Outdoors - Abandoned

   I do not understand people. They must think, if they no longer want a dog, they can take it out into the country and drop it off where it will live an idyllic life, roaming the hills or finding a nice farm family to take it in. Nothing can be further from the truth. 

   There are several things that can happen to an abandoned dog, dropped off by its heartless owner. The most likely thing is it will be attacked and killed by coyotes. Coyotes are territorial and will gang up and kill another canine that encroaches on where they live. Domesticated dogs are not efficient enough at hunting to catch enough food to sustain themselves. Left on their own, they will likely starve. Since they cannot run down a deer or rabbits, the only available food source left is sheep or calves. This will get a dog shot by the farmer protecting his livelihood. If the abandoned dog lives long enough to find a farmhouse, it will most likely not be welcomed by the farmer and probably be attacked by the resident farm dog or dogs. Dropping off a dog in the country is a cruel and cowardly thing to do.

   About 2:00 on Saturday morning, my wife and I were awakened by a dog’s persistent barking. At first, I thought was Jag, barking in the garage. When I got up, Billie was looking out of the bedroom window and I could tell, it was not Jag barking. I saw a medium sized white dog near the house, barking up the driveway. I went outside and yelled at him to shut up and go away. He ran off into the nearby timber. I went back to bed and thought no more of the incident until the next morning. My wife and I were working in the yard when I saw the dog again. He was not someone’s hunting dog that wandered off; he was just a pup that was scared to death.

   I locked up Billie and Jag so they would not attack it. We tried to call the pup to us, but he was too afraid of humans to trust us. He ran to the house and wanted in. I locked him on the porch and gave him some food and water. He hesitated at accepting either, but hunger and thirst soon overtook his fear. Unable to think of any acceptable solution to what to do with the poor dog, my wife decided to call the sheriff’s office. The dispatcher said she would contact the deputy on duty. Shortly, we received a call from Deputy Murry of the Davis County Sheriff’s Department. He said he would stop out and thought he could find a shelter that would take our stray.

   When Deputy Murry arrived, we could immediately tell he was a dog person. He had as much empathy for the starving dog as we did. He was able to approach the frightened pup and get a leash on him. Deputy Murry thought the young dog had been on its own for at least a couple of days and was also surprised coyotes had not killed it. Not knowing what was going to happen next, the pup was hesitant to get into the vehicle. From what he had been through, I was not surprised. A short time later, Deputy Murry called us to let us know, the poor dog had been taken by the shelter.

   It angers me that anyone could abandon a dog like this. They trust us and depend on people. It might take quite a while for this dog to trust people again.