Monday, July 21, 2008

Dog on the Blog: Marty Goes Back to the Future ?

Our dogs don't always come to us in neatly planned moves. Sometimes our dogs just find us, through the chaos of everyday life. Such was the case with Marty.

Two weeks ago, Ricky and I were coming out of our local bank when Marty came galloping up to us, running pell mell across traffic with little thought to the cars braking and swerving around him! He seemed genuinely happy to see us, even though we had never met!

Marty smiled and allowed us to pet him and then hold him, so he would not take off into traffic again. We looked for identification, but found none. His fur around his neck did not look like he had worn a collar.

Yet, Marty was remarkably clean and his teeth were brilliantly white. We were certain he had shinnied through a hole in someone's back yard fence, and his family would no doubt be looking for him. The local newspaper was right next door, so we took Marty inside and introduced him to Helen and Ricki at the Wharton Journal Spectator. The local press usually has their finger on the pulse of small towns like ours, so we figured if someone lost their dog, they would probably call the Journal Spectator.

We went home, took Marty's picture, and then made "Found" posters which we took around town and posted, expecting to hear from Marty's owners right away. But no one has called about him. So it is starting to look like he may be joining our New Directions Adoption Program, if we cannot locate his family! He is a well mannered, loving dog who deserves a family to love him.

Ricky chose the name Marty for him. If you have ever been to Wharton, Texas, you know that one of our town's finest features is our fully restored 1880's vintage courthouse. "The Square" means the piece of ground where the courthouse sits, and generally the businesses which surround it on all four sides, in antique buildings from the same era as the courthouse. (If you have NEVER been to Wharton, Texas, you need to spend a weekend here at one of the bed and breakfasts and just enjoy a leisurely couple of days wandering through the antique stores, visiting our riverfront park and restored train station, as well as sampling some of the great local restaurants here in town!)

Ricky said that when he saw Marty dashing across the street from the courthouse lawn, it reminded him of the 1950s hometown scenes from the movie, Back to the Future. So he named him for the Michael J. Fox character in that film!

Maybe Marty, the dog, has a family back in 1955 and he has somehow, like Marty McFly, crossed the dimensions of time to land in The Future! That's all we can figure, because any contemporary family who had a beautiful, well mannered dog like this would be out scouring the streets of Wharton looking for him!


Jay Hellerich, executive director
smiling dog farms
a 501(c)3 corporation
wharton, texas
979-257-3377
www.smilingdogfarms.org
http://smilingdogfarms.blogspot.com



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