A Shaggy Stray

Over two weeks ago I had a bit of a scare when a collarless dog emerged out of the creek and head right for Indy.  Indy's not dog aggressive.  He in fact will ignore major provocation from small dogs, and tries to defuse situations with larger or more dominate dogs.   That said he has proven willing to try to go head to head with dogs close to his own size that are doggy polite.  He's never bitten another dog, but he has cowed or driven off other dogs.  This dog fit the bill for trouble young, full of energy, and slightly smaller.  Just the type of dog to mistake Indy's laid back tolerance for a submissive dog.

The encounter went fine the dog was happy to see Indy, and even tried engage Indy in play.  Even better he stopped pressing  the issue when Indy, annoyed by the attempt, asserted himself.  At the time I thought nothing of it as I see the occasional loose dog in the creek area.  As the week progressed I noted that a prime cat hang out stopped having cats, but Indy still often stopped to sniff the area.  Also I increasing saw the neighborhood cat closer to the park rather than the cat hangout.

Last week before my vacation I met the dog again, and noted that the dog was far more matted.  He still was friendly, but I noted that he had all the ear marks of a stray.  When I returned I expected to find that he had moved on.   The area regularly used by dog walkers, runners, and bikers.  Not all the dogs walked in the area are friendly to other dogs.  To my surprise not only was he still in the area, but he had establish a den.  Even more surprising is  that he and Indy greeted and he joined us on our walk for a time.  He acted healthy, but I saw warning signs.  Areas where he had gnawed on himself, and continued scratching.

I wandered a bit and ran into some on my fellow dogwalkers.  An older fit gentleman with a high energy you pitbull that always pestered Indy to play, and seem to enjoy Indy running him off.  Said he'd been dened up all week, and like to play with his dog.  The older couple with a flat-coated lab of questionable socialization said they had started feeding him, but were worried they were leaving on vacation soon.

It seemed that a responsible dog lover would call the local shelter and have them send some one out.  Sure some of you are wincing, but this is the Bay Area.  The local shelter has dogs that have been up for adoption for 2 months.  The San Mateo Shelter has a senior pit bull who had been there for years until it was adopted.  I could make sure they knew I'd foster the dog if it came to it.  There are rescue groups around.   It was simple they'd send some one out. I could work from home and lead them right to the dog.  We could lure him with food and Indy.  So I filled out the form on the local animal control site.

 A day passed...  Hmm the 2nd day around 4 I called the non-emergency line.  I was on hold until 5 when they went home.  Thus hatched my daring plan I'd capture the dog my self.  Sure he was wary, and grabbing him with my hand might not go well.  A dog bite needed to be avoided at all cost.  I reported it they come get him to check for rabbis, but it would greatly increase the chance he'd be labeled dangerous and put down.  If I didn't report it I be in for a series of painful shots.

So the obvious thing to do was to gain his trust enough to slip a leash on him.  Deciding that I nicknamed him Shaggy and set out to gain his trust.  I'm sure he's not going to understand my eventual betrayal, but I suspect it will be is his best long term interest.