Even The Strays Are Happy Here

Today I walked up to the post office to get our mail and give Craig a break. When I arrived there I was greeted by an airdale mix dog. I had never seen it before. He had the curly hair of an airdale, but the fur on the back side of him looked shaved, close to his skin. The front half of him was on the shaggy side. He had his mouth open and his tongue sticking out and he looked like one happy dog. No one at the post office had seen him before.

After picking up the mail and talking with a few people from town I headed home. I would say the dog followed me home but he ran ahead of me. It was like he knew where I was going. He kept going the same direction as myself about 50 feet in front of me. When I crossed the bridge over King Salmon Creek he stopped in the middle of the road. Not that traffic is heavy on the only paved road in town but a car was coming and I didn't want the dog to get hit so I called to it and it came. It ran right over to me and licked my hand. I told it to be careful and continued my way home.

Again the dog walked ahead of me all the way back to the house. When I reached our driveway he was sitting there waiting for me. Our neighbor is a law enforcement ranger and I figured she would know what I should do about the stray. I knocked on her door and when she opened it the dog walked right in. she looked at me and asked why I was bringing her a dog. I told her that it had followed me home from the post office and I didn't want to be accused of stealing someones dog and maybe she could tell me what to do with it.

First we called the dog back outside before he met up with her two cats then she told me that strays just follow a person and if you leave them alone they will follow another until they get their new home but the dog that followed me home was not skinny like a stray so it would probably go home on its own if we just let him alone. We talked a few more minutes then I went to my house. When I opened the door he walked right in. Camille (our dog) and him checked each other out then he went upstairs like he owned the place and said hello to our cat and to Craig. I finally got him back out of the house. I felt so guilty about leaving him outside I went and got some of Camilles food and went out the backdoor to see if I could find him. I didn't have to go far he was lying on our deck like he owned the place. I put down the dish of food snd he sniffed it but wasn't interested in eating anything so I now knew he was being fed by someone. I went back inside and tried to ignore him. He stayed on the deck for about a half an hour then disappeared. Later the neighbors chickens got out. I heard that our stray had something to do with that. The whole time he was here he had a smile on his face and seemed like he didn't have a care in the world. I wonder where he has gone.