A Dog's Eye View

I'm Corky!  I am a rambunctious little Jack Russell Terrier and I love to chase a tennis ball all day long!  In fact, I love them so much that my nickname is "Wilson."  Do you have one?  Anyway, my owner let me out to play in the back yard yesterday without knowing that the gate had blown open the previous night.  I could not find my tennis ball so I decided to look for it in the front yard.  Did I mention I LOVE tennis balls?

Since I didn't see my favorite tennis ball in the front or back yard I figured that the sneaky Australian Shepherd down the street must have stolen it.  I decided to go tell him to stop stealing my toys. 

After a few moments, I realized I was in trouble.  I was lost.  I thought I knew the way to that Australian Shepherds house but it was definitely not where I thought it was.  I thought maybe he lived across the street so I started to cross.  The bad thing is that cars would not stop for me.  I don't know why.  Couldn't they smell that it was my turn to cross?  I did not know what to do and I could not remember how get to home.  Where was my owner?  Where was my tennis ball?  Where was I?  I have to admit, I was scared.  I wanted to cry. 

I must have looked very sad and lonely sitting at the corner of that busy intersection because someone with a cell phone was on the phone talking about me.  All I heard the person with the phone say was "No, he's not wearing a tag.  Please come get him.  He must be someone’s pet."

The next thing I knew, a big truck pulled up and an ACO got out.  I learned later that ACO means "Animal Control Officer."  As if anyone could control a Jack Russell Terrier!  That officer picked me up and "scanned" me for a micro chip.  I didn't have one but at that time I was getting hungry so any kind of chips would have made me happy.  I love chips.  I also love tennis balls.

The officer took me to a big place where I could hear lots of dogs barking.  It was so loud you would have thought I was in a Rays game at Tropicana Field.  After the officer did some paperwork, he put me in one of the many cages they had in the shelter. There were lots of dogs in there.  Did they all lose their tennis balls too?  I was kind of sad because this was all strange to me.  By this time I was really hungry and guess what?  That officer even brought dinner to me!  I had an accident in my pen but no one scolded me.  They cleaned up after me too!  I suddenly was thinking this place was not so scary after all.

After getting a good night’s sleep, I woke up in the morning and saw my owners face through the cage door.  What a story I would have to tell him!  I just kept jumping up and down.  My owner took me from the cage and we went to the lobby where I was to get a microchip.  I had just had breakfast and my cage cleaned but hey, there's always room for chips even if they are "micro."  I found out later what a micro chip really is.  I think calling something you can't eat a chip is false advertising.

Now I am home and I have a tag with my license number on it.  The whole experience was kinda scary but also ended well.  The people at that Pinellas County Animal Services got me to a safe place with catering and housekeeping while I waited for my owner to come find me.  I like them as much as chips and almost as much as tennis balls!

Visit this website to see adoption dogs whose owners never showed up:

 http://www.petfinder.com/pet-search?N=32&Ne=2&Ns=identifier_numsort|1&Ntk=shelter_id|record_type|status&Ntt=FL367|pet|A&distance=0&location=33774&sort=identifier+DESC