as i pulled out onto my road this morning, i saw a brown dog trotting down the middle. his tail was tucked up tight against his belly and he kept shooting worried glances over his shoulder. i pulled over and opened my door, he made a brief moment of eye contact then he did a wide circle around the van and kept going. he was in decent shape. i pulled about a half a klick up ahead and then got out with my crutches, he took one look at those and then headed right back out into the middle of the road.
next i watched ahead as some jerk in a big honkin manly man truck zoomed up on the clearly visible dog and blasted his horn. the dog jumped a foot and skittered to the side of the road, tail tucked tighter, backward glances even more fearful. so i pulled out again and went further past him and pulled over and this time ditched the crutches (so much for not weight bearing).
brown dog came to me and stood with his head low on my sore foot. he was still hunched and tail all but gone, but a nice dog never the less. of course another car zipped by with a honk of a horn and brown dog decided to leave. he didn't have a collar and i had no leash and apparently my personality was not enough to hold him.
i hobbled back to the car and got back in and watched him turn down another country road. so i went up ahead and pulled over again and just as he reached me a dog hit the fence and told us both to get the hell away from his yard.
this time i went way ahead, pulled over and opened the back of my van. by the time he rounded the corner, i was sitting there looking unconcerned deciding if i wanted to eat the pigs ear in my hand. he stopped and let me stroke him, he sniffed the pigs ear without much interest, i tried to convince him he really wanted to jump in the van and rest. brown dog said no and resumed his journey.
by now we had travelled at least 5 or 6 klicks and he was looking tired. i was worried that i was driving him further away from where he lived. it was becoming more rural and isolated, and i finally decided i was doing more harm than good. so i thought to go home and call animal control before i lost him up in the bush.
so i hobbled back to the front of the car and watched brown dog continue ahead. and as i peered up the road to check for oncoming cars, i saw 2 coyotes frozen at the top of the crest. they were staring at brown dog. and he knew they were there too. he moved from the middle of the road to the far other side and hugged along the ditch. he slowed ever so slightly and his head went even lower but he kept going and now i knew, he was heading home.
i drove up the road and scared the coyotes back into the bush and pulled even further ahead. and i waited and waited, but no brown dog appeared so i turned into a driveway along the left to turn around and go back to find him. the house that i pulled into was set on a small hill, it was white, peeling and shabby. and suddenly a dog came barking to the front, tail high, ears up and protecting his home.
it was brown dog. i tossed him the pigs ear. stopped at the neighbors to double check if that was where he lived. it was. i asked them to tell his people that today he almost got killed several times and to please put a collar on him and try to keep him home.
the neighbor said "yeah right."