IS THIS YOUR DOG?

I had the heck scared out of me this afternoon! I opened the door to step outside and nearly got bowled over by a huge monster of a bulldog! He was sitting on the doorstep and was determined to come into the house. This thing weighs at least 60 or 70 pounds and has a head bigger than mine! I thought he was attacking me and slammed the door in his face. We don’t have a dog pound or dogcatcher here in rural Alabama, so my options were limited.

I got to thinking about being trapped in my own house by a strange dog, got mad enough to be brave (or stupid) and opened the door again with all intentions of running the intruder off of my carport and out of my yard. Instead he darted by me and ran into my living room.

All I could think of was “What if he jumps on my cat? I’ll never be able to save poor Rufus if a bulldog gets a hold of him!” I was too worried about saving my cat to be scared for myself. First I tried leaving the door open and running the dog outside with a clothes hanger, but all he did was hunker down between the footstool and the couch and look up at me with those big, sad puppy dog eyes like you see in the paintings. It was kinda funny seeing something that big and scary looking that heartbroken. I finally just grabbed him by the collar and drug him outside. He didn’t want to go, but he never made a sound or tried to get away. Wound up he was nothing but a big baby.

Luckily the dog never saw the cat. It was hiding in a kitchen chair with every hair on his body standing straight up and growling. But Rufus was a smart enough kitty to know to growl softly, that dog would have eaten him in one bite! He’s still nervous, stalking around the house checking corners for stray dogs invading his territory.

So now I have a large stray dog sitting on my doorstep waiting to try and get inside again. Actually, I don’t think he’s a stray. He looks well fed and he has a collar on, but it doesn’t have a tag or anything to identify where he came from. He tried to get into the truck with my son when he left. Maybe he jumped out of the back of someone’s truck as they went by the house. I haven’t seen him before, so I don’t think he belongs to any of my neighbors. If he’s still here tomorrow, I’ll go around and ask to see if I can find his owner.

He acts gentle, I’m sure he’s someone’s pet. And for all his size, I believe that he’s a young dog, not more than a year or so old. His ears have been trimmed but his tail was never cropped. I believe that’s the way they do pit bulls when they want to fight them (I can’t see this dog fighting, he’s to docile). It appears he once was a house dog. I figure that he was raised inside and got put out when he became big enough to take up the whole couch! But bulldogs install terror in anyone who doesn’t know them, what with all the news articles about them attacking and mauling people, including their owners. But he hasn’t made any aggressive moves toward my dog or the puppy.

I’ve already inherited a cat and two dogs by taking in strays, I don’t need any more. Besides, this bulldog is big enough that I bet he eats more than all three of my critters combined. At least with him on the doorstep I don’t have to worry about strangers coming up. His appearance in enough to keep anyone from getting out of the car!