Long post so brace yourself if you read.
So, my neighbors asked me to watch their dogs while they went on leave this week. I gladly said yes I can do that for you. Problem, they didn't leave me a key. They willingly didn't leave me a key might I add. They said they were just going to leave the dogs outside. Temps were well into the 90/100s the past two days. They have a dog house, had a kiddie pool full of water if they needed to jump in and I changed their food and water on a regular. So let me break down the days events as they unfolded because this was a Nightmare!!!!!!!
I wake up in the morning and around 10am I give them Fresh food and Fresh water. At this time the little black dog is fine. I play with them them a bit, give them both treats and then jump back over the fence into my yard to get my day started. Feed my dog, give him water and let him out, then I head out of the house at about 1130, look outside to make sure they are still okay and they are. I'm about for about 3hrs before coming back home. Get back around 2ish, go change the water again and make sure they had food still. Sure enough, both dogs are still doing just fine. The German Shepard is jumping around, and the little black dog is begging for treats. I sit with them for maybe 10 minutes to play, let them in the garage to escape the heat a bit, they didn't really go in, then closed up shop and hopped back over the fence, gave my dog more water and took off for another few hours. I get back home at around 530-6ish, lay my daughter down for a quick nap and take a look outside. My dog is relaxing in the shade, the German Shepard is just laying in the shade and I see the smaller black one laying down across the yard on the left by their shed. At this point I'm assuming she is just asleep. When my wife gets home from work I get ready to head back over to check on them one more time for the night to feed them, give them treats and give them food. This is roughly about 630-7ish. I noticed at this point, that the little black dog has not moved, is in exactly the same spot she was an hour ago. I'm assuming the worst at this point. The German Shepard is still doing great and running around. She even wants to play when I come to the fence. Once I make it to the fence I realize, THE SMALL DOG IS DEAD!!!!!!!!!!. You have to be shitting me! I absolutely have to be shitting me! My dog has been outside all day and he's perfectly fine and so is the Shepard. How is this even possible, I mean I know it's hot, but holy crap! Now I have a dead dog on my hands. I think to myself, "what more could I have done to prevent this?" Well, I don't have a key to their house so I couldn't put them inside. They had shade and plenty of fresh water. I couldn't take the dogs over to my house because my dog absolutely doesn't play well with other dogs. Even now that I have the German Shepard over at my house, he's trying to break down the door to get to her. I also have my 2 year old. When I brought the German Shepard over she snapped at my daughter when my daughter tried to pet her.
So I call the owners, took me at least 5-6 tries to get through to them, and I explained the situation. The wife is kind of freaking out at this point and asks if I can take her to the vet. I explain this dog is clearly dead beyond revival, rigor mortis has set in. Her husband understands my predicament. No key to the house, and how was I supposed to foresee this. She eventually texts me explaining she understands the situation and all factors. So I ask him if he wants me to dispose of the body by calling the Humane Society, he agrees I should do it. I offer to pay all disposal fees since they are out of town. I still feel bad because their dog died and all.
Here is where it starts to get interesting. After I call the Humane Society, they send Animal Control to get the body. I see him get there, go out back to talk to him. I have already taken the German Shepard into my backyard and put my dog inside so that she didn't mess with the body of the smaller dog. I tell him I'm going to go close the garage, because I had left it open when I went over, I had to coax her with treats to come to my yard and that's where the treats were. He tells me, "Don't go in there, it's a crime scene now". Really dude? A crime scene? I understand there is a dead dog, but I'm not going to go tamper with your evidence, whatever evidence you think there is. I'm almost sure he thinks I neglected the dogs or poisoned it at this point. So I'm standing at the fence, he comes back, goes into the yard and begins is routine. Next thing I know, Security Forces is here. The begin asking me questions: Who are the owners? Are you watching them? Why aren't they inside? Why don't you have a key? Did they have fresh food and water? What is your name? What are the owner's names? Are you in the military? Are they in the military? What squadron do you work at? They are grilling me at this point. Then the Animal Control guy comes back and begins to grill me. I give him the same information I gave them. Had to walk Security Forces to my house and give them my military ID. They proceed to call my 1st Sergeant to make sure the owners really do live there. Like I'm just some guy that found a random dead dog and reported it. Wait, we're not done yet, here comes the city police. So I now have 3 cops grilling me for information and the city cop is just flat out rude to me. "Where did they go?" Me: "I don't know, they went on leave, they didn't tell me." City Cop: "They didn't tell you?" Me: "No, they didn't tell me? They have been gone since Wednesday." I tell him when they are going to get back and he gives me the nastiest look. Him: "Why weren't the dogs inside?" Me:"I don't have a key, they didn't leave me a key to the house." Him: "They didn't leave you a key? Are you serious?" He's pretty much saying this to me like I'm the one that made this decision not to have a key to their house. Cop "Well that was a stupid decision". I'm thinking to myself, yeah I know that Captain Hindsight what the hell did you want me to do, the other dog is fine.
So the Animal control guy asks me if the owners want the ashes, I call them and they say no. He then explains to me the legal bit. The dogs had everything they needed, legally. Dog House, Food, and water are what is legally supposed to be there for outside dogs. Said with the added factors of the food being full, full giant bowl of water and kiddie pool they don't see any foul play. Said that if they didn't have those thing that would have been felony neglect. I heart just about fell out of my chest at that point. He said their investigator would look at it, but he sees no signs of me deliberately neglecting those dogs. His mood has lightened up a lot at this point. He tells Security forces I'm taking the German Shepard to my house to watch her for the next 4 days, which I already explained to him I was doing so she didn't have to end up staying in the heat. They have lightened their moods, but the city cop is clearly in a foul mood still. He's probably an avid dog lover. I'd never in my life hurt an animal, at least outside of hunting deer. Animal control pretty much boils it down to heat stroke. They all agree that I can take the other dog and everyone goes their separate ways. The whole night I kept thinking to myself, "If I would have known the little dog would have this much trouble with the heat I would have tried to bring her to my house, but my dog would probably have tried to kill her if I did that".
Now that I have the other dog at my house, I fear that if my dog get's out he's going to destroy her. My wife is not brave enough to tell my dog to shut up. He doesn't do anything when he's in my line of site, but when I take her out of the room so she can eat and go to the bathroom, he tries tearing down my door. He's normally pretty good with dog. I have never seen him like this either. He's gentle around my daughter too. So I have to lock her up, let him out to eat and get his exercise, and then lock him him and let her out. He stays in the room for the next couple of days because he's comfortable there and won't have anxiety while he's in there. I fear when the weekend is over and I leave for work she might have some anxiety. I'm at work now, but she's at home with my wife. What a crazy day yesterday was! I feel so bad for the little dog:( Sorry if you're an avid dog lover and feel like I could have done more for her. I really didn't foresee her dying or anything especially when she was just fine the day before and it was hotter.