My Family, the Dog Lovers

Elder daughter has become a woman on a mission. 

Since she took a teaching job in North Little Rock she's been a much happier person, overall.  But now I think the "nurturing" -- and keeping up with 9th and 10th graders -- part of being a teacher has spilled over into her personal life.

Before school was out for the summer last week, she noticed two black lab pups on the loose in her neighborhood.  She didn't know where they lived, but she fretted about them being out on the streets in the heat, so she left a bowl of water on her front porch before she left for school, vowing to find their home if they were still around when she got home.

They didn't reappear for several days, so she relaxed a little about their welfare.  Until yesterday evening.

Then, there they were, back on her front porch.

She knew they were someone's pets because they would sit on command and were fairly well-behaved, but they didn't wear collars and you can't call a Vet on Sunday to check whether they are chipped, so she did the logical nurturer thing -- she took in two four-month-old Labrador puppies. 

Bear in mind that she and SIL#1 have two dogs of their own (an "active" young boxer and a chiweenie -- chihuahua-dachshund mix -- a rather bossy little thing who enjoys the sound of her own voice), plus they are keeping Younger Daughter/SIL#2's very needy lab-golden retriever mix during YD/SIL#2's Honeymoon.

They do not live on a farm with lots of acreage.

It was apparently a wild and crazy scene at Elder Daughter's house last night.  All night. 

She left her bedroom window cracked so she could sort of keep tabs on them during the night, having bedded them down on the deck outside the window at an ungodly hour.  They are apparently part night-owl because there was not a lot of puppy-napping going on.  A lot of puppy playing, yes, puppy napping, no.  SIL#1, needing to sleep a little so he could be functional at work today, decided to shift to the guest room so as to be sheltered from puppy noise.  And, I doubt he was very happy about that.  But it was probably the right move on his part.

Elder Daughter awoke from a restless sleep around five in the morning to spy through the window their very heavy barbecue grill slowly moving across the deck in fits and starts.  Yep.  The puppies were having a tug-of-war with the grill cover, and the grill was losing.

Then they were hungry.

After gulping down enough coffee to keep her conscious, Elder Daughter went to work on finding the pups' home.  Sherlock Holmes would have been proud.

Long story shorter, a nearby neighbor told her that the pups belonged to his next-door neighbor, a college student who often threw raucous college-student parties, and whose lease had therefore been non-renewed.  He put Elder Daughter in touch with College Boy's landlord, who in turn gave her College Boy's name and phone number. 

It seems that College Boy had gone out of town on a little vacay, leaving two bored, 4-month-old lab puppies who like to dig, unattended, outdoors.  College Boy's grandmother was allegedly coming by to feed them.

A rather terse text-messaging session ensued, followed by a call from College Boy's mother.

College Boy's mother came to Elder Daughter's house to pick up the pups, driving a Lexus (Elder Daughter fixated on the Lexus part, expecting instead to see something like the Beverly Hillbillies' truck roll up in front of the house.  She still can't believe that CB would allow his Lexus-driving mother, not to mention his grandmother, see the appalling state of his house and yard.).  Elder Daughter recommended that CBM board the pups until the prodigal son returned to take up the responsibility for those precious little souls he had assumed.  CBM assured Elder Daughter that she was going to do precisely that.

Elder Daughter called me as CBM was pulling away with the precious cargo, and noticed that the car had stopped.  She was livid, fearing that CBM had simply slipped the pups back into the yard.  So, she did the logical nurturer thing -- she stormed over to CB's fence and started calling the pups, ready to sic the authorities on the CB family if need be, giving me the play-by-play every step of the way.

Fortunately for the CB family, the pups were not in the yard.

Now Elder Daughter worries what will become of the pups when CB has to find new digs and she's not around to look after them.

I doubt it will be a problem.  And, I suspect that CB should just bend over and accept the fact the Elder Daughter is likely to be stalking him henceforth, in full-blown puppy-lover mode.

At least until school starts in the fall.

I wonder where she gets it?