Man's Best Friend?

Thursday morning Roberta and I left to spend a couple of days relaxing in Fredericksburg. We left our dog, Buddy (that's his picture to the left), under the watchful care of our neighbor, Lorrae. Basically, Buddy can stay in the backyard during the day and just needs to come in at night.

So, we were in Fredericksburg having a good time. We had a wonderful lunch at Mamacita's and we were just about to enter the Bush Museum to review the history of the Pacific Operations during World War II. However, literally moments after purchasing our tickets we got "the call." Lorrae went by the house, the side gate was open and Buddy was no where to be seen. There had been a breakout!

Now to be fair, I had gone through that gate earlier in the morning and there is the possibility that I did not close it tight. Also, it was windy and the combination of not shutting it tight and the wind could have opened the gate. Either that or Buddy is a lot smarter than he lets on.

So what could we do? We had to drive back to help with the search for Buddy. As we're driving back I'm was imagining all the things Buddy could have done and all the damage he could have caused, but when we were close to home we got the call that Buddy had been picked up and was being held by Animal Control. Should be Animal Out -of-Control if you ask me.

When we arrived to bail him out, we were greeted by everyone with "Oh, you're Buddy's people." It appears that Buddy had found a house near ours with two dogs inside. Those dogs wanted to come out and play with Buddy. Looks like Buddy was encouraging these dogs to break out also but the lady of the house called the authorities. When they came to pick Buddy up he willingly jumped in the truck. On one hand that is a scary thought to know he will happily drive away with anyone but at least it kept "resisting arrest" off his record.

Yes, Buddy has a record now. He has a "file" with the authorities. I don't know if they paw-printed him or took a mug shot, but they definitiely will have a eye out for this criminal. He's the first one in our family to have a criminal record. There was a suspenseful moment as well when they told us that the law required all runaway dogs to be fixed within 30 days. Buddy started to sweat and look a little sick, but his membership in AKC saved him.

Buddy is safely back at home now. I don't know if he is on any kind of probation, but we'll be monitoring his activities a little more closely. And, yes, we returned to Fredericksburg, toured the museum and were able to have a nice relaxing time even though I was ready in case we got another "call."

Proverbs 12:10 says, "A righteous man has regard for the life of his animal." Thank you, Lord, for using Buddy to sanctify me.