DAY FOUR - THURSDAY, JULY 16, 2009

Claudia went to the Humane Society and spoke to Mike who worked there. She explained the situation about the dog at the vacant business and our concerns about him and asked Mike if he could help her capture the dog. Mike said he would do what he could, but he first had to handle his calls before he could try to capture the dog. Claudia explained to Mike that he would probably have to use the come-along on the dog while he was sleeping as he wouldn’t let anybody approach or get near him. She told Mike he might even find the dog sleeping this morning if he went out to see him. Claudia also asked Mike if when he did capture the dog, he could deliver the dog to her home, but Mike told her by law, he had to take the dog to the Devore Animal Shelter. Claudia told him to put her name down as an interested party if he did take the dog to the shelter.

About an hour later, Mike called Claudia and told her he had captured the dog. He said he felt really bad because he did have to catch him when he was sleeping, and the dog was very upset and had put up quite a fight with the come-along. Mike indicated that the dog had injured his mouth badly on the come-along and warned Claudia that he didn‘t look good. He also told her he didn’t think the dog would be “adoptable” due to the aggressiveness he showed while on the come-along.

Claudia immediately called me, and we both went to the shelter on our lunch break, which was about an hour and a half after the dog had been taken there. While at the shelter, a vet tech named Brenda came out to meet us and walked us to the kennel where the dog was. We found the dog housed in kennel #88, and he was standing in his inside kennel, looking very scared and traumatized. We also noticed that the right side of his jaw was badly injured from him fighting with the come-along. We asked her about the injury to the dog’s mouth, and she indicated if it got swollen or looked as if it was getting infected, the dog would get treated by vet, who would probably be out the next day.

We talked softly to the dog, but he showed no sign of recognition towards us. He just stood back in the corner of his kennel, looking at us, and I'm sure wondering why his world had been turned upside down. We threw some hotdog pieces onto the floor of his kennel, but he showed no interest in eating them at this time. Brenda told us he would eat them later, after we left.

We talked with Brenda for a few minutes, and it was at this time that she explained to us that sometimes, these kinds of dogs come around within a couple days, and some dogs take longer. She then told us she had a dog similar to this one, and though it took a lot of time for him to come around, she had him for sixteen years, and he was the best dog she ever had. She explained that you just have to spend a lot of time with them and have patience and said she used to sit and just read to her dog to get him used to her voice and her presence. She said she thought that with time, our dog would come around too. We thanked her for her time and we headed back to work.

After work, we went back to the shelter to see the dog. He was still quite scared and would not approach us. We were concerned he wouldn’t be able to eat the dry dog food the shelter provided due to the injury to his mouth, so we brought more hotdogs for him. We threw some hotdog pieces onto the floor of his kennel; however, he still showed no interest in eating them at that time. We spent a few minutes, talking to him and assuring him that everything would be okay, and then we left.

As we walked through the front lobby on our way out, we stopped and talked with a Captain Brawley. We must have had a strange look on our face or something as he said, “Now, I know you’re both probably wondering how we can work here. We work here because we know we’re doing the right thing for some of these animals. The fate they would meet if they didn’t come here could be far worse than their coming here.” He spoke to us for about fifteen minutes, and at one point, he did say, “Now, even if this dog that you had brought here today, if it turns out that for some reason he isn’t adoptable or something, you can both know that you did the right thing though by having him brought here.” I replied, “Well, at least he won’t be hit by a car or have something done to him while living on the street.” He replied, “That’s absolutely right! You‘ll know that nothing bad happened to him.” We talked for a couple more minutes, and then Claudia and I left.

On the way home, I remember saying to Claudia, “I thought I would feel elated when he was caught and taken off the street. However, I don’t feel elated at all.” She replied that she didn’t either.