Stranger at the door

We had an unexpected visitor at the Lake House yesterday.

We drove separate vehicles and I arrived later than DH as I stopped to peruse a community festival in the business sector of town. It was the community’s first event for a fall festival but I would say it was a grand success. Lots of artisans and booths with food, etc. Also two separate stages with musicians.

When I got to the house, DH was inside watching a ball game, so I sat down with him for a couple of innings before unloading my vehicle. When I got up and went to the door, we had a visitor. A beautiful black collie mix. He was sitting on the porch with his back against the sliding glass door as though he belonged here. I called DH and told him we had company. When I opened the door, he gently raised up and stood there as though he should be allowed in. He was covered with those little green seeds and lots of moisture making me think he had been playing in the woods. Since the two of the houses across the street had weekend residents, I assumed he belonged to some of them. He would look up whenever he heard a child’s voice but never acted like he wanted to leave. From the gray on his muzzell we could tell he wasn’t a young dog.

As we unloaded the car, he trotted back and forth with us and acted as like he wanted to play. I had thrown a frisbee in the car to have at the Lake house, so I threw it in the air to see if he played frisbee. He did! He would gingerly bring it back and lay it at my feet. He and I had been playing a few minutes when DH came outside. I was no longer the preferred play partner. The visitor took the frisbee and laid it at DH’s feet as though to say. “It’s your turn!” He was obviously a man's dog. He continued to take the frisbee to DH until he finally tired and took the frisbee to a shady spot to rest.


We checked his neck for a collar and found one underneath his heavy mane. But, I could only find a rabies tag.

DH and I both had errands to run, so I gave the visitor some water and we left again in separate vehicles. When I got back in about 90 minutes, the visitor was still at the house, sitting against the glass sliding door again. When he saw me get out of the car, he brought the frisbee to me, wanting to play again. I played with him again while I unloaded the groceries. I had bought a small bag of dry dog food “just in case”. I laid out a handful of chunks and he politely ate but did not act too hungry. He did go back to the bowl of water I had put out earlier, so I refilled it.

He was such a wonderful dog, I knew he was used to having someone who loved him. I just felt there was someone out there who was really missing him. I run my hand around his neck under all that hair again and found the collar. I keep running my fingers around the collar. Found the rabies tag again but kept going. Then I felt something different. I pulled him closer to me and parted his long hair. There was a name “Slimbo G********” and an address and phone number. I called the phone number and identified myself and asked the lady on the other end if she was missing a dog. She said , “Oh yes! We have looked everywhere for him! Where are you?” I gave her directions to our lake house and she said they would be right over to pick him up. They were about 3 miles from us.

When DH came back from his chores, I told him I had found a tag on the dog’s collar and the people were coming to pick him up. We waited about 2 hours and when they still had not come I called them again. She was so glad I had called back. In her excitement about my finding their dog, she had got the directions mixed up and forgot to get my number.

It was an elderly couple. They told us the dog was a gift to them 11 years ago on their 50th anniversary. The gentleman said the dog had never spent a night outside before in his life and they had been so worried about him. They had looked and looked everywhere but could not find him. The lady remarked that her husband had been so depressed, worried about his dog.

As for Slimbo, he seemed reluctant to go with them. He had enjoyed having someone to play frisbee with but when the man opened the car door, he took one last look at us as if to say "see you later" and jumped into the car.

Our dogs at the farm aren't as spoiled and are so much more rambuncious than the polite and playful stranger had been. He had only been in our life for a few hours but we missed him that evening.