i work at best buy, and most of my coworkers and i are college students. we were dealing with the christmas rush tonight when i look over from the register i was helping out on (normally i'm on the sales floor, but we were shorthanded and the line was long) and the loss prevention guy (the greeter at the front door), joseph, is trying to restrain a large, bounding male black lab from running into the store. the dog was so sweet, but very strong, as black labs are, and he really wanted to come in!
we paged over the PA for anyone that had a dog in the back of their truck to come to the front entrance (we're in a rural area, so trucks are quite common, as are dogs that ride in the back). no one came, and we couldn't find the owner after several minutes. the dog was obviously not a stray, he had a chain collar and responded to sit commands. plus, he loved people and was soaking up the attention from me and my coworkers. it was late, around 9 p.m., and our store manager told us to call animal control to have the dog taken to a shelter so if the owner eventually turned up, we could tell them where to claim the dog.
we decided to walk the dog around to the back of the store and let it go first to see if it ran home (there are several apartment complexes behind us, and we figured the dog had been let out to pee and wandered off). we didn't want it to run into the very busy main road that we are on, though, so we made sure to go all the way behind the building. well, we let the dog go, it went and peed on a light pole, and came bounding right back to joseph and i, who it had apparently claimed as its new owners. we walked back around front and i called animal control, but since it was late, their answering machine told us to call back in the morning. we sat outside with the dog for a little longer, trying to figure out what to do about the poor guy. it made me so sad, because i knew someone out there had to be terribly worried! i thought of my own dog at home and i know i'd be crushed if she ever got loose.
well after a few minutes, we hear someone shouting faintly from behind the store. we start waving our arms and we ask if they're looking for a dog. well the entire family, mom, dad, and little boy, come running for the dog! they all look so relieved, the little boy (he was probably about 4 and about as tall as the dog) gave the dog such a big hug that i thought i was going to cry! they put their dog back on his leash and hug all of us for looking out for their boy.
i thought all you animal lovers out in tPF land would enjoy the story, it made me really happy that we were able to reunite them!
we paged over the PA for anyone that had a dog in the back of their truck to come to the front entrance (we're in a rural area, so trucks are quite common, as are dogs that ride in the back). no one came, and we couldn't find the owner after several minutes. the dog was obviously not a stray, he had a chain collar and responded to sit commands. plus, he loved people and was soaking up the attention from me and my coworkers. it was late, around 9 p.m., and our store manager told us to call animal control to have the dog taken to a shelter so if the owner eventually turned up, we could tell them where to claim the dog.
we decided to walk the dog around to the back of the store and let it go first to see if it ran home (there are several apartment complexes behind us, and we figured the dog had been let out to pee and wandered off). we didn't want it to run into the very busy main road that we are on, though, so we made sure to go all the way behind the building. well, we let the dog go, it went and peed on a light pole, and came bounding right back to joseph and i, who it had apparently claimed as its new owners. we walked back around front and i called animal control, but since it was late, their answering machine told us to call back in the morning. we sat outside with the dog for a little longer, trying to figure out what to do about the poor guy. it made me so sad, because i knew someone out there had to be terribly worried! i thought of my own dog at home and i know i'd be crushed if she ever got loose.
well after a few minutes, we hear someone shouting faintly from behind the store. we start waving our arms and we ask if they're looking for a dog. well the entire family, mom, dad, and little boy, come running for the dog! they all look so relieved, the little boy (he was probably about 4 and about as tall as the dog) gave the dog such a big hug that i thought i was going to cry! they put their dog back on his leash and hug all of us for looking out for their boy.
i thought all you animal lovers out in tPF land would enjoy the story, it made me really happy that we were able to reunite them!