Thursday afternoon I received a phone call from Kristi stating that she and her friend had found a lost dog as they were leaving the library. He was running back and forth across a busy street and almost got hit several times. Other individuals were trying to corral the dog without success. Kristi was successful. She called me then handed the phone to her friend who made the first plea for permission to bring the dog to our house - it was quite easy to tell Katarina no. The girls then decided to walk around and try to locate the owner. A bit later I received a call from Kristi advising they were having no luck and could they please bring him to our house. Kristi heard a resounding NO and we got off the phone with her saying they were going to go to our local vet's office with the dog they named Pogo since he was bounding back and forth across the street before catching him. He had no collar on but was wearing a faded red harness.

A bit later, Kristi walked in the door - immediately showing me the pic she took with her phone of Pogo. Pogo and her friend were still at the vet office. The vet said he was young and unneutered and a yorkie mix. He was not outfitted with a micro-chip. Seeing the picture as well as my child's big brown eyes, I melted and agreed that Pogo could come to our home for a "brief" period of time.

As you can see by the pictures he is precious and was very very well behaved. He's housebroken (thankfully) and tried to make friends with the girls but the girls were having none of that LOL. Fortunately, no one got hurt. Kristi took pics of him that we used to post on the internet on craigslist lost & found,

On Friday, as Kristi was at school, it was just the felines, Pogo, and me hanging out for the day. I was receiving email responses to the notices I posted but none from his family. It was suggested that I contact the police in the area which I did and no one had reported a dog mising matching Pogo's description. The officer suggested I contact Animal Friends and supplied me the phone number. I was hesitant to call as I didn't want the liitle guy put down if he went to a shelter. I did call and the gal I spoke with assured me they would pick him up and he would be placed with Animal Friends who would try to locate the owner; if unsuccessful they will put the animal up for adoption. Last resort is the unspeakable. The gal, Lynn, took down all the info about our houseguest and me and advised she'd have a truck dispatched to our house. Lynn also gave me the website petfinders.com to list him on there as well.

As I was placing the ad on petfinders, Lynn called and stated a woman called them to report her dog ran away. His description matched Pogo's. I was supplied Teresa's phone number and called her. Pogo's real name is Avery (which I verified by calling out his name and he came running to me all excited). Teresa surprised me by telling me that he's 7 years old. The darling holds his age well LOL. As we talked about him, Teresa cried. Teresa is disabled from a broken hip and arranged for her daughter to pick up Avery Friday evening. Teresa came with her daughter and was able to sget out of the car to stand and wave to us (Kristi's friend was also present for the farewell). Avery was thrilled to see Jenn and Teresa. Jenn advised that Avery is quite the adventurer; her father had never permitted neutering to be done. Teresa and he divorced 2 years ago and no one really gave it consideration. Teresa is considering giving him away though as he's becoming too much for her to handle. Our back yard is not fenced in so there's no way we could take him - this I had to remind my child of after they left AND I was candidate of Horrible Mom of the Year.

Yesterday (15th) Kristi got to attend the St. Patrick's Parade in Pittsburgh. My Bro picked her up at 7:15 a.m. - he had to be there early being on the Parade Committee. Kristi walked the parade route with her cousins throwing out snacks to onlookers as part of Central Bloodbank's part in the Parade. The Parade itself lasted 3 hours and a good time was had by all. My niece was giving Kristi a ride home but as she had to leave Bro's St. Paddy's Party early herself, she said Kristi could go with them and she'd have her home in time to go to her babysitting gig. We had not planned on going to the party for 2 reasons - her banbysitting and all the crap coming down from "her" in AZ. Taffy explained to Kristi her Dad knew nothing of what had been said to her and had asked Taffy all about it. Taffy in turn had been gathering information via text messages since that fateful phone conversation. Kristi did call me and asked if I mionded if she went to the party. Being the kind of Mom I am, I told her to go. I got off the phone and immediately plopped on my pity pot and planned on staying there for an undetermined period of time :head_hurts: . Kristi came home prior to her babysitting gig and discovered me sulking in my bedroom. She knew I'd been crying as my eyes were red and puffy (dead give-away huh?). We talked and she assured me everyone gave her flack for being in attendance without me - including her Uncle. He told her he will be calling me this week. My nephew/landlord Billy had heard about our houseguest from his sister. He said if something like that happens again, we can keep the dog for a week (now my child will be on look-out for strays :toothy grin: ). He did say too that if we call him he'll consider letting us keep a dog if another comes along. He's to come over within next few weeks to install needed ramps for my power chair so I can use it to leave the house and cruise the area - YIPPEE!!! :happydance: I climbed off my pity-pot and was fine the rest of the evening.

My dear daughter had been re-considering her future plans to be college bound for veterinary science as her peers were telling her otherwise. After her encounter with Avery, I think she is once again focused on becomg a vet. As we still have 2 years of High School to go, that may change.

PS: Crystal and Lili are very very very happy :hahaha: that Avery went home. Lili has gone back to being her brat self. I've warned Crystal that it's her "job" to teach Lili right from wrong OR I'm bringing the doggie back. For today, at least, Crystal has been correcting Lili :Tantrum: