What's a nice dog like you doing in a blog like this? Part 1

A few weeks ago I had a chance meeting with a stray dog when she showed up where I work in town. Some local folks had spotted the dog running in the street. They chased it over to the sidewalk and into the store where I'm employed. The dog was friendly but obviously lost. I like dogs so it didn't bother me that the dog had come inside. I thought the owner would be close behind so I let the dog roam around for a few minutes. The folks who chased the dog off the street came in to make sure the dog was OK. While we were talking and waiting hopefully for someone to come in looking for a dog we noticed the dog's collar had a rabies tag on it. We checked the tag. It had been issued by the Lewisburg Animal Clinic in Lewisburg, TN. The tag was dated, numbered and included the name, address and phone number of the animal clinic.

The very nice people who got the dog out of traffic called the Lewisburg Animal Clinic. The clinic was given the location and description of the dog along with the tag number, date and a brief update on where and how the dog was found. The representative at the clinic said she would check the tag information and call back. After about thirty minutes the good Samaritans had to be on their way. The dog was secured in the back of the store where she could see what was going on while I called the animal clinic. The representative told me they were working on finding information and would call as soon as they came up with it. An hour goes by and now it's time to close the store. Haven't heard anything from the animal clinic. Can't leave the dog at the store. Looks like I'm taking the dog home until Lewisburg tells me who the owner is.

The dog did not have a problem with this at all and immediately made herself at home in my chair. I had obviously put this chair in the living room for her.

The next day I made another call to the animal clinic. Well this time it looked like we might have some good news. Wrong. The animal clinic folks think the tag was issued to a Labrador Retriever. Well, unless the Labs in the Lewisburg area are different than what I'm used to I don't think we've hit pay dirt yet.

The next day I called the clinic and spoke to a different person. This person had no knowledge or information on my situation. Once again I gave them all the information on the tag. They said they would look into it. I called back later in the day for an update. I told the woman that I didn't want to bother her, I just wanted to find the dog's owner who I also thought would want to find the dog. The animal clinic was still unable to tell me who the dog owner was.

The next time I called the clinic (by the way, the clinic never called me) I found out why it was taking so long to find out who the dog belonged to. The friendly clinic person told me that the numbers stamped on the rabies tags are recycled every year. As tags are issued the information is supposed to be entered into their computer system with the tag issue year preceding the actual tag number. But that's not what has been happening in Lewisburg. Tag numbers are being recorded over a period of years with no year prefix. It is so confused that the Lewisburg Animal Clinic can't tell you the breed, owner or much else about a lost dog even when the dog has a rabies tag with a date and number on it. Even their own explanation of the problem makes no sense.

Day after day the dog waited patiently in my chair while I searched lost and found records, gave up totally on expecting any help from Lewisburg and decided it was time to give the dog a name.

Stay tuned for part 2. There's more to this dog than meets the eye.