Herbie

That's the name of a little brown and white beagle that was wandering around the properties here this past Saturday morning. Our friend J called here to let us know the dog was headed our way, and I went outside to make sure the chickens weren't going to ripped to pieces by a stray and hungry dog.

When I got outside, there was the beagle, tail wagging, nose to the ground, heading right towards me. On the road was our friend J, in his truck and keeping the dog in sight. Into our driveway came J, into our yard came the beagle. Looking at that thin little dog with the plastic collar, we both figured he had been let go by his owners. All too often, people who no longer want their pets will drive them to country roads and just set them loose, as has happened here so many times. My husband and I have taken three stray dogs to the local shelter, hoping they would find good homes.

The beagle was friendly enough, but seemed thin, and he wasn't a clean-smelling dog, which made us think he'd been traveling for a while. J picked him up and brought him to the shelter. Before he left, my husband had come out and I was hoping that he wouldn't want to keep that lost little dog. I think beagles are very cute, but it's not the breed that I would choose as a house-pet.

Off to the shelter went J and the beagle....... and they found out that the shelter is closed on the weekends. (On Saturdays? Closed? That should be the busiest day there!) But closed it was..... and J was set to be out of town on Saturday and Sunday.... so he brought the dog to the vet's office, thinking to board him for the weekend, with the plan of taking him back to the shelter on Monday.

While he was at the vet, one of the other clients there in the waiting room seemed to recognize the beagle....... told J exactly where that dog belonged..... and off J went, to bring the dog back to its home. When he got to that place, he opened up the door and out shot the dog, who acted like he was positively thrilled to be back among his people...... his 'people' were having a cook-out and the dog headed right there. J took that as a good sign, and back home he went because the weekend plans were slipping away right before his eyes.

Off they went for their weekend business.... and up went two signs in our hills here: "Lost Dog. Beagle. Please call....." Oh my. (Apparently, the guy in the vet's office thought that this particular beagle looked just the same as a different beagle altogether.) J & J were gone for the weekend..... I knew where the dog had been left...... should I call J?...... or just call the dog's owner? I didn't want to bother J&J.... they had more than enough going on over the weekend to take care of..... so I called the number on the sign.... turned out the dog's owners were the people building the new house up the road from our house and two properties away from J&J's house. What?!

Oh my. Those people have been driving up and down this road for months and months now.... they never stopped to say hello, never introduced themselves, most of the time they hardly waved hello as they went up and down the road. Had they been more friendly, and let us know who they were and what pets they had, we would have known instantly that the little brown and white beagle (named Herbie) belonged to them........ Herbie would never have been driven to the shelter, would never have been driven to the boatyard over by the lake... and would never have been let out of anyone's sight until his real owners could come and get him, for goodness sake.

What happened after we all found out where Herbie belonged was nothing less than a Christmas story. J & J got back from out of town and J immediately drove over to the boatyard near the lake to look around for that little dog. He had called up the owners, apologizing to them for not knowing the dog was theirs (as if any of us could have known in the first place?), apologizing for bringing the dog to where he was told it belonged, and offered to not only look for their dog but to also post a reward for Herbie.

This morning, back towards the lake went J, determined to knock on every door he could, hoping to find Herbie and get him back to his owners. And that's what he did.... and that's exactly what happened. He found that dog. Gave the people who had him a 'reward' for taking him in and then giving him up so J could get the dog back to the new neighbors.

Right about now, Herbie should be wagging his little beagle tail happily in his own home, looking up at his own Christmas tree, and dreaming of his adventure-filled weekend.

The lesson here, I believe, is to do things right, to make things right, whatever it takes. Sometimes you have to go above and beyond what you think is right, in order to make things come out right.

But where does doing right begin?

Personally, I think in this situation, it should have begun with the new neighbors being a little more friendly.... saying hello from time to time, stopping along the way to introduce themselves so we would know their children and their pets. Just about everyone who lives in our hills here knows who's who, which cats and dogs belong where, who's driving which vehicle.... we know our neighbors. And those neighbors that we know become our friends.

So simple, really. That one right thing to do could have saved a lot of heart-pounding for the dog's owners (we know their names now), and for our friend J, and for cute little Herbie (we know where he lives now).

We're still shaking our heads over this....... Herbie got lost, then found by J, returned to where we thought he belonged, then found again by someone else, then found by J a second time, then returned to his people. A little Christmas doggie-miracle. Jingle bells.