By "funny" I do not mean "haha" ... I mean funny as in weird, as in sad, as in odd, as in "whatthehelliswrongwithyoupeople?!?!"
Yesterday I stopped by the grocery store on the way home from the gym. As I pulled in, I noticed a black dog running around the lot, darting in and out of cars [both parked and moving]. I assumed she [it turned out to be a she] had hopped out of a vehicle and her owner would be in pursuit. By the time I found a parking space, it became clear this was not the case. It also became clear that NO ONE was going to try and catch the dog to help find it's owner. Every person in the lot would either stand and watch her for a second before going about their merry way or pretend not to notice- store employees included. The dog was obviously scared, and wouldn't come to me when I called her. It took me 20 minutes of following her around before anyone even tried to help me catch her. I was shocked at how many people walked right on by, assuming SOMEONE ELSE would help. Why are people so hesitant to step up to the plate and so content to let others take care of things? For each person that ignored the problem, the dog was that much more likely to get hit by a car or run away and never be found.
Some sweet man finally helped me catch her, and it turns out her name was Elvis. I walked Elvis to my car, turned on the A/C, and gave her some water. After a few minutes she realized I was there to help her and she began to trust me. Elvis had three numbers on her tag; no one answered at the first two. At the 3rd, a man answered. He was the father of the woman whose family owned Elvis. He also left messages for his daughter and son-in-law [the first two numbers on the tag] and advised me to look for a large red diesel truck in the lot, as that is what Elvis's family drove. As luck would have it, the truck was parked near me. I waited until the family came out to unload groceries and walked Elvis over to them. It turns out they had left Elvis in the bed of the truck unattended [with no water] while they shopped inside. At this point, it had been about an hour since I pulled into the store parking lot. I also had not received a call back from either of the two owners. When I approached Elvis's father, he barely looked at me, did NOT thank me, called Elvis a "bad dog," and made her hop back up in bed of the truck. [Although her owner did not thank me, I did receive two very sweet and grateful phone calls later; one from the father, and one from Elvis's "aunt" (as she referred to herself) who was the kind soul that originally found Elvis in a ditch and nursed her back to health as a gift for her sister.] It was much less about the lack of "thanking" than about the attitude of the owner in general.
My husband later pointed out to me that Elvis's dad might have been embarassed by the situation and that could explain why he acted the way he did. Maybe he was embarassed, and was unsure how to act when I approached him with his hot, tired, and thirsty dog who had been on the loose for an hour. I hope this is the case, and they provide a great home for Elvis- because she deserves it.
Next time you see a loose dog, I hope you think of this story. If everyone thinks "someone else will help" then NO ONE will ever help. As Ghandi said, "be the change you want to see in the world." In my case, the change was getting a scared dog back to her owners [although the jury is still out on whether or not they deserve her].
