“This is the caught dog?”

“Yes, officer. She came right up to us as we were unloading groceries in our garage.”

“Did you put that clip in her hair?” I point to the squirrely little dog she is holding up.

“Yes, she is so pretty. She also sticks her little tongue out. It’s sooooo cute.” she giggles.

“Unhhh Huh, sure is.” It’s not cute, madam. She’s missing a few teeth, so her tongue just falls out. I take her picture and start filling out the stray animal report. Great, after putting down a dozen pit-bulls a day for over-crowding at the shelter, now I’ll see this little Yorkie Terrier on the Euthanasia list soon. Gosh when will people stop treating their animals poorly.

She holds the mangy and gritty dog to my face. “Here, feel her ribs. She’s so skinny.”

I hit the switch on my micro-chip scanner and zig sag it over her back.”Yes, she’s been out there for–”

Beep.

I blink my eyes and try to suppress the surprise.

“What does that mean officer–” she shifts to face my name-tag “–Sandhu.”

“She has an owner.” I jot the amber numbers flashing on the screen.

“Yay.” She pats the dog’s forehead.

Not so fast, madam. I dial the number on my phone and get the owners number and dial that, ready to hear the most common explanation I’ve heard in all these years. “I don’t want that dog anymore. You can take–”

My pessimistic thoughts are rudely interrupted by a woman deep guttural sobs over the phone “You–You– found my Angie.” she chokes on her words. “She’s been missing since February. Oh my god, 5 months and she’s so little. Oh my Angie….my Angie.” 

Several deep sighs are followed by the phone making a loud clattering sound on the concrete.

We met at a Petsmart later today. Angie showed her true colors after some grooming and lot of kissing.

As I drove back home tonight, after having put 8 lovely beautiful pit-bulls to sleep and saying my last good-byes to two Dobies before plunging Fatal Plus into their vein, I got a text from a friend that made me lose faith in humanity again.

In the next instant I got a text from her owner with a picture and a big . “Thank you for making our family whole again, officer Sandhu.”

My faith in love was restored by little Angie today. I’m not a small dog-person but as Charles De Gaulle’s said. “The better I get to know men, the more I find myself loving dogs.”