Last Friday night I pulled up to a temporary evening job I’m doing.

In front of my car I see a dog sitting in the bushes. I can see that he’s homeless and afraid.

I approached him real gingerly, lowering myself so as not to appear intimidating and stuck my hand out from a distance, keeping it low.

Within a few seconds he showed himself to be friendly, non aggressive, and lonely.

I took a picture of him, (that exact picture above), went inside the building, and started asking around about the dog. Several people recognized him and said they had seen him in parts of the city with a high homeless population.

I scoured up some pizza and brought it out to him so he could get some calories back.

The employees at the building were concerned about him and tried to elect someone amongst themselves to “adopt” the dog. We came REAL close with one guy whose dog had recently died, but he called his parents and they would not allow him.

I knew in the back of my mind that if no one agreed to adopt him, then I would have to. I just couldn’t bear the thought of that sweet boy further roaming the streets, suffering malnutrition, cold weather, and possible abuse.

At the end of my shift I loaded him up in my car and a new life began. Uggh. The last thing I wanted or needed was a new dog to take care of, but I figured at the very least, maybe he’d only be with me a day or two before I could get someone online to give him a new home.

He was dirty and smelly, so first stop: the bath.

He had NO idea what that was, and HATED it!

Since it was late at night, it was already bed time and I couldn’t leave him to roam the house or he might chew stuff up or worse. So up in the bed he went, where I could keep my eye on him!

Of course, he scratched and scratched for hours, but FINALLY went to sleep.

Turns out he likes to sleep like a human: with his head up at the pillows and arms outstretched. He took to being a member of the family quite readily.

Long story short: we’re not giving him away now, and Oliver has made himself a place in our family unit, much to the chagrin of our current West Highland Terrier, who is not at all happy about it!

Update:

He is definitely an “on the furniture” type of dog. If you try to take a nap on the couch, he’ll insist on squeezing himself into (or onto) any space available. And our Westie (Finnegan O’Brien) seems to be tolerating him better now. He’s no longer keeping a sourpuss look on his face 24/7. We are working hard towards harmony in the house!

Also, we took him to the vet and he ended up having a microchip. The vet’s office called the “owner” who informed them that he did NOT want the dog back. We also found out his birthday is March 6, 2018.

Latest pic as of 6-5–19

Edit 9-6–19

He’s now obsessed with checking the trees for squirrels:

His other pastime, which everyone hates, is “leg wrestling”. If you’re sitting down, he comes up to you and grabs one of your legs with both of his. He’ll either pull on it, or now he’s learned to YANK it! The other day he made me fall right out of my chair! He’s hilarious. But nobody can stand his leg wrestling. Except, of course, his proud papa!

11/2/19

12/23/19

He has a giant stick that he likes. He will lay it on his back so he can chew on it:

8/31/2020. Figured it was time for an update, it’s been so long. Here’s a couple more of my handsome man:

That’s his best friend, Tanner. He comes over to play every now and then. When I tell him his friend is coming over, he gets soooo excited. Oliver loves to put his mouth around Tanner’s ENTIRE head! It’s ridiculous. I’ll take a pic next time if I can…

Edit: 10/3/20…. as promised:

He just cannot stop engulfing his friend’s head in his big mouth

Update 11/29/20

I am sorry to say that Finnegan O’Brien, the small white dog, passed away today. He was almost 16 and had congestive heart failure. He will be dearly missed as he was a huge part of our lives.

R. I. P.

Edit: 12/22/20.The neighborhood kids come down all the time to play with Oliver. And he has lots of other friends from people walking by when he’s out front.

Oh boy.

Do I ever.

I feed them the kibble or cans of food sold at crazy high prices at the local convenience store, then I wait around a few minutes until they gobble their food, and I think, “Hey. I bet they are thirsty. I bet they need some clean water.”

So I reach into my work cooler, and grab a cold bottle of water, dig around in my toolbox until I find a reasonably clean container, dumping out meticulously sorted screws and little parts, and I wash it out.

Open another bottle of water.

Fill the bowl up. Put it down for the poor guy, who slurps up some cold fresh water, eyeballing me to see if more food is forthcoming.

I sigh, and get my lunch. Put it out on the ground for him. Watch as he eats it too.

Then I think, I bet he needs vet care.

I sigh.

I invite him/her to a ride in my truck, and I carefully drive to the emergency vet. Check him in. Tell the vet to please just keep it to a minimum, because this is not my dog.

I sigh.

Then I pick him/her up, pay my vet bill, and take him/her to my house…to “find her a good home”.

Happily I found them all a good home.

Oddly enough it is at my address, where four very large, very unruly, very happy dogs live in my heart.

Damn dogs.

Sigh.

I love them so much.

EDIT: You folks are obviously listening to my dogs propaganda. I am not sweet, nor an angel and heavens knows, a saint?? But I love people who love my dogs so thank you so very much for your kind words!!

(Now stop listening to those heathen dogs! They just think we have bacon!)

Grin!

Update:

Just wanted to say thank you for all the kind words. I was having a rough morning, and it was so cool to read your kind comments. Aw shucks. You made me blush a little.

And one more update: the dogs felt more photos were in order…one more update: thanks for the 1000 upvotes my Quora friends!!

The kids said to tell yall thanks for all the love and upvotes. On a more serious note; every one of these precious, amazing, funny, wonderful animals would have died alone and unloved without someone intervening. Remember that when you have to choose between a breeder and a rescue shelter. Remember that when you choose to spay or neuter. And please remember to bring snacks if you come to visit the big idiots. (They made me say that part about snacks)

Cheers!

Quick update! Just wanted to say thanks again for the remarkable bunch of kind comments made by all you folks. Now, I realize the pack of heathens may have suckered you in just as they have done to me, but it’s awful nice to hear that I’m not the only human willing to extend an open heart to a good dog. Damn dogs. *grin*

I have some sad news to impart. My good boy Jack has gone on to higher pastures without me. It was, and remains, the hardest goodbye I’ve had to say in recent memory. He was my best friend, my soul doggy, my shrink and my beach walking partner. I’ll miss that damn dog for all of my days. However, in honor of his great love for me and for my snacks, I adopted a great dane mix by the name of Handsome Hank. He’s a Great Dane and Pittie mix. And he’s just the prettiest pup. So welcome our newest boy to the ranks, friends. Here he is in all his glory.

Edit (again) to add photos of Hank all grown up. He’s grown into those paws, and is a sweet and funny boy who we love madly. He’s not Jack. But he helped me heal from his loss.