8:32:39 PM
So this evening, I'm driving into our little neighborhood and what do I run into ? they always find me. Here is this fox houndy sized black dog walking down the middle of the street. And dragging behind him is a serious cable which is at least 50 feet long and at the end is a huge corkscrew stake. I mean big. And he is just mozying his way down the road, only moved a bit off center to let me pass him.
So, I pull over and try to call him and see what he'll do. Having chased many a stray in my day they can really move if they are scared but figured this guy is dragging quite a boat anchor so I had to try. He turns and comes running up to me. Very nice boy, older gray muzzle but nice as can be.
Next check the tags, he has old tags from 2000 and a name and phone number from an area code in the Chicago area 847 but not anywhere near here. I walk up to the nearest house, meet a wonderful lady and her two children. She says she doesn't recognize him and the kids love him. He (Sherman) loves them too. So we decide he's going home with me to the porch while I make some calls to a bunch of the different numbers he has on the 6 or so tags he has.
Banfield. So, DuPage county just puts me on hold and never picks up. I call the Banfield national number he has on a 2006 tag and they put me in a loop, "we will answer your call as soon as someone becomes available", yeah right. After 20 minutes in this loop I decide to try to reach the local Banfield vet and see if they can help. I reach a wonderful young lady who searches their records, takes my name and number so she could try to reach another Banfield in Schaumburg too.
At this point, I run the phone number which doesn't work on his tag through White Pages dot com and it says Glenview. Now they must be someone who moved into the neighborhood recently. From there off to the Tribune to search for all the homes in the neighborhood which have sold in the last couple months so we, me and Sherman, can go door to door looking for home. Right about this time the doorbell rings and there is someone I don't know which must be a friend of Sherman's. Turns out he is Sherm's dad and Sherm likes to go on little field trips like this which is why he has the massive stake he was dragging. He'd started looking around the neighborhood and the woman who's home I stopped at saw him and sent him to me.
Best part of the whole story ? Banfield , who if you don't know are the vets at all the Petsmarts, called back and said that they have a corporate policy that if you find a dog with their tags on him, they will take the dog from you and board them until they can find his/her owner. This is one fantastic policy and Banfield just went up 10 notches in my animal rescue mind.
Oh and the most important part of the story. If you move, update the tags on your dog so he can find his way home as easily as possible.
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