Citizen's arrest, citizen's arrest!

[TPFKA@W]

Last night I needed to make a later evening run to the grocery store. @hub joined me and sat dutifully in the car while I went in to grab my much needed items. He had forgotten his phone so he sat people watching. I got the items, paid, and was walking out the door when I saw a dog tied to a post. He was young, cute and very enthusiastic. I patted his head and he slathered my hand and arm with canine saliva. I swear to God his tongue must have been 5' long. He looked like an English pointer, German pointer bird dog mix of some sort. He had a crazy look to his eyes. I was kind of muttering under my breath that it was awfully irresponsible to leave him alone like that as I arrived at the car which was parked very close to the store. As I got in @hub said, "Hey, that's not the person who left that dog there", pointing to a woman who now had the dog by its leash. He said a man and a kid tied the dog there and that this woman had not been anywhere near them. A short debate ensued with me encouraging @hub to mind his own business, but with me concerned that we were ignoring a dog-napping. @hub made a quick decision and bolted from the car. His intent was to go into the store and find the person who tied the dog up there to see if this woman shared custody of the dog or was feloniously taking it. He instructed me to go stop the woman. WTF? Seriously? Yes, well Ok, by this time the woman had got to her vehicle, an SUV and was trying to coax the dog into it. I sprinted, (HAHA I'm 55 and can still sprint if I have to, but damn my hip hurts today) across the parking lot trying to think of a way to accuse her, in a non-accusatory manner, of dog-napping, that wasn't completely insulting and inflammatory. I struck up a conversation with her in as pleasant a tone as I could, and explained the situation, while she tried to hang onto this looney mutt who was pulling at the leash and trying to make a break for it. His demeanor suggested that he had no idea who she was and that he was intent on making a break for it. As he spun her around and dragged her sideways, I was saying, well you know would you mind to wait until my husband finds the person who tied the dog up, you know, just to be sure, (apologetic tone suggesting this is all some silly mistake). I kept glancing at the store entrance hoping @hub would make an appearance. This is a huge store btw. The woman, barely able to contain the dog, began to explain that she hadn't had the dog for long, he was a rescue and he kept leaping out of the vehicle through the tiniest openings. She had lost him earlier and found him inside a hardware store.. She didn't know the person who had tied him to the post. I was really second guessing at this point. Finally @hub emerged and came jogging over. Turns out the he found the guy and was met with, :Zat eeesss not mah dog", apologies to Peter Sellers. We both apologized profusely to the woman. She was actually quite pleasant about it- insisting that we did the right thing. We agreed it was easy to see why the dog had been surrendered to the shelter. Our dog is a Houdini dog too even though age has slowed her down she escapes several times a year, usually tricking us by insisting that she has to poop at 2 am and insisting that she can only poop in the back yard and then slips under over or around, whatever the hell it is she does in the dark, while we stand in the dark calling for her fruitlessly because freedom brings on deafness. She is a black dog so darkness is her friend. Usually she is gone 45 minutes or so and will appear from the rift that is the neighbor's yard. All this in mind, I wished the woman luck with the dog.

I told @hub we needed to mind our own business.

[wesw]

you did good

[BoSoxGal]

@w & @hub

PS: My black dog does that same disappearing trick every chance she gets. Luckily, although not dumb, she is so addicted to car rides that I can always get her back by starting my vehicle and yelling "Let's go for a R-I-D-E!!"

[Lord Jim]

You absolutely did the right thing.

(BTW @W, is the "enter" key on your keyboard not working? That's quite a paragraph... )

[TPFKA@W]

You absolutely did the right thing.

(BTW @W, is the "enter" key on your keyboard not working? That's quite a paragraph... )

Dammit Jim, I'm a nurse not a journalist.

But hey I get credit for throwing in some commas and periods don't I?

I am sure Meade will take issue with those in a while.

[Sue U]

Count me another thumbs up, @w; you and @hub did right, and you handled it with great skill.

[Big RR]

I agree.

[MajGenl.Meade]

Well done... no issue... except a dog with a five foot tongue is usually a dragon...

[kristina]

Very nicely done, @w. I'm not sure I would have had the tact and diplomacy to handle the situation as well as you did.

[Econoline]

She was actually quite pleasant about it- insisting that we did the right thing.

Goody nuff.

to all 3 of youse (or all 3 of y'all or whatever they say in Hoosieropolis...)

[Joe Guy]

Readers Digest version -

Last night @hub and I thought a lady was stealing a dog but we talked to her and it turned out that she wasn't. Our dog runs away in the dark a lot.

[Guinevere]

Well done @w and @hub!

[Long Run]

And I thought this was going to be another doggone story.

[Gob]

Well done @W!!!

[Scooter]

You did do the right thing.

But I think getting her plate # might have been an acceptable alternative if you had been too shy to approach her (I wouldn't have had the stones to approach someone who I thought could have been brazen enough to openly steal someone's dog out in the open like that - it could have ended badly either way). Then if it had been ascertained that the guy's dog was stolen, the police could have tracked her down and taken it from there.

[TPFKA@W]

If she had been angry or uncooperative I was prepared to photograph her, her vehicle and her plates. Given that she was female and a good bit smaller than me I was not even slightly fearful. Had she been a he things would have been different.