SacPaws.com

Tonight I was out for a run enjoying all the blooming flowers and warm temps when I decided, quite by chance, to head along a grassy boulevard that divides a main thoroughfare.  The boulevard is about 100 yds wide and maybe a mile long and is filled with numerous oak trees and a large expanse of green grass.  Lots of people like to walk their dogs in and around the big oaks.  As I was running along I noticed a black lab sauntering slowly, stop then lay down.  Initially I thought it was an older dog that was enjoying an evening stroll and felt like cooling off in the cool grass.  The dog was off-leash so I immediately started looking around for the owner.  As I got closer, it was clear there was no one around.  I approached the dog slowly and miraculously the dog let me get close enough to read her tags.....her name was Sadie and the address was nearly a mile away.  I wasn't sure how I was going to get to a phone but I knew I wasn't going to leave her there.  First we had to cross a busy street to get off the boulevard and near some houses.  As I grabbed her collar and started walking, Sadie was obviously limping and she was full of  mud.  By chance (and it seemed this evening was filled with chance), a minivan had pulled to the side of the road.  It was a couple of moms with their kids and, by chance, they had been eating ice cream cones but the kids had more ice cream on themselves than in their mouths so they had pulled over to clean up the mess.  They were kind enough to call the number on Sadie's tags and within 10 minutes the owner  arrived.  While we were waiting, Sadie enjoyed the remains of a melted ice cream cone!  She was definitely limping, something the owner said was new so they were off the vet immediately.  I'm hoping it's nothing serious.  I'm just grateful for all the "chance" happenings that occurred tonight that made it possible to reunite Sadie with her owner.