Sometime around a month ago we started seeing a black dog on Fouche Gap Road. It seemed to be a German Shepherd, but it was hard to get a good look because the dog was so skittish. It was another abandoned dog, just the latest in a long line of abandoned dogs.

In the past we have taken these abandoned dogs in and found them new homes. This time we couldn’t because the dog would not come close enough to touch, much less take in. We saw him (or her) here and there around the mountain, often in front of a particular house, sometimes far down the road, and occasionally passing through our yard. It spent a lot of time at that particular house, so one day when I saw the owner outside as I walked Zeke and Sam, I asked him about the dog. It turns out they didn’t want it and were trying to get animal control to pick it up.

We expected the dog to disappear soon, but still we kept seeing it.

The dogs and I saw it fairly often in the yard of the house where it seemed to be staying. I always spoke to the dog, but it only stared. Usually it ran down the driveway barking at us after we passed. I didn’t take it seriously.

A couple of people spoke to me about it. They had tried to approach the dog without much success. As the weeks passed and the dog didn’t seem to be losing weight, I assumed the people in the house where it was staying had decided to keep it. I didn’t think they were being very responsible by letting it run loose, but, I thought, maybe they would bring it inside eventually.

I wanted to meet the dog. I thought that it might be a little more trusting since it saw me with our two dogs, but it never approached us.

I had given up on ever touching the dog until Monday. Monday afternoon Leah and I were outside when the dog came up the driveway. It was very wary, but obviously wanted to come closer — to Leah, not me. I sat down facing to the side and avoided looking at the dog. The dog carefully approached Leah until she could pet its head. After a minute or so, the dog was close enough to lick Leah’s face, and we decided to give it some food. I went in and brought out a bowl of Sam and Zeke’s food and put it down halfway down the drive. The dog stood in the woods and barked, showing some nice, white teeth. It sounded pretty aggressive, but it wasn’t. It was more like the line from the Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor movie “Stir Crazy” as they walked into a jail holding cell filled with big, rough-looking criminals: “We bad, that’s right.” It was pure bluff.

But eventually the dog came up and started eating slowly. I sat down not looking at it, and it approached me. After a few minutes, it was licking my face.

And that was it. The dog, which was a female, came to me and Leah readily. She wriggled and pawed at us and licked our faces. It was obvious this dog had been looking for someone to save it.

Here she is with Leah.

She’s a beautiful dog, obviously with a lot of German Shepherd, but not full-blooded.

Her head looks the most like a Shepherd.

She disappeared Monday night, but by Tuesday afternoon was back in the driveway. I fed her again and let the dogs meet her. After a little meet-and-greet, she started running big laps into the road, up the driveway and into the woods. She had more energy than she knew what to do with. I let Sam off the leash and they chased each other around the front yard.

I had found a number for the people where she had been staying and found that they did not intend to keep her and were, in fact, not feeding her. They had called animal control multiple times but no one had ever come. So, we thought, she must be starving.

Leah and I both said we would love to have her. She looked to be settled in, hanging around the garage door when we went inside, and coming up to us excitedly when we went back out. But with two dogs and five cats, it was just impossible. So I posted on a local Facebook group, looking for her owner or someone who might want to adopt her. I seldom use Facebook, so I was surprised to find an earlier post where people from the area were talking about the dog. At least three other people had been feeding her, but no one had been able to get close enough to her to do anything.

Within a few minutes after my post, someone in the area said he wanted her as company for his current German Shepherd. We arranged to have him come up and meet the dog, and they seemed to hit it off. After a half an hour or so, we loaded her up (unwilling as she was) into his car and they drove off. Once in the car she seemed to be okay. I gave her a dog biscuit and she took it, which means she wasn’t too upset to eat. A little while later Tuesday afternoon he texted us a photo of the dog inside his house, eating with his other Shepherd.

All in all, it was about as good an outcome as anyone could have asked for. She went to a good home with a guy who seemed to be a good dog person. We couldn’t keep her, could we? How could anyone get attached to a dog within 24 hours of meeting it?

And so, you might ask, why am I feeling so rotten?

Added Wednesday night.

Well, no one asked, but I’ll go ahead and answer anyway. I was feeling sorry for myself. I was picturing us with this dog and thinking no one else could possibly provide the kind of home we could. But, of course, that’s not true. The new owner has texted us several photos of the dog in her new home, and Leah and I are feeling greatly relieved. In one short video clip, the dog is lying on the sofa next to the new owner (shot from the owner’s point of view). He scratches her head, and puts her head down and relaxes. In another she’s lying on her side on the floor, completely at ease. I think she’s going to be good there.