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Not a whisper

It's been 3 days now and despite scouring through and posting on all the lost and found pet websites that pop up in the first page of search results, there's no sign that anybody is looking for this dog I found. I've driven around the neighborhood twice now to look for lost dog signs and none of them come close to resembling the one currently in my possession. I'm truly stumped.

I guess the important thing is that he's safe and being well taken care of, but it's a little concerning that there are no apparent signs that he's being looked for. You can't help but wonder what the story is here. There were no signs of distress or physical trauma when I found him, so he couldn't have wandered too far from home.

Still, I love having him around and he's as happy and healthy as he can be. Him and my dog are like two peas in a pod now and it's a joy seeing the both of them growing on each other. I hope that even if he is reunited with his family, that they'll get to be friends and hang out for years to come. I kinda feel bad that I don't even have a name for him.

I've been testing out a lot of common dog names on him to see if he'd respond to any of them, but nothing seems to be ringing his bell. I've mostly been calling him Big Guy or Butthead, but obviously those aren't proper names befitting the position of man's best friend. Not that he's in a position to argue, or even understand, but I'd like to have something to call him until he finds his way back home.

I've never seen a dog like him. It's almost remarkable how he looks like if you took every intimidating breed of dog and rolled them into one. He looks like part Pit Bull, part German Shephard, part Rottweiler, and part Staffordshire Terrier. This dog was evidently bred for combat, and judging by appearances, most likely against evil witches or mythical monsters. He also has these eyes that look like they belong to a comic book villain or some notable demi-god or minor deity. He has heterochromia, where his left eye is blue and the other brown, but his right eye is also somewhat bloodshot so it looks like he has one blue eye and one red eye. It's trippy to stare at because you half-expect him to attack despite his behavior being that of a sweet, bubbly boy.

Because of these traits, I've been leaning towards calling him Ares, after the Greek god of war. It might be a little too militant and will probably inject some nerves into the owners of other dogs he might play with, but I can't really think of one more befitting. I have no intention of giving him any generic pet names, so I guess it's a placeholder for now.

I've also considered calling him Tantrum given his propensity to whine whenever me or my dog aren't in the mood to play with him, but that would be a little too insulting. He's a good dog and deserves better. I really don't know what to call or even if I should call him anything given that I might never see him again once his owner is found. It's feeling like more and more of a pipe dream the more time passes without seeing any traces of his family trying to look for him.

I guess I'll just have to keep the hope alive that someone out there is trying to bring him home. This apartment is a little too small for his energy level, and the risk of him ruining my security deposit seems more inevitable than I'd like. For now, I guess we'll just focus on keeping the search going and enjoying our time together while we got it.
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redredred · M
I’ve been adopting senior dogs for years. There are three shelters I work with and they all know I’ll likely take one more old dog if one shows up. It’s sad, surprising and more than a little disgusting to see how often people simply discard an old dog. When they start to get slow, maybe no longer actively playful and their medical bills begin to mount, people simply throw them away.

I take them, give them perhaps a year or two to spoil them and then the final mercy becomes necessary. It’s very rewarding and then heartbreaking but the dogs are so grateful and loving.
TinyViolins · 31-35, M
@redredred The thing is that this dog is still basically a puppy. He's about a year old judging by his teeth and his endless amount of energy. Still has a lot of life left.

Maybe he was abandoned, but I found him around 1 AM on Sunday morning, so it's possible he escaped from a party or his owner was intoxicated and lost him. I had a dog run away from us once when my parents had a party at the house, probably to get away from the noise.

I don't know much of anything except that he has no name tag and no microchip. No way of contacting his owners except by digging around the web and keeping an eye out for posters
redredred · M
@TinyViolins if you’re in a relatively small town you could try driving around to the bigger vet clinics to see if anybody recognizes him. Vet staff generally like dogs and often remember their patients. They would also be sympathetic to your efforts.
TinyViolins · 31-35, M
@redredred That would make things a lot simpler, but my city has over 100,000 people and only 2 animal control officers. Did take him to the nearby vet to scan for a chip, but at the time they knew nothing about him.

He has heterochromia and a distinct white patch on his chest, so I'm sure he'd be easy to spot in a lineup. I've posted his photo on all the sites I can. Just wish the process was quicker. I'm starting to worry about his future.