the Competitive Canine of the Carolinas

Part 1 of 3
A Dog-Eared Mystery

By Don Young

A flicker of sun light reflecting off Tanner’s collar caught Carols eye. A man had Tanner’s leash and was leading him out of the brewery’s fenced in area. As she Quickly left her friend and rushed to the gate screaming, a surge of anger and fear welled up inside her. She was several yards away from the open gate when the stranger dropped the leash and ran through the parking lot. Faint and winded she grabbed Tanner’s leash, shut the gate and turned to find her friend sprinting up behind her.

“What the heck was that about?” Judy said. 

“Someone was trying to take off with Tanner. At first, I thought it was that other dog that looks like him. They were playing together. But Tanner’s collar; there’s just no mistaking the rhinestones.” 

“What did that guy think he was doing?” Judy said, “I mean, did he think it was his dog?”  

“Maybe he was embarrassed that he got the wrong dog” Carol said. “So where’s his dog”? It just doesn’t make sense. And why run?” By now, everyone in the park was aware of something bad happening and they were rounding up their dogs. The dog that looked like Tanner was backed up to the fence, cowering and in destress. No one was claiming him. As Carol approached the dog he crouched in a submissive manner. She checked the collar for tags, but the lettering had been scraped off.

They waited an hour for the owner to show up then went to the bar, explained what had happened, gave her name and phone number to the bartender, and said that she would take the dog home and to call her if the owner returned.  

When she left the brewery, she had the nagging suspicion that the dog wouldn’t be claimed. Acting on that thought, she took the route home that went past her vet. She wanted to see if the dog was chipped and if it had any issues that might warrant more investigations.

“Not chipped” was the vet tech’s reply, and other than a few skin lesions, he seemed in relatively good health. The vet knew Tanner was a golden retriever, and this dog, though having many of the same features, was not a pure breed like Tanner. 

Once home, Carol fed the dogs and made the stray comfortable. He got along with Tanner, and he seemed to have lost most of his anxiety from before. Now well fed, the dogs started wrestling. Carol was startled at first, then amused, as the dog ran between her legs, nearly knocking her over, then turned and pounced on Tanner. “Well buddy, you seem to be fitting right in” she laughed as the pup turned, as if in response to her, and produced a wide smile. “So, Buddy is it? Well, I’ll keep that in mind after we sort this all out”. 

While in the kitchen grabbing a late night snack, she composed a strategy for getting some answers. First, she would post on the lost pet forum with a picture and then e-mail a couple of friends, including Judy. She would make some phone calls in the morning.  She sat at the table with her laptop, going through her list, then headed to bed, the crush of the day’s events weighing on her.

In the morning, after pouring juice and powering up the computer, there were several notifications on the forum. Going through these posts a general theme was evolving that grabbed her attention. One after another told the same story: Their dog was either stolen and a similar dog left behind; the stolen dog never found, or, as in Carols case, the man was chased off.  But the last post. This last post in bold type sent chills through her spine.  “Has anyone noticed ALL THE DOGS LEFT BEHIND ARE SIMILAR TO ONE BREED?”  Tanners breed, Carol thought. Oh my God TANNER WAS TARGETED! 

To be continued next month………..