Yay for valentina saving the pup! I've totally got the lost and/or sick animal karma. Unfortunately, it's very hard to catch a dog that doesn't want to be caught, so I don't have that great of a record of actually catching them. One time, years ago, I was waiting for the bus at a very busy intersection and this big old shepherd/husky sort of mix comes ambling down the freakin' busy street. I was like wtf?, so I grabbed his collar, which was easy because he was pretty old and slow and out of it. Since I didn't have a car and didn't think a cabdriver would take me anywhere with a smelly old dog, the two of us ended up walking almost 3 miles to Anti-Cruelty.

What a great story, minilux... you and the old dawg took a bit of a stroll! I swear, dogs have radar for certain people -- the guy who stopped at the same time that I did and ended up calling animal control had their number on speed dial because he's always finding lost animals.

I always say that if dogs, little kids and old people think you're trustworthy, you must have good energy goin' on!

So.. uh... I'm a cat person... maybe y'all can explain this.. do German Shepherds get lost that often?

darkity, the answer is that I have never, ever found a lost German Shepherd-type dog before. Lots of the rambling types like Labs, Border Collies, Aussie Cattle Dogs, even littler dogs like Cocker Spaniels and minature Schnauzers, but never a German Shepherd. So that made it extra weird yesterday.

And I like kitty cats too... there's a couple feral cats in my neighborhood (minor rant: it really pisses me off when people move and can't take their cats with them, so they just let them loose -- what assholes) and there's always a tidy little bowl of kitty chow on my front porch in a nice secluded spot. I just can't have cats because the Bassetress (as I call my Basset) would make like rather difficult for a cat and I have a cockatiel named Herb D. Byrd who rides around on me a lot.

Hee. I just figured there might have been a recent aberration in the Shepherd genes or something... or maybe they were programmed to start to want to wander after so many generations or something...

I don't get people who abandon their cats either. Ours are spoiled rotten and had more expensive plane tickets to Oregon than we did.

My favorite aunt has a basset/beagle mix named Buddy. He is the most soulful dog I've ever met. Also shockingly quiet.

Thank you for feeding the kitties!

PS lovin' your birdie's name. Hee!