Everybody loves a Cupcake!

I had no sooner said that I was done with rescue when I got a semi-frantic phone call from my sister stating that she found a dog lying on the side of a country road.  Concerned for the dog’s welfare, my sister stopped but the dog was growling and snarling at her so she needed help with the dog.  We chatted for a few minutes and agreed the pup had probably been hit by a car and was acting aggressive due to fear or pain.  The Reluctant Farmer, Katzya and myself quickly loaded up the car with a leash, crate, and salami intent on rescuing this dog.

When we arrived the little dog was lying just as my sister had described: in the ditch.  I approached the dog and immediately was greeted by growling and an impressive display of shiny white teeth.  The ditch was fairly deep and I asked my sister how she even noticed the dog was there and she explained that whenever anyone stopped at the stop sign the dog’s little head would pop up out of the ditch like she was looking for someone.  I asked her if she had seen the dog move and she stated the dog did briefly stand up but quickly crouched back down into the ditch as soon as the car passed.

I stood there a few brief moments before making a few quick assumptions about the dog: 

1)  She was not socialized and that was the cause of a lot of her fear.

2)  Someone she trusted dumped her on the side of the road, because she was looking at every car hoping it was “her person” coming back for her.  (About broke my heart!)

3)  If she could stand then hopefully she had not been hit by a car.  Also, because she had the ability to stand, she could move quick enough to bite me.  (Thank goodness she was a small dog!  Small teeth = smaller puncture wounds!)

I decided to use the leash as a lasso and attempted to throw it around the dog’s neck but missed when one of her ears slipped out.  She was very angry with me at this point, so I tossed some turkey next to her feet and attempted to lasso her as she bent down to sniff it.  It worked, and the next part happened lightning quick!  Suddenly, on the end of the leash I had this snarling, screaming, urine splashing, poop infused beast that was bucking and rolling all around the ditch.  I had no choice but to stand there, reeling her in, like a person that was chartered for a deep sea fishing excursion.

We immediately took this girl to a veterinarian who examined her and agreed she had not been hit by a car.  She could not find anything else wrong with her other then very long toenails and severe fleas.  She confirmed that the dog was probably dumped.  We took the dog home with us, and called the animal shelter the next day to report her as found on the off chance that she was someone’s pet that had been stolen or a newly rescued pet that had run away.  The shelter employee assured us that if anyone called for the dog she would give them our phone number so they could pick up their dog.  No one ever called, so we officially became the foster parents of “Cupcake” on Friday and she will be up for adoption through Lost & Found K9 Rescue ( http://www.lostandfoundk9rescue.com ) as soon as she gets spayed.