Wayne and I had just finished eating dinner last night when I noticed headlights in our driveway that weren’t going away. No sooner had I peeked out the window and commented that someone was parked behind my car than the doorbell started ringing frantically.
I went to answer it and found a panicked looking Cindy, a neighbor from up the street, with a beagle puppy in her arms.
“I don’t know what to do. He dashed into my garage as I was leaving, but I’m going to be late for the Y. Can you please watch him?”
“Sure, come on in.”
“No, I’m going to be late.” (Puppy’s thrust into my arms at this point.) “I couldn’t leave him outside in this cold weather and I can’t leave him in our garage because we’ve got a car we’re fixing up to sell. I can’t chance him messing anything up. I’d never bug you if my husband was home but he’s gone too. I’ll be back in an hour and a half.”
Then she was gone, racing back to her car.
I stood there looking down at this adorable little collar-less puppy wondering where on earth he’d come from and who was missing him. Because surely someone must be missing the little guy.
My mind raced trying to remember if we’d run into anyone on our walks mentioning they’d gotten a new puppy or if anyone had mentioned their neighbor had. No one came to mind. And I’d never seen him before. I would’ve remembered such a cute small fry.
Still holding him, I introduced him to Murph. They hit it right off. So I dared to put the little guy down and he tentatively started checking out the place.
“Aw, he’s so cute, isn’t he, Pumpk?”
That lasted 10 minutes.
I spent the next hour and a half chasing down the undeniably adorable puppy, who was also part wild beast, that I came to call Winky.
He was into everything. The cats’ food bowls, the container where I keep their food, their litter boxes, their toys (destroying two of them in less than five minutes before I got wise and put them up), Murph’s toys, and all rooms of the house he had access too. (Which it didn’t take me long to realize I needed to limit when he proved my suspicions right about not being paper trained.)
However, he still had a lot of access and when he wanted to go, he went. And went fast.
By the time Cindy finally came to pick him up, I was exhausted. I’d literally chased him around that whole time. I’d forgotten how much work puppy’s were and how you can’t leave them unattended.
Murph of course helped me puppy sit Winky. Meow kept a watchful eye on him from afar. And Tab, who I previously thought was a one dog kind of cat lover ended up trying to figure out how to play with Winky. I think because he was smaller than her.
Winky making friends with everyone
But even they were pooped when Cindy came back from teaching her class. That was a lot of excitement and a lot of work on a Monday night.
Cindy took it upon herself to keep him until she finds his rightful owners, but I offered to puppy sit again if she needs more help. It was a lot of work, but it was also a lot of fun.
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