Chomper update
Poor Chomper! (By the way, that was the name on his tag).
Chomper is the Pomeranian my husband found loose late last night by our house.
http://www.mycorgi.com/profiles/blogs/found-one-chomper
What a sweet little guy who loves people and loves other dogs, but alas he is not crate trained and it turns out he's intact and quite the little marker. My cat was miserable with him here, and Maddie looked like she wanted to crawl in a hole somewhere. Jack steadfastly ignored him for the most part.
So little Chomper (who I started calling Noam Chompsky) had to go to the shelter today. :-(
I called and left messages on all the numbers on his tag (there were three numbers, but the one written in marker was hard to read so I tried several different possibilities). I got no call-backs. I could not take another sleepless night. I figure it would take about a week or so to train a non-crate-trained adult to stay quietly in a confined area and he can't have run of the house because of the marking behavior, and my fear that a fight might break out. It's unfair to us, my current animals and my neighbors to have a dog who barks and barks.
I felt awful taking him. When I came home at lunch to get him, he stood on his hind legs and danced with excitement to see me. When I got his leash he danced some more. Shawn took our two out first and when I joined them, he saw them across the street and got all excited and pranced right up to the group. Clearly he had already decided this was an ok place to be, and when I brought him back towards the house he pranced right up our sidewalk and right to the front door. When I opened the car door he put his little front paws on the seat and then looked up at me and grinned to be picked up and taken for a ride.
I know he'll be easily adoptable if his owners don't show up. He's cute as a button, and has obviously been well-loved and well-cared for. In fact, I think he's been spoiled and thinks he's a little Prince. :) He's dog-friendly and people-friendly.
I just feel bad because I would have gladly kept him here for a couple weeks looking for his people if he was crate-trained.
So my lesson learned from this is to make sure my crate-trained dogs stay comfortable with being crated; you never know when your dog might be an unexpected guest at someone's house and he'll be more likely to be kept there if he doesn't bark like crazy and then pee on every corner. :)
We did not do any of the things that I know to do when bringing a dog into an unfamiliar house, but when you find a dog at 10:30 in the rain and the alarm goes off at 6am, options are limited.
Shawn took a picture with his phone. We'll make some "found" posters and hang them around the park saying he's at the shelter.
I hope his people find him. He had no rabies tag or license, so I had no alternate ways to try to track down his owner. He's not microchipped.
Comment
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Comment by E on May 18, 2011 at 12:20pm
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If you know it's a cell number, then send a text message. I'm very bad about checking my messages but always read my texts.
Did you try posting on the pets section for your local Craigslist?
Hope he's reunited with his owner soon.
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Comment by Beth on May 17, 2011 at 9:19pm
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It's not a no-kill shelter, but it's a low-kill shelter and adoptable animals are given a very long stay.
What I find so strange is that he original two phone numbers on the tag rang to two different people (what sounded like a young man and a young woman) and were obviously cell numbers. On both messages I left my cell# and said that if they are not the owners but know who the owners are, could they please call. I find it strange that neither party called back. People usually check their cells regularly, even if they are traveling.
Chomps was a little spooky and we actually almost lost him when we tried to catch him the first time; he ran off but then thought better of it and came back. Once he was leashed, though, I think he figured that we were now in charge and just behaved himself. I got the impression more that he was out for a good part of the day and was scared, rather than that he was shy. Monday was not a nice day here at all.
I just feel bad because since I was still a young adult and living at home with my parents, I've found two or three dogs and three cats and never taken an animal to the shelter before. We had a husky that howled a bit but never had one that just barked non-stop. The dogs we found were reunited with owners and the cats were kept or rehomed. This guy barked whenever we'd go out of sight and while I realize fear of a strange place was part of it, I got the distinct impression that he came from somewhere where he was never required to be out of the sight of his owner.
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Comment by Jennifer Markley on May 17, 2011 at 8:47pm
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I'm sure he'll get a home...if he's that friendly. Hopefully he just wandered off looking for a good time since he wasn't neutered...is the shelter a no-kill?
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Comment by Natalie, Lance &Tucker on May 17, 2011 at 8:15pm
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I know it was hard to bring Chomper to the shelter, but you did what you could do. At least he still isnt wandering out in the open. He will be safer at the shelter than just wandering. Sounds like he will find a home without a problem. Thanks for helping him.
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Comment by Jane Christensen on May 17, 2011 at 8:00pm
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I would guess that if someone were going to drop off a dog they'd take off the tag? Glad he's at least safe and off the streets and can find a new home if his owners don't look/find him.
Thanks Beth for doing all you could do given the situation! I'm sure Chomper "thanks" you too!
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Comment by Yuki & Ellie on May 17, 2011 at 7:50pm
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Aww, you did what you could. :( Who knows how many people encountered him before you finally took him in. Hopefully his family will find him and he can go back to his own home. And hopefully he didn't make any puppies while he was out wandering around.
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