The Ballad of Montgomery Scott

LAST FRIDAY we got a call that a puppy needed to be rescued from puppy jail downtown. I had a small window of time to go get him. The idea was to bail him out, take him to the vet, and he would stay there in doggie day care until we could get a foster lined up. It did not quite work out that way.

The dogs name is Scott. Sounds like a name I would give a dog so this rescue is starting out well. A lot of times we get dogs with such crazy names that they immediately get new ones. Puppy’s are people too. Give them a real name that meets their personality.

I got down to the Animal Foundation and went in, gave the people the info on prisoner number 1074554. They told me to wait a minute and they would go get him. I looked around the room. There were other people there waiting to pick up prisoners too. Some of them looked really upset. One lady looked mad and I thought about staying around to watch the fireworks. But I don’t like fireworks so I just stayed quiet and waited for my parolee to be brought out.

Puppy’s that I pick up from the Animal Foundation come in two groups. There is the scared to death group where you have to talk to the dogs, get them calmed down, and explain to them that everything is going to be ok. Then there is the grateful group that is so happy they are getting busted out of jail that they know exactly why you are there and they will walk you to your own vehicle and jump in and say “give me the keys”. Mr. Scott was that puppy. He had a smile a mile wide when they brought him out. He greeted me and said it was time to “blow this popcorn stand” and he led me outside and walked right up to my truck.

After I got him all settled in the truck, explained to him that I was going to drive, I decided real quick that I was not going to take him direct to the vet. I was going to take him home and introduce him to the other puppies. So that is what we did. He greeted everybody. Everybody greeted him. They all went outside and Snoop E. Dogg explained where they needed to stand to get the best view of the walking trails and then where to stand in the kitchen so the nice lady that runs the puppy bed and breakfast will give them a puppy treat.

Mr. Scott smelled like he had been in prison. We had a groomers appointment set up for the next morning but that was not going to work. So I invited him into the downstairs bathroom and showed him the shower. He walked right in and I was able to wash a couple layers of dirt and smells off of him and I checked for prison tattoos. He did not have any. He was so happy. After that he ran around, played with the other dogs and dried off. He did have an official vet appointment later on that afternoon so I took him in for that. He enjoyed the ride in the truck, and enjoyed meeting everybody at the vet including the girls at the desk and the doctor.

Back home after the vet appointment we discovered that puppy did not know how to navigate stairs. It is always fun to watch them learn. This time, Harley was the teacher. He would go up the stairs, look down over the rails and bark. Mr. Scott would go up a few stairs then turn around and go back down. This went on for about an hour until he finally made it up to the landing. He only had about 3 more steps to go but it took him a while to figure out those last 3. When he finally did it he was so happy. He ran into my office, gave me a big hug, and then went off to explore.

It has been a good couple of days with Mr. Scott. He is a hugger, a snuggler, a happy, playful, grateful, puppy. Rescue dogs always are. That is why they are the best. I would keep this puppy for my own but we cant keep all of them. That would be puppy hoarding, and we can not do that. We have to share the joy of rescue puppy’s with other people that need rescue puppy’s.

Another successful rescue story in the books. This really was a good one. It is not over yet. We still have to find somebody to adopt him but that is in the works. It is quite possible that we take him to meet his future parents this week. We will see.

Michael W. Shappley GRRSN