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Pets Make Us Human: Lucky, sent in by Joyce.

The white dog caught my attention because I knew the name and face of every dog that lived on my street (there were many), and this was not one of them. I observed the dog lying in the shade. It stood up and approached each person who walked by, and seemed to be begging to be fed or taken home. I thought this was probably a dog that had lost its way but would eventually get itself home. It looked healthy and had no visible injuries. A couple of days later I noticed the same dog and started to get worried. It had taken to eating the leftovers of my neighbor’s dogs every night and sleeping under cars during the day. Another dog-loving neighbor baptized the dog Lucky, for it had an incredibly large head (“laki-ulo eh!”). My neighbors had tried to catch the stray dog, but it always gave them the slip. Still it lingered nearby, taking whatever food was offered and not behaving aggressively towards any human or dog. I was concerned that living on the street posed too many dangers.

I decided that I would try rescuing this dog. I started by offering it morsels of food during the day. After a few days Lucky, who turned out to be a girl, would approach every time she saw me. One day, instead of offering her the food, I made a trail of it—Hansel and Gretel style—leading into my garage. She took the bait and walked into my garage where I then snapped a leash and collar on her, with the assistance yet another neighbor whom I involved in my mission. It has been 7 years since I plucked Lucky off the street and washed what seemed like layers upon layers of car grease off her. She is alive and well today, living in a house with a sprawling garden and her very own mini-lake in the middle of it. She is extremely loving, alert, intelligent and responsive to human instruction. With a Labrador named Elcid and a cat named Muning to play with, she is currently living happily ever after.

Note: If a stray dog doesn’t voluntarily go with you do not try capturing it unless you have dog-handling experience. Best to get help from someone who’s around dogs a lot.

Keep sending your stray cat and dog adoption stories and photos to saffron.safin@gmail.com. All the pets whose stories we post will get Alpo or Friskies gift bags.