[today, i saved a doggie] in 2015

(This entry blatantly stolen from my accounting to friends via Gmail this afternoon.)

“So it’s 39 degrees right now, windchill of 32 (0 C), and dropping as the cold front passes by. Everything is still wet from this morning’s rain and generally nasty. I put on my big girl jacket and fat-shaming shoes and went for a walk after lunch. 0.4 miles away, I found a cold, wet Shih-Tzu/Spaniel mix at a busy roundabout intersection full of drivers afraid to proceed. So I lured it to the median/middle, waved the cars on, and got a hint from a grateful driver to ask around at the next door pub if anyone recognized it. I carried the dog into the pub, no dice. But the hostess took pics to post on FB. (edit: which still haven’t shown up. :( )

Cue carrying the 20ish lb dog 0.4 miles back to my car, with a brief stop at the dog groomer nearby to ask around again, get a vet rec, and pick up a sympathetic towel to dry the dog off and try to warm it up. The dog never resisted me or anything, just shook and huddled closer, which was awesome because I was kind of afraid of getting my face bitten off or the dog running away even further from home. She was really old and gray with only one eye that was hazy with cataracts, so no way in hell I was just letting her go. I ended up waving to some coworkers in the parking lot and driving her to a nearby vet a few minutes away. She was so good in the car, too! Laid down and wagged her tail.

Turns out, she had no collar but was microchipped, and when the vet assistant called the numbers associated, the owner–a little old lady–was actually across the street from the vet at the bank. So she came straight over and got “Toto” and voila, happily ever after!

Except for the part where my right bicep–the arm supporting the dog’s butt–is completely juiced out. I can barely text. I can’t really lift my wrist to type, so bad posture ahoy. Holy eff, THAT WAS MY WORKOUT FOR THE DAY.

But yaaaay, little old sweet cuddle doggie isn’t going to be cold and wet tonight. :D I wanted to get a picture of that sweet old face that kept giving me kisses (especially after I dried her ears off), but… no arm, lol. And Toto kept headbutting my hands to pet her more. :D”

Don’t get me wrong–I had plenty of apprehensions about approaching a strange dog, about picking up a strange dog, about carrying a strange dog, about putting it in my car and driving. But the alternative, of putting this shivering, passive, wet dog down in freezing weather and hoping for the best, was absolutely not happening. I thought about letting her walk behind me, but there were cars racing past, and she was so cold and wet. Hugging her to my chest it was. So I’m lucky that I didn’t touch a sore joint wrong or scare her, that she was well-trained in cars and didn’t freak out. I think I did well in luring her, in making small motions indicating my next action so I didn’t startle her, in balancing her weight, in not making too much eye contact with her one eye.

I wish I had a picture of my fluffy gimpy-faced friend with two rows of bottom teeth and only one eye and more gray hair than I could count, but I only had two arms, one of which was barely usable. Oh well. :) Hopefully, she hasn’t escaped again, and she’s safe and warm with her mommy.