Say Hi! to Sally!

Meet Sally, a local dog whom we met early on, while she was wandering our streets in search of good times.  A sweet, good-natured but submissive black lab mix, Sally would hang out on the side of the road, waiting for potential future friends to come by.  Apparently, she was basically a stray with a varied, and probably kind of bad (based on her submissive behavior) past.  A well-intentioned young couple had taken her in recently and had been trying to care for her, but they still left her to her own devices in their unfenced yard - while they were at work...

 Sally gallivanting down the dirt airpark perimeter road.  She's got a happy trot going on because she's just met us!  We were riding in our ATV, exploring the airpark with Hayes and the kitties (Zou was excused due to her noisy-ATV fears - for now.  We were hoping that being left out would help her overcome those fears on future rides!), when she spotted us.  And over she ran!  Friends!!!  Fun!!!  YAY!!!

 (this location suits us, partly because it seems like a perfect average of the places we've lived - a midpoint between suburban house and very rural yurt, between manicured and developed and untouched and wild...)

 Our tongue-lolling escort, kicking up her heels!  This is what JOY looks like!!  Muddy and carefree!

 We had planned to take the dogs to the lake before returning home, so we did.  And so did Sally!

 She has found the pals she longs for, and is not about to leave anytime soon...!!  We marvel at her Energizer Bunny-abilities!  She has probably run about two miles at this point and is about to play her legs off with Hayes at the lake,...

 A gaggle of white pelicans!

 Sweet Sally looks up at me (up on the dock walkway).

 Sally made friends quickly with all - including Tracky.

 Fast friends...

Time to go.  We load up our kids.

Oh geez...  So, of course Sally followed us home.  And would not leave...

 Could you tell this sweet girl to buzz off, just scram?! 

 Yeah, well, I guess we couldn't that day.  So she stayed and hung out, and played some more...

 and some more...

 with small breaks now and then. 

But it was dark now, and still Sally sat just outside our door.  I knew the forecast was for temps to literally plummet - from the nice warm day to the 20s or so that evening.  Not a good night for a stray dog to be outdoors...  And we were not prepared to take on a third dog... Thankfully, Sally DID have a dog tag on her bright orange collar.  And it was obvious to me that someone who wished her well had made the tag - it was a cute milkbone tag like our doggies have.  So I called the number on it, and the couple came out to get her.  While we waited for them we brought her in because it was already too cold outside!

We had a repeat performance of sorts a couple days later.  And I had to contact the owners again, who came out to collect their wayward pooch one more time.  I was worried about how many more times they might be wanting to do this, and I also knew we'd be getting tired of this sweet tag-along soon too, as she was forcing us to modify our behaviors - esp. with our dogs - to some degree.  So, when Sally showed up for a third time, Bill and I finally did start yelling at her to go home.  We got serious about it.  I hated it.  I hated betraying her, telling her no you can't play, no we don't love you and you can't stay.  Because that's what she might have been hearing.  But that's NOT what we were saying!  We were saying go home because we don't want you to be hit by a car and die (like a dog friend of hers had done recently...!!), go home because we DO love you and don't want you to wear out your welcome with your new parents and lose your new home!!!!  But to really convince her, we had to spray her with water.  She didn't like this and finally got the idea.  We had one more incident where the hoses had to come out again, but she got the point quickly.  And she hasn't been back since.  We would still see her though - frolicking alongside a young bicyclist, or lying in wait for passersby.  Until a few weeks ago...when we no longer spotted her...anywhere...

I fearfully texted her owners, half-expecting to find out that she'd been run over...  But they told me they'd found her another home!  One with a fence!  So HALLELUJAH!!!!!  We wish her well and hope she finds many friends and has a life full with the pursuit of HAPPYNESS!!!!