Rose Cottage Ltd

I’m running a tad behind on my Happy Memorial Day greetings – had an unexpected visitor arrive at Rose Cottage early Sunday morning.

This dog, identified as a Blue Tick Coonhound, has apparently been abandoned in my rural area – those idiots who do this with dogs and cats “assuming” that the animal will suddenly and without warning, be able to fend for itself.

Most can’t.

This dog was relatively clean and healthy although is favoring his right leg. He arrived with no collar and no tags. Upon inspection, his footpad was found to be badly scraped and I’m not so sure that he wasn’t bounced off a vehicle sometime before finding his way to my property. He was probably drawn here by the lake and its water – since he was first seen guzzling lake water near the house. He’s now been here resting for over 48 hours. No one has come down the drive looking for him, notices on local bulletin boards have received no response, and the animal shelter is closed for the holiday.

This puts me in an impossible situation.

The dog has an extremely nice temperament. Yes, he howls once and awhile which I am not used to since my dog CoCo would not be caught dead howling – thinking it’s just not dignified.

He is a rather large, gangly dog I’m guessing is 18 months old or less. Looking at the size of his feet – he will NOT be a small dog but will probably top out at around 70 pounds – same size as my dog CoCo. He’s gotten along with CoCo just fine so far. But CoCo is a predominantly “inside” versus “outside” dog. Keeping this dog will require a bit of extra strategy and scheduling. CoCo is 10 years old and needs a lot less exercise than he used to. This dog will require lots of (supervised) room to run. He will also impact the goslings and other animals that live on this lake.

The dog has not been “fixed” which will have to be done. He’ll also need all the other standard vet trips, inoculations, and exams.

While I’m thinking about these possibilities and trying not to – the alternative keeps popping up. I turn him into animal control, no one comes to adopt him, and this time next week he may be dead. A nice dog, through no fault of his own, will be killed because some human somewhere didn’t take care of this dog in a responsible manner. Roaming, lost, and forlorn animals are to be seen quite frequently in rural areas. City dwellers will sometimes visit the “country” leaving their animal THEY took responsibility for, behind when they leave. I guess I should not be surprised since some people treat their human “children” with not much more regard.

The jury is still out at the moment on what will happen with this dog. He’s a hunting dog and apparently quite prized in some areas. I can either attempt to find him a good home, turn him over to animal control and hate myself for life, or keep him.

More later…