Good Dog Carl

If you have ever read the children's book by the same title I bet you can guess what this is all about...

Saturday I was on my way to check on a friend that I hadn't seen in about a month when I met Carl. I had just been by her shop, then took a stroll by the dog lot at Saga. Thinking about the dog of my future and knowing that it would still be a few months away. Despite this knowledge I walked down the street daydreaming. I saw Diggity. I imagine that the Cookie Lady named him that thinking Hot Diggity Dog and it stuck. Walking a little further, thinking about the perfect name for a dog, I knew that I couldn't pick the name before the dog, but I continued with the game in my head. Thinking about Renee at the Reserve and Bell and Barney from childhood, I saw Carl. He is a beautiful rottweiler, with a great disposition, but bad "owners". Carl was wondering the street in front of the police station when I found him. He was running frantically back and forth across the street to avoid the traffic. I called him over, he came immediately out of the middle of the street. As I looked closer I noticed that his eyes seemed a little off. I called him out of the traffic again and saw that puss was surrounding his eyes. The poor baby had bad eye infections and it appeared that it had been that way for quite some time. I noticed when I would go to pet him he would shy away. Slowly I reached out to him and petted him on the head, walked with him a little while, then called Saga. Of course no one was there since it was Saturday. Literally seconds later Angie stopped to see what was going on. I showed her Carl's face, she offered us a ride to Island Perk where Heather our vet was , but I declined on the fear that Carl would jump off the golf cart. She went ahead to make sure Heather didn't leave and Carl followed me closely. After a quick inspection it was obvious that he needed treatment but wasn't in too bad of shape.

Carl and I went to the store for dog food. He walked past me, right in the store, lucky we weren't in the States as the employees merely laughed and shooed him out. We walked to my house, I poured a small pile of food. The ravished dog looked at me confused. I picked food up and put it in his mouth. He gave me a look like- You've GOT to be kidding me lady!- as the food rolled off of his tongue. I was inspired by the pizza in the trash. (long story short, pizza boy was terrified of Blue, dropped the pizza, it was in the trash) So, I took the pizza from the trash and fed it to Carl with dog food embedded in it. Carl proceeded to eat the pizza and toppings that fell on the ground, but ignored the dog food, even the pieces that fell off the pizza.

We walked a little more, confused what to do with him until Monday when Saga opened. The pack of dogs at my house had no desire to have a new friend introduced. Yet again Heather came through. She was just finishing a visit with my neighbor when I was trying to figure out a way to get in touch with her. So she took Carl home for the weekend, then to Saga either Monday evening or today.

I stopped by today to check on him. He is on medication for his eyes and already looks better. His real name is Cujo and he has "owners". Truly this is the least appropriate name for this dog that there possibly could be. If all goes well and the owners don't claim him in two weeks he will be mine.

It is a little crazy for me to try to get a dog while I am here. Even more crazy that I should get one while I am away for a month. However, I feel that if this works out, Carl was meant to be mine.