Found: Lost Dog

Around 2 am last night I heard Mana (my cat) a.k.a. Trouble, running around in the backyard. He snuck out and I heard the bell on his collar ringing like mad. I turned on the light in the backyard expecting to see a white cat about to get his ass kicked by me. Instead I find this sweet male Siberian Husky.




































What?! Huh? I thought maybe I was seeing things...it was late and I was half asleep. Bubba was confused about what I was screaming to him from the next room. I kept yelling, "There's a husky in the backyard!!" You'd think he'd come running over. Bubba and his sister both shared a husky named Kiva and she passed away last year. If I never knew one I would've been hesitant to approach this dog. This dog was very sweet and clean. He had no collar. We determined that he was chasing Mana outside and they ran back into the backyard through the broken slat of the fencing. We couldn't keep him outside because he'd escape again so I let him stay inside and he slept in our bedroom. We had to keep Abbey (our dog..a Newfoundland) and him separate. Fortunately Abbey didn't have a clue he was there. He was a good dog. He didn't bark. He never wanted to stray far from me. Since I didn't know his name I called him, "Hey You". He made himself at home and fell asleep at the foot of the bed. I so wanted to keep him...but I know how Huskies are...they always want to escape and go exploring. It would be insanity. It's already crazy with Mana - The Escape Artist.





















This morning "Hey You" didn't wake up until I did. Bubba called the animal shelter and of course they are closed today and tomorrow. All we needed was a place that could check if he is microchipped. **light bulb on!** I remembered that my boss told me about a new emergency vet hospital that opened up in the area and they should be open on a Sunday. We called, told them our situation, and they said they would be able to help us. Fortunately we found out he was microchipped but the microchip company said the owners never registered him. Fortunately the place that mirochipped him did...long story short we learned that the dog lived one street over from us, has already been impounded twice and animal control made the owners get him microchipped because he escapes a lot. Also, his license and registration are expired. The emergency vet called the owner's cell and left a message. Before we left the owner called back and talked to Bubba. Owners were out of town...ugh. We found out his name is Zieto. I thought Bubba meant Zito, as in Barry Zito, one of the A's pitchers. I'm thinking...maybe this dog was meant to find me!!!

She said they would call someone to meet us. We took the dog back to their house. While waiting Bubba found where the dog escaped...he dug under the fencing. We also checked out their backyard and we were not impressed by the conditions of where the dog was staying. He was chained up with a short tie out. He was drinking water out of a bucket, his food "bin" was full of nasty dog kibble, and the whole area was dirty. It was the worst case scenario...very much everything I was worried about finding. My heart seriously ached for this dog. We didn't want to leave him! But things didn't make sense. Zieto wasn't starved for attention, he wasn't hungry even though he was on the skinny side, and he was very clean and seemed well taken care of....yet we find that. When Bubba talked to the owners they didn't sound as worried or thankful as they should've been. An uncle who lived close by met us. The dog seemed happy to see him and Bubba asked questions making sure Zieto was well taken care of. We weren't totally convinced but we left him with the uncle who put him back in the backyard. I mean what else could we do? We don't know these people and don't want to falsely accuse them of anything. I'm still not feeling good about this. Zieto..I hope Kiva is watching over you. You're too sweet of a dog to be treated poorly and I really hope we're overreacting. We can't help it. *sigh*