Brutus...

So on Monday when we were leaving for work I was walking the trash bin down to the sidewalk so that the garbage truck would take it away. After I put it by the road I turned to go drop some outgoing mail into the mailbox. Right after I put the mail in the box I felt something hit the back of my knee with a good amount of force. "What the hell?" I said as I turned to see a fairly large white and brindle pit bull smiling up at me. At the very first instant I was a bit nervous...not because I think pit bulls are mean, but because any random dog that just runs up and smacks his head into the back of your leg is a bit strange.

But he was wagging his tail and smiling like only pit bulls can do and wiggling all around, so I reached down to pet him and he was receptive. He had a collar on, but of course there were no tags. He was a good looking dog. A bit skinny but not too bad, very muscular, and good fur. He had a cut on his nose and what appeared to be scrapes on his front legs. He had probably been in a fight with something. But either way he was friendly. As I was trying to walk away to get into the car he followed me. He obviously had been looking for SOMEONE to be friends with. So I decided to grab one of the dog's chains and hook him up in the backyard so that he wouldn't run away again or get hit by a car or whatever. I hooked the chain around the axle of the riding lawn mower and hooked him up to the other end. I opened the shed so that he could lay in it if he wanted to. He got pretty jumpy. I think Cathy was a bit scared because he was jumping and barking on her, but he was still wagging his tail and showing no signs of aggression, so I think he was just behaving badly and trying to have some fun.

I went to work and when I got there I called Animal Control. They told me that to have an animal removed I needed to dial 911. Well, I work in a totally different county than where I live, so calling 911 from work would've gotten me through to a completely different dispatch center. So I called the township's non-emergency line and the guy there told me that he couldn't send anyone to pick up the animal when nobody was home. He told me the reason for this was that they would have no way to verify that I wasn't just calling to have my neighbor's dog taken away. I can live with that. He told me that if I could keep the dog overnight that I should call 911 the next morning and they would send someone out to pick him up.

We came home from work a few hours early hoping Animal Control would still be open. They weren't. I then walked to a few houses around the neighborhood that obviously had people still up and asked if they knew anyone that was missing a black and white dog. None of the 10 houses or so I went to had ever seen a dog that looked like that in the neighborhood at all. One guy walks every street in the neighborhood everyday and he even said he'd never seen the dog.

I got home and he was laying like a good dog out in front of the shed. It was 35 degrees. Not very warm for a short haired dog. I called my dad and he said that with some blankets he would probably be okay out in the shed. So I ran to the store and bought a clearance comforter for him. I took a large box and put an old couch cushion in it and taped the front so that there was only an opening big enough for him to get in. I then put the box with the cushion and the blanket in the shed. He immediately ran into it and started digging around getting things situated. I then gave him a rawhide bone that I had bought. I figured that if he had that to chew on it would keep him occupied and he wouldn't bark...and maybe let him keep warm a bit by working on chewing it. Well, that ended up being a mistake because as soon as I gave it to him he ran to the trees out back and "buried" it under them. Then ran back into his "dog house."

I went back inside and when I did he ran back out of the house and barked a few more times. But after a few minutes he went into the house and I didn't see him come back out again. He seemed tired so I'm sure he went right to sleep.

Well, this morning (maybe afternoon) I got up and called Animal Control. He was still out back but now he was running and romping and barking. He had Gordon going pretty crazy in the house. I went outside and got him on a leash to take him out front to wait for the Animal Control officer. While out there he sat on the front porch on the bench with me, chewed almost all the way through my retractable leash, and peed on about everything he could see. We waited about 30 minutes for the Animal Control officer to show up.

When she got there she asked me if he was friendly and I told her he was. She came up and started playing with him. She then told me "White and brindle bull with a Harley Davidson collar?? I've had him in the shelter before..." She told me she's pretty sure that he's the same dog that they've had before and that she'll try to get a hold of the owner. I hope this time if it's the same person they get the dog some tags. He was friendly and I would've gladly walked him home if I knew where home was. But as it is, the owner will have to pay a hefty fine for dog at large, not neutered, and not licensed. To be honest, if I didn't already have a zoo of animals that live in this house, I would've entertained the idea of keeping him. He was a good dog and seemed very affectionate. I had fun with him for the short time that I had him at the house. He's a good dog and hopefully his owner will take better care to make sure he doesn't get away in the future.

Oh yah, for his time with me, I named him Brutus the Barber Beefcake...after that old WWF wreslter...