A few years back while I was in the middle of making dinner for my three sweet musketeers, somehow the dog got out. I remember hearing my oldest, who was 8 at the time, yell “Momma! I win! The puppy is free’. Mark my words, that kid is going to be an animal activist.

I grab my shoes, some puppy treats and outside I go….

 

I could see the dog on the other side of the cul-de-sac, just frolicking around, enjoying his freedom. As I started calling out to him, my sweet entourage is following me. So as I jog to try to get the dog it starts to sound something more like…..

“Puppy, here puppy. Jack-Jack, can you go put on pants please. Puppy! Maddie Dinky Doo, can you put on some shoes, Sweetheart? Puppy! Em, Sweetie, I know you’re cold Angel, why don’t you go put on a jacket? Puppy! Here Puppy!”

The neighbor lady appeared in her front lawn and seems to be just watching with a smile on her face, like she’s been here and is living vicariously through me and my moment of chaos that I am parading around the cul-de-sac. (In my head she grabbed a drink and pulled up a lawn chair, but I don’t think that REALLY happened, did it?)

This is about the time the other neighbors’ family drives up in their minivan. I wave, they wave. He lifts his arm; presses his garage door button on his car visor & out runs his dog. This teeny, tiny, fluffy thing. I don’t think he noticed as he kept driving up his drive way and you hear this yelp & his car does the slightest bump up. Uhhhhh, isn’t he already over the curb? What the heck was that?

He stops his car for the slightest second & then puts it in reverse and does it again. Yelp & bump.

I run over, in a divot of their yard, where the driveway meets the grass there is the teeny fluffy dog. I go into mom mode and I NEED to pick up this poor dog! Poor Sweet Dog! ‘I’m here, I will save you!’

As I go to pick up this dog, I can only imagine what I look like to this sweet animal, some crazy Sasquatch that is going to run over her yet again. So, what does this dog do? Yup, she bites me. Hard. Good for you Doggie. I totally get it.

Her owners sweep in and rush her off to the puppy hospital (she ends up being completely fine and is still alive today. It did cost them quite a pretty penny, but I wanted to make sure you, my sweet reader, were ok. The dog is good and living a full, tire free, life)

Ok. Here I am, now bleeding profusely…back to my circus and my monkeys… Jack-Jack, please put on pants My Love? Somehow our silly dog senses I am at my limit and feels pity for me and comes running up to me so I can now put him in the house so I can corral up these kiddos to pile in our car to head out to the people hospital to grab myself some stitches and a tetanus booster.

 

So what have we learned here today?

 

Well, my therapist would go into this big huge thing on how I want to save and protect everyone…blah blah blah.

 

I think I’m learning that neighbor lady and her umbrella drink and lawn chair are on to something. But today, I love my circus & my monkeys and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
I asked myself today if I would do this any other way if this situation happened again. It hurts my heart that the possible right answer is to NOT try to help the poor dog and I’m afraid that yes, I would try to help her again.
Maybe the real lesson here is that Darren needs to get better medical coverage?