Being Neighborly

The other morning, while on my way to vote in my county's special election, I came down a hill in my neighborhood and saw a large black dog standing in the middle of the road.  I slowed down while he made his way back to the other side of the street, and then pulled over.  I didn't see any people around on foot, so was worried about the dog being loose and possibly getting injured.

As I walked over to him, he came up to greet me and was incredibly friendly.  Checking his tags, I saw that he lived only a couple houses down.  Grabbing his collar, I started heading that direction and he took off at a run.  Obviously he knew where he lived!

There was no car in the driveway and nobody answered the door when I rang the bell.  The back yard was fenced, so I checked both sides of the house but didn't see a gate leading into the yard.  As I started to head back the other direction to check out the screened porch, a car pulled into the drive.

"Is this your dog?" I asked.  The couple responded that he wasn't, but that they had just put him in the yard not more than 15mins ago and he must have escaped again.  Their story was the same as mine; they had driven down the street and seen the dog running loose and were worried about his safety.

I told these mysterious strangers that I was about to knock on the neighbor's door to see if they knew how their neighbor contained their dog or if they had a key to the house to lock the dog up (seeing as he knew how to escape from the yard!).  So, the guy went over and had a brief chat with the neighbor lasting less than 15 seconds.  Apparently the neighbor didn't want to discuss the dog at all.  So much for being neighborly!  Here we were; three complete strangers and the person living next door wouldn't have anything to do with the situation.

We decided to put the dog on the side screen porch and close the door hoping he'd stay put this time.  As the guy coaxed the dog onto the porch, he just happened to try the sliding door and it was open.  So, dog went in the house, we left, and I hope to never see that sweet boy on the street again.

I didn't even think twice about stopping to help this dog (ok, I did stop and think about all the cautionary tales you're told about approaching unfamiliar animals).  Our own dog had once been left outside accidentally, and a neighbor over a block away had brought her back.  We felt both foolish for the mistake and relieved that nothing had happened while she was outdoors.  I'd hate for these unknown dog owners to have something devastating happen to their family because no one was willing to stop and help.

An original DC Metro Moms post.

De also blogs about life in the suburbs and shares her favorite recipes at A Spiced Life.