Pongo

Elizabeth and I "had" a dog for about a week in August. There was a dalmatian that used to always come in to our carport/parking area even when the gate was locked. He was so skinny he could squeeze through the holes in the gate. Being dog people, it didn't take us very long to get attached to him even though he was quite dirty and probably had some diseases. I named him Pongo because he had black ears just like the dog in 101 Dalmatians, and we started giving him water and scraps of food each day. Because we live in CFCI housing and pets are not allowed, we could not officially adopt him or let him come inside the house, but we did cheerfully talk about taking him to the vet one day, maybe how we should buy some dog food, and how we could take care of him, giving him a comfortable home outside. We thought it would be good for us, too--he could protect us and our home, not to mention be a friendly face to come home to each day.

Then, one day all of a sudden, he was gone. At first, we thought maybe he was just wandering around the neighborhood for awhile and would come back soon. After several days went by though, we realized Pongo was gone. Elizabeth and our neighbor Flavio think he was poisoned by someone (People sometimes do that here--it is so cruel and horrible!) because the night before he went missing, he had been howling and whining all night long. Our neighbor Alexa and I have a different theory, though. We think that maybe his real owners found him (after the night of howling) and are now keeping him well-protected in their house or yard so they don't lose him again. I like to believe this is what happened. :) Alexa thinks she might even know the house where he might be. I am tempted to go knock on their door and just ask them. Maybe I will one day. Of course, a third option is that he was sick and was howling that night because he was in so much pain and dying on his own. This would also be very sad, but not as sad as scenario #1. If this third possibility is the case, I'm glad he could spend his last week of life with us, knowing he was loved...

Isn't he precious?!