!
I really hope this works out in your favor! I'm hoping it's just a case of a kid with a over-active imagination.
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This is such a heartbreaking situation. As hard as it is, the right thing to do is what these folks here have said. Offer to buy Doc from them if they can't care for him. Maybe Doc had behavior problems in their home and you could offer to adopt a different breed for the boy? I had the same thought as Colleen, since little kids do have a tendency to fib.
It would break my heart to return him to a home where he is obviously not cared for. I hope this works out well for you and for Doc too.
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Comment by Katie on August 26, 2008 at 11:36am
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Hi Starr,
Wow, you do have quiet a difficult situation. The right thing to do is exactly as Sam and LouAnne stated above. Go over to talk to the parents, preferably without the small boy around. It does sound like the dog was neglected and possibly no longer wanted or cared for. Feel out the situation with them.."Did you have a dog?" " What happened to him?Don't offer to give the dog right up at the top of the situation. Offer yourself as an out for them. Tell them how you found him wandering- but don't be accusatory just say you didn't see any signs or anything.
A long time ago, the owners of the house next door to where I boarded my horse repeatedly let their little puppy out loose. He was a little basset hound puppy. I would watch him and make sure that he didn't get hurt by the horses. When owners would get home, I would tell them that their dog got loose and I was afraid that he would get hurt. Well, the would take him and spank him. He didn't do anything wrong- they just didn't keep him in a safe enclosure. This happened so many times. My friend told me I should just take him, but I had a guilty conscience about taking someone's dog. Three months after the last time I returned him, he got loose, but not in the pasture. He ran out into the street and was hit by the car. I should have taken him.
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Comment by Colleen on August 26, 2008 at 11:14am
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What an awful situation this is! I agree with the above though you should go speak to the parents alone- I cant imagine that any person that was missing an animal would not search for it for at least a day or two. Who knows the little boy could be fibbing-as children often have a tendency to do. Best of luck to you and Doc-you just have to think that things will work out for the best!
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Comment by Sam Tsang on August 26, 2008 at 10:36am
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My heart and priority is with the boy, I will be very upset if i was the boy, no one should take away the dog from him, if something like this happen to me, I will remember it for the rest of my life. So i will treat this matter like a divorce, it is never the children's fault, always put them as the priority.
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