Doggy Dundee

Where, Oh Where, Are These Stray Dogs? Lost?

G’day, Mates! It was a sad day for Doggy Dundee. Three stray dogs in sight and, yet, only one found its way home to an owner as far as we know!

Driving southbound into Ashland on Hwy. 99 there was a yellow lab pup lookin’ to  be about 5-7 months old lopping northbound on the sidewalk.  Doggy Dundee pulled over at the first available driveway (never as close as you want ‘em), grabbed a leash, and ran up the street, but…no lab pup to be seen. That pup could have wandered into any of the driveways along that section and been sniffing in backyards, so Chase and I headed back to the car. We can only hope that stray dog didn’t become a full-fledged lost dog!

Heading home northbound a couple hours later, an Aussie (a mate!) literally stepped in front of our car and sat down in front of us as we drove  Talent Avenue.  I breaked the car as did the gent in an SUV driving southbound; I got outa the car, but the dog wouldn’t have me anywhere near ‘em and off he dashed. Since cars were piling up behind us, I jumped back in and circled ’round about to park. After a short wander of the neighborhood homes, turns out this Aussie was living in a home facing Talent Avenue and was just looking for his owner who’d been doing some repairs. The owner’s response? “He left the porch? Jeez, he’s never done that before.” (Right! ‘Far as you know, mate! And why don’t you have a gate on your porch is what we’re wonderin’?)

Then 11:15 p.m on our late walk, there’s an adult stray dog (Lab-Collie-X (best guess), sniffing some fencing on Wagner Creek Road near Tark’s Market.  Tried to befriend this one, but she sped  ”off-like-a-light” across the street, the market’s parking lot, and down a dark alley northbound. Hoped she was racing home in a panic, but 10 minutes later spotted her fast-paced sihouette disappearing up Wagner Creek Road far west of us; must have circled the blocks. We heard the barks of outdoor,neighborhood dogs starting to set up protests for a long time after that, so this pooch wasn’t known in the area.

Question for me is (always) never where’s the dog, but where the heck is the owner that the stray dog is out wandering!

Craigslist.org Unites Stray Dog and Owner

Tracy Gault of Ashland, Oregon, a buddy of Doggy Dundee, was hailed by a white stray dog wandering near the Ashland Dog Park in the early evening of Friday, April 2. No ID tag (Grrrrrrr…). She added that doggy to her family brood of two all ready in the car, and drove out to the Jackson County Animal Shelter to drop the pooch off, but the animal shelter was closed-gates locked- by the time she arrived. Sigh…Well, what’s a good doggy owner to do, but take the pooch home for the night, right? BUT, Tracy also posted a ”Found” ad on the “Community” listing of Craigs List, describing the dog.

All end’s happily you see, because, though the frantic (crazed!!!!!) owner had not thought about going to Craigs List , the dog owner did know enough to call the animal shelter. The staff took down the dog’s info, but also told the fellow to “check Craigs List” as well as place newspaper lost dog ads, and post fliers. Craig’s List did the trick for this doggy owner, though. The fellow contacted Tracy early today, Saturday morning (4/3), before Tracy could even place a call to the Jackson County Animal Shelter, and the owner and doggy were ecstatic when reunited this morning! “Gosh, it felt so good to see them hugging each other,” said Tracy.

So, whether you find a stray animal or have lost an animal, make certain you post a notice on www.craigslist.org for the state and town/region within which the animal was lost. Place your ad under the “Community” section in that region. They have a category of “Pets” or “Lost + Found,” which are both appropriate in this case, though you may want to change your descriptive heading and terminology in each of those sections least the “powers that be” at Craig’s edit you out of one or the other due to placing a “multiple listing” (though Doggy Dundee thinks such a decision would be ridiculous!).

Thanks to Tracy, and to her tolerant doggy family(Carmen and Bayley) for taking such good care of the stray dog!