A Christmas Story

Thursday afternoon last week my neighbor called to tell me that an animal had trashed their front porch.  It had chewed up their umbrella and left prints all over the door trying to get in.   They are not pet people at all.  She asked if we had any trouble to which I replied nope.  Friday afternoon we went to the Carbon Leaf concert in Annapolis and when we got back around 6:30 there was a pit bull sleeping on the door mat.  I told the kids to stay in the car and tried to approach the dog, it lunged at me a little bit.  I couldn't chance it, so backed off.  I went to the back door and then rushed the kids through the front door.  I decided to deal with it the next day, hoping the dog might return to where it came from.  The next morning I found the dog still sleeping curled up on my door mat.  I really felt bad, because I knew it could not have eaten anything in ages.  I called my neighbor and told her the whole story.  I looked outside and the dog was gone.  My neighbor called and said it had moved to their mat.  She went out and fed her and was able to pet her.  Turns out she was the sweetest dog and came in the house to hang out.  The big problem was it is a holiday weekend and no agencies were open to take the dog.  The poor little girl was covered in scars.  She had also had puppies at some point.  There was probably a reason the dog had run away.  My neighbor's daughter found a home for the dog on Christmas Eve night.  The family sent a picture of the dog sleeping on the bed.  My neighbor had washed the dog for the new family.  It was a happy story.  I haven't heard the dog's name, but it was tentatively going to be Hartley.