Farewell Scooter

A few weeks ago when I was in Bloomington, a stray dog showed up on my sister's doorstep. They live in a fairly rural neighborhood so a random dog showing up every now and then isn't that unusual. Typically, its some dog from down the street out for a walk. Paul, Patti, Katie, Mark and I were out and about and were planning to go to the orchard to get some cider to drink later that night. When we got back to the house, this dog was just sitting on their front porch at the door looking like he was waiting to come home.

The mystery pooch was all white with a few black spots and was not wearing a collar. He did have a cut on his neck and there was a noticeable bulge where an infection had been festering for awhile. Otherwise, he was fine. He was pretty friendly, played well with Alex and was super happy to see us all. Kate gave him some food and it seemed, judging by the speed at which he cleaned out the bowl, like he hadn't eaten in days.

Since the weekend was busy and Katie and Mark didn't really know if they could take on another pet at that moment, they took him to a shelter where we thought he'd get medical treatment for his infection then, hopefully, placement in a good home.

To our surprise, the shelter wasn't too eager to take him since he was injured and they didn't have a vet on on staff. They finally agreed to take him and told my sister they'd call her with an update later in the day. The shelter called later and let us know that they were able to find a microchip in the dog so they would start the process of locating the owner.

My sister just emailed me to tell me that the vet the chip tracked to had no record of any owner of the dog. Furthermore, the dog didn't pass a "temperament" test so it was deemed unsuitable to be adopted and has been euthanized. Katie feels like she killed the dog.

I'm really bummed right now.

Having a pet will change you forever. You look at life completely differently. The biggest mind fuck is having a relationship with another being that is neither human nor speaks English, yet is one of the most intimate relationships you've ever had.

I don't know if this dog had a name, but I'll call him Scooter. Farewell, Scooter. I'm glad we got to meet and I'm sad we couldn't become better friends.