I only had a few minutes to run to the mailbox before my friend would arrive to take me to the hospital this afternoon.  Elle loves to “get the mail,” so I summoned her and we were out the door on this sort of warm, Spring day.  The junk mail in that box got me outside!  I would be indoors for most of the afternoon and evening with treatment and waiting on my ride home.  Thank you Lord for this wiff of fresh air!

Wiff indeed.  Or is that woof?  With the envelopes and flyers still in my hands, I turned around to see Elle in what you might call the “pointer” pose of a hunting dog.  She is a German shepherd yet I know that pose means that something is awry.  Her head dropped as her eyes fixed on her prize:  a bunny?  a squirrel?  Nope.  A puff ball!  Elle had spotted a light brown-and-black ball of fur no larger than a 16″ softball sauntering toward our driveway!  That little renegade was out for a stroll, strutting like she was the queen of the court!  Elle waited for my command to advance for the customary sniffs and shoves of yet another potential playmate.  But hey, I would have to leave in another few minutes and there was no one else . . .

Just then my friend, Jane, drove up in her mini van.  I had scooped the ball o’ fur into my arms and was trying to figure out what to do.  Jane immediately jumped out onto the driveway ready for action.  She has 2 Pomeranians and LOVES little dogs!  I placed Rene into the bed of my truck for a moment (still filled with soft pieces of sod from a late night gardening project 2 weeks ago!) while I ran into the house to get my phone.  I would need to notify our housing addition in hopes of a quick reply from her rightful owner.  Unfortunately, no such luck bequeathed us this day . . .

Jane and I figured out a plan to place Rene in a garden pen in my backyard until I could return home in a few hours.  The Yorkie would have a towel-bed, bowl of water, and plenty of room to roam around surely before the rains came, right?  Yes, no worries!  The only problem was that our hopes that the owner would come forth never materialized.  I hung tight to my phone during my afternoon treatment and the only person who responded to my post on our Association’s Facebook page was the owner of another Yorkie.  Katie could keep our little Rene overnight and take her to the vet tomorrow during her own dog’s vet appointment to check for a chip ID.  And so that’s what we decided to do.

Later that night I heard that Rene was adjusting well with her new roommates with a belly full of Yorkie foodstuffs.  No one came forth on behalf of the old gal even from my post on the adjacent housing addition’s Facebook page.  Oh dear. I guess Jane, Katie, and I will figure out what to do by tomorrow afternoon.

In the meantime, Steve and I had a great laugh.  Neither of us are “little dog” people.  That puff ball huffed and puffed, snorted and sneezed almost continuously!  Jane said that she was probably the pet of an older person who fed her too much, causing all of the wheezing sounds.  Good golly!  Her fur was mottled, eyes caked with gunk, and body odor suggestive of the risk of nervous piddling (which are exactly the things that are yucky to me about little dogs!)  Steve joked about Rene making a great snack for Elle.  Whaaat?  Rene was quite fat and would add too much cholesterol to Elle’s diet, he conceded.  So maybe not.  Oh my!

It’s a good thing that Steve wasn’t home when I found the little brown and black puff ball that sauntered up our driveway this afternoon!  Us gals did the right thing and little Rene brought us all some smiles on a day definitely in need of a few.  Lord willing we will find her owner soon.  In the meantime, carry on everyone.  :JJ

UPDATE: After a night at Katie’s doggie B & B, trip to the vet, and her owner’s little girl confiding to a friend on the school bus that her doggie was lost, Nikki is home! Woofie, woofie, snort, snort!