Being an animal control officer was one of the most interesting jobs I ever had. Calls that were received on Friday and Saturday nights were the most memorable. This particular call still brings a chuckle to me even now.
I was 19 years old at the time. This was back in 1980. Before Animal Control Officers carried guns, at least in our town anyway. I worked nights and was on call over the weekend for emergency calls after hours. I liked the hours because it gave me time to sit down and change the dates in the log books to extend the life of the animals that were being held. I'm sure everyone knows the the animals only have a certain amount of time to be adopted out. By me changing the dates, many were adopted that otherwise wouldn't have been.
Okay, I'll get to the story now. It was 3:00 a.m. on a Friday night when I received a call from dispatch. The police had called in about a vicious dog holding a man captive in his own home. I quickly headed out to the address I was given. As I turned onto the street I saw two police cars parked in front of the house. Two officers were standing in the front yard and the door to the house was wide open. I parked my truck and started to pull out my long handled snare.
One of the officers came over and told me I wouldn't be needing the snare for this one. He then burst out in laughter. About the time I'm thinking I was pranked, a third officer walks out of the house carrying a two month old Golden Retriever. He was laughing as well. He hands me the puppy and says,"Here's your vicious dog." All three of them began laughing hysterically. After putting the pup in my truck I asked them what exactly had happened.
The man who lived in the house came home drunk. I'm sure that was obvious. He left his front door open and proceeded to his bedroom. A few minutes later the stray pup finds his way into the house. Like all puppies he was in search of attention. The puppy made his way to the mans bedroom and jumped up on the bed where the man was laying. The man freaked out when the puppy started licking his face and thought he was being mauled by a huge vicious dog and called 911.
So here I am taking this adorable puppy to puppy jail because in a drunks eyes he's a giant vicious dog that was trying to eat him alive. That was how he described it when he called 911.
Don't feel bad for the puppy though. He was sprung from puppy jail the next morning. The puppy belonged to the mans neighbors and they picked him up the next morning as soon as we opened the doors.
