Some background: We’ve had Daisy, our faithful yellow Lab, for going on eight years now. She was six months old when we got her. We adopted Daisy because we knew we’d be moving to the country and we wanted a big dog to keep the rabbits, deer, coyotes and other fauna at a distance while we established windbreaks, landscaping and other flora. So far, so good. Problem is, Daisy, like all dogs, is a pack animal, and when we make her stay outside in the dog run at night, she begins to become slightly psychotic (no, don’t bother arguing the point – that’s the opinion of one of the leading big-dog experts in the country). And when Daisy’s inside at night with the rest of us, she isn’t keeping the rabbits from killing the poplar seedlings on the south side of the property. Solution: Daisy needs a buddy to "pack’ with, as do all dogs.
Well, meet Buddy. Somebody dumped Buddy off at my wife’s sister’s place about a mile up the road. We know he’s dumped because (1) dogs just don’t wander this far out and across the river from town and (2) if he’jumped out of a pickup out here, the owner would have been pounding on every door up and down the road looking for him. B’sides, nobody responded to two days of lost dog notices on two local radio stations and in the local daily paper.
So, Daisy has her Buddy, and we’ve adopted another stray. My family dog expert has seen the photos of him and says he has the appearance of a purebred Lab – yellow eyes, dark pink nose, square Lab snout – but, of course, there’s no way to know for sure. Obviously, he wasn’t worth anything to somebody 'cause they dropped him off out here.
Lucky guy. If SIL hadn’t taken him in, he’d have been shot by now.