I came home one day to find a very friendly Samoyed sitting on my doorstep. Now, around here Sammys are rare to say the least. The dog looked to be in good shape, but was apparently hungry. I gave him a few biscuits and some water, and went inside, hoping he would mosey on home. He didn't. Six hours later he is STILL sitting on my front doorstep. Well I wasn't about to let him wander about with night coming on, so I put him inside the fenced back yard to keep until morning. The next day I decided that I would take him to my Veterinarian's office and keep him there until I could find the owner. I had examined the dog and found that he had no collar...so I thought.

On the way down to the Vet's, the Sammy was in the front seat. I had some sacks in the floor board from a fast food place that I had neglected to clean out, and about half way there he dove down in the floorboard to get at them. I reached down to grab him and haul him back up in the seat, when I felt something...It was a collar. I just hadn't been able to see it for all that hair. So when I got to the office I dropped him off and took his collar with the information on it. The number was a neighboring city, about 45 minutes away. I assumed that the dog had been one of three things 1)sold 2)relocated/moved or 3)STOLEN. I called the number listed on the collar, and the people that answered had never owned a dog or heard of a Samoyed. Dead end. There was no name on the collar. The collar said the dog's name was "Warlock", but I just decided to call him "Wolfie". He seemed to like that better.

My next step was to go to the library and research the phone number. Another dead end. Who ever had owned this phone number previously had it unlisted. So back to square one again. I went home and over the next several days I called all the area Vet's to see if anyone was missing a Samoyed. I also checked the paper lost/found section and called the local animal shelter daily. After a few days it became apparent that I wasn't going to find this dogs owner, so I brought Wolfie back to my house. I waited another week, watching the paper and calling the shelter...still nothing. Finally after about 2 1/2 weeks, I put an add in the paper myself. In just a day or two the owners came forward to claim the dog. The lady said that she had called the shelter every day and they told her that they had not picked up any such dog. I had been calling every day leaving my name and number and a discription of the dog, and they hadn't bothered to make the connection. Her husband, she said, wouldn't let her put an ad in the paper.

At least Wolfie made his way back home. Not all rescues are that fortunate. Many are turned into shelters and never reclaimed or adopted, or worse left to roam the streets and fend for themselves.