Neighbors coming together

For about the last two weeks, a beagle was missing.  I first heard about it when my neighbor posted on Facebook mentioning seeing a stray dog roaming around.  You rarely see a dog walking unleashed where I live.

Our neighborhood has a Facebook page which has been very effective in alerting people to things relevant to us.  Posts began showing up of people seeing the dog but no one was able to catch it.  It was all around my house, but I never saw it.

I posted my phone number and asked anyone who saw the dog to call me as I seem to have a talent for getting dogs to come to me.  If I could get close enough to reach for his collar and tag, then most likely we could contact the owner.

Finally, yesterday word went out the dog had been caught and the owner notified.  She was very grateful to all of us who helped bring a happy ending to this ordeal.

I live on a quiet street.  Most of the people in this neighborhood work at the University of Rochester.  When the call goes out for help, as in this case, people join together to do what they can.

Occasionally, there are comical incidents that occur. . . as in the time I backed out of my garage and onto the street and saw a small group of people all staring at my house.  "Is there a problem?" I asked.

"Yes, that rabid fox is in your yard!"  I had heard there was one running around.

I went to run my errand and then came home.  A few minutes later, I noticed two police cars on the street directly in front of my home.  A police officer was walking up my driveway with a shotgun in his hands!

"Is this about the rabid fox?"  I asked.  I could think of no other reason an officer would be walking up my driveway with a gun!

I didn't realize it at the moment, but the rabid fox was about 20 feet away from me and the officer asked me to go back in my house.