The Martin Milton Affair

So a few weeks ago this little guy wandered into our front yard. He looked like he had been recently groomed and he had a collar but no tag. He followed Buckley into the back yard and we closed the gate. I painted some "We Found Your Dawg" signs and posted them on the trash cans in our front yard.

We called him Martin which I kept mixing up with Milton.

Buckley seemed to enjoy the company but we didn't let Martin Milton in the house. I spent the next couple of days driving the neighborhood looking for any "Lost Dawg" fliers to no avail.

The wife considered keeping him but he wasn't neutered which meant he probably had not been cared for medically. He also didn't seem to have any training. Not to mention that we really aren't looking to add another dawg right now.

And then the unthinkable happened. I came home one evening and MY OWN DAWG WAS MISSING - Martin Milton was still in the back yard though.

THIS IS NOT HAPPENING! I cried to the wife. ARE YOU TELLING ME THAT MY OWN DAWG IS GONE BUT THAT LOUSY MARTIN IS STILL HERE??!!!!

I got in the car and started driving the neighborhood. It finally got so dark that there was no point in me driving around any more. Let me tell you, having to give up searching for your lost dawg and go home to SOMEONE ELSE'S LOST DAWG. Is not as fun as you may think.

When I got home, Martin Milton was gone too - the wife had called a friend to come take him off our hands.

Shortly after I got home, the phone rang - Buckley had been found over 3 miles away. Buckley has 3 tags on his collar - His city dawg license, a tag indicating that he has an embedded microchip that vets can scan for and his typical tag with his name and our phone number. Any one of those tags will get him home if he is found.

I raced out of the house and found and thanked Buckley's rescuer who commented that he was a "great dawg". "The best" I replied.

The next day, our friend took Martin Milton to the vet to have him scanned for a possible micro chip - he didn't have one. Then she dropped him off at the local shelter.

A co-worker at the office inquired about Martin Milton and I shook my head and explained that Martin Milton was headed for "a large farm in the country."

"That's nice", the co-worker replied in all seriousness, "at least he will be happy there".

Now that I think about it, there is a good chance Martin Milton's owner checked the shelters and found him. If not, I would expect that he wound up with a new owner - he was sort of cute in an unkempt sort of way.

But still, tag your pets, people.