On the street behind me there is a little Shih-Tzu puppy. I would guess it is around 6 months old or so, definitely a puppy and under a year. This puppy came to my house last Friday during the day. This was about the thousandth time that it has dug a whole under the fence and gotten out. Seriously, this puppy ends up at my house all of the time. Thank goodness it goes through the woods and comes to my house. On the other hand its not so good because there is a fox in the woods behind my house. In any case, the people are never home when I take the puppy back and I usually just fill in the whole and put it back in its fence. I can't keep it at my house because of Zoe being so dominant. The other 5 are fine but not Zoe. This little puppy has a dominant personality also. Anyway, when it came over on Friday I decided that, that was it. I put Zoe in her crate upstairs and I brought the puppy in. The puppy spent all day with me. It's so sweet and calm. She is just a wonderful little dog. I have no idea what her name is so I decided to call her Sheena. Well after a day of moving Zoe back and forth from her crate to her cage, her and I had both had it. So here little Sheena and I go through the woods back to her house. No one was at home and this was 7:30 at night. She showed up at my house around 8 that morning. It wasn't fair to Zoe and I had to take her home. I wasn't going to put her back in the fence so I tried the door. It was open so I just put her in her house. I wasn't breaking and entering. I was just breaking, if it can really be considered breaking since the door was un-locked. They love the puppy and it is well cared for. It has adequate food, water, and shelter during the day. This is not a low class neighborhood so any amount of money that could be spent on shelter for the dog during the day has been provided. The only thing lacking is underground fencing. The puppy is also house-broken so I know it is an inside dog and only stays outside when the people are at work. Here's my main problem. Their next door neighbor has told me that they had another Shih-Tzu before this one and it got out of the fence one day and got ran over;that is when they got this puppy. The next time this puppy shows up at my house what should I do? I am seriously considering calling the Shih-Tzu rescue to come and get her. I am so afraid for this puppies life by the fox and the road. I have had this happen to me before with a couple down the street who couldn't speak English that well. I finally got through to them and they started crating the puppy during the day. I have tried to talk to these people but they are never home. I have gone over all hours of the day. The other possibility is that they could be home (the puppy isn't outside when it is late) and since they don't know me they're just not answering the door. This is why I'm just considering calling the rescue. What do you guys think?
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Saving just one dog won't save the world, but it surely will change the world for that one dog. -Richard C. Call
Hmmm, that can be a sticky situation as you well know.
Let's go on the assumption that they aren't aware this little one is getting loose since it always comes to your house & you always return it. In preparation of the next time (which you know will happen) write a nice letter introducing yourself & explaining the multitude of times that the pup has come thru the woods to your house & how you have been returning it. You can also explain how the pup is getting out & give them some suggestions on how to rectify the problem with burying chicken wire at the bottom of their fence or other methods that would work. Mention the fox, etc. but it keep very friendly & neighborly so as not to put them on the defensive and that perhaps it would be better to keep the pup inside when someone is not home able to watch it until they get the fence situation resolved. Compliment then on how friendly and well-trained their little one is, etc. etc.
