I was reading in my living room. I heard a loud thump and looked out my window: a black dog I’d never seen before was standing on top of my car (having just jumped up onto it).
This guy has been hanging around my house ever since. He’s been jumping my backyard fence regularly, destroying it every other day, and he’s jumped over the half door into my house once. He really wants to live here. I admire his tenacity and his acrobatics. I think he’s beautiful.
I can’t keep him here: honestly TOO MANY dogs (some are mine, some are fosters), no place to quarantine him; he’s already making quarantining my 3 not fully vacc.d puppies VERY VERY DIFFICULT; I am exhausted.
He’s always here, except when he’s rolling in the neighbors’ veggie patches (getting me and my dogs in trouble). I’m starting to feel stalked: he keeps looking in my windows… when I wake up, there he is, staring in at me… at night he sits outside my back door (having broken down my fence yet AGAIN) and howls (a very low, sweet, lonely howl…).
My cat has been gone since Saturday; she won’t or can’t come home, I’m guessing it’s because that dog has taken to sleeping under the window she uses as her entrance/exit (that spot is actually the only dry spot left on my premisis in all this rain).
Weird because she is a cat who grew up with dogs… she’s tough with all of them and she trains the new ones till they worship her and do her every bidding. But maybe this one’s too much for her. or she’s just finally had enough and is boycotting my home.
This dog is scared of people; he used to run away when he saw me, tail-tucked, and sort of skittery. He seemed like a wild dog; I thought he’d move on soon; I ignored him utterly.
Then one morning he saw me with a container (empty unfortunately) and he wagged his tail and sat down in a rain puddle, it was the first time we made eye contact. After that he started hanging really close to my house. I feel for him even though he’s destroying my life (okay, maybe not my life, just my fence and my relationship w/ my cat and my relationship w/ my neighbors and my sleep at night and my ability to keep unimmunized puppies safe…).
My neighbors’ and friends’ advice:
*“beat him and/or chase him away” (but I can’t… he’s already really scared of people; this is probably the first place he’s been to in a while where the people didn’t try to scare/beat him).
*“whatever you do DON’T feed him” (actually I seriously didn’t for 2 weeks… but he still didn’t go anywhere and he was literally getting skinnier and skinnier before my eyes, ribby; I decided that I couldn’t just sit by and watch him starve on my doorstep; also malnourished he’s more likely to get sick and that would be ridiculous: more difficult then to help him and unsafe for the rest of my pack, risk of contagious disease).
*“call the authorities and have him taken to the pound” (again I can’t: our local shelter, although run by some very good people who really like dogs, has a very very low adoption rate and a very very high euthanasia rate; him in would mean the death of another as they’re always at full capacity, and I’m not going to send this guy there to die just because he’s inconvenient and in the way).
SO I hope to help him. I’ve been feeding him so he’ll trust me enough so I’ll be able to take him in to the vet and have him checked for a microchip and neutered. It’s going slow; he’s still very scared.
I REALLY need a place for him to stay that’s not here; either adopt him please if you take a liking to him in the below photos, I’ll send more of him if you like!; or foster him if please if you’ve got a little space and the inclination: I’ll get him neutered and immunized and I’ll help find him a home… with some love and safety I think he will blossom!!
he just really needs a place to stay in the meantime.
Here he is:
Nice ears ay?! Can anyone help me w/ him??!!
If I weren’t already in so much trouble w/ my neighbors and my cat, I’d take him in, he’s lovely and circus material. BUT there is literally no place for him to stay here now (except for the cat’s entrance route and I want him GONE from there soon! I miss my cat!!! I’m so sad!).