Dog gone....

Went for my usual stroll in the park this evening.  But as the nights are getting shorter, by the time I got home had dinner cleaned up etc., there wasn't much light left in the evening.  But I went anyway and thought I would get around the park at least once with the dog.

A short time down the path I noticed a guy acting strangely down near the river, he was going in and out of the shrubbery and sort of looking a bit shifty.  I kept walking and tried to avoid him.  But because I do a 'figure eight' around the paths I would eventually have passed him again.  So I just kept going and kept my eye on Rusty as he was running wild as usual, smelling every blade of grass like it was the first time he had ever been in the park.  It wasn't too bad out there, the rain had stopped and it was relatively warm.

Anyway came back around the path and Mr Shifty was still there.  He saw me coming and I began to get a bit nervous when he approached me.  I clipped Rusty back on his lead and started to walk a bit faster.  He called out to me, and I for some reason stopped and watched him come towards me.  Yikes!  Do I start to run now or do I stay and practice my self defense moves...

"Hi, sorry to trouble you, but you haven't seen my dog have you?"  (Either that's the best chat up line ever, or he really is looking for his dog). "He's a black and white Collie and his name is Rio"


I know Rio, I often see him in the park, but not usually with this young man.

Apparently Rio has been missing since last night and this guy has been out all evening looking for him.  He was very upset.  How awful.  And shame on me for thinking this poor concerned young guy was up to no good!  He was actually checking underneath the shrubs and bushes to see was his dog trapped in there as he sometimes likes to get into the water for a swim.  I felt duly remorseful for thinking the worst of this guy.  That will teach me to make rash judgments in future!  I offered to help but it was getting too dark to see anything much and he said he was going to go home anyway and maybe Rio would have turned up!

I felt really bad as I watched him walk off still checking the pathway alongside the river.  I hope they do find Rio and he doesn't have to spend another night lost outside.  Maybe somebody will have found him and have taken him in.  I don't know what I would do if I lost Rusty.

Although, sometimes, when I come home and realize that somebody (usually me) has left the kitchen door open and Rusty has run up the stairs and curled up on the end of my bed and slept there all day, or, when I find him standing up on the back of the couch looking out the window, or, when I find a sock under a chair with dog size bites out of it, or, when I see clumps of dog hair floating through my kitchen like tumbleweed, I might be very glad if he was lost....