1 week down!

Thursday came rolling around and started out much like the day before. I showed up to the office, got suited up and went out on the road. We didn’t have as many calls/files as Wednesdsy, but there was more of a variety.

Our first call that day was another general parking call. Someone made call to complain about a vehicle that had been parked on the street for more that 24 hours. As we drove to the location we discussed our options. Should we ticket? Should we warn? Should we inform? A lot of good options and considerations. As we pulled up to the address on which it was parked in front of, it was no where to be seen. Case closed. Probably the easiest case we will ever have. So we drive on.

Next we had an unsightly premises call. The owner of the property had been doing some renovations on the house and construction material and tools had been piling up. When we arrived we immediately saw the piles of rubbish and tools and buckets. We took notes, took photos and took a couple deep breaths to try and subdue the feeling of anxiety just being in and around the mess. I approached the back yard to see what condition it was in. It was the same story as the front. Maybe even a little bit less. As I started to snap pictures, 2 big dogs noticed me and started to howl. They ran from the patio and barked their faces off. It didn’t bother me much as I have 2 big dogs of my own. They were probably a little embarrassed of their mess and didn’t want me looking at it. I get it.

After collecting what would seem to be enough evidence, we knocked on the door. We knew someone was home as we heard someone scolding the 2 barking dogs from inside the house. The door was opened and we were greeted by the property owner. They knew why we were there. “Oh, I just put this stuff outside this morning!” Pardon me, buuuut it hasn’t been THAT cold and your dilapidated table saw is frozen, in snow, to the gound. “Oh, those tiles aren’t for my project, I don’t what they are from.” Well, I can see your nicely tiled entrance resembles those tiles quite closely! The excuses and comments these people come up with are just amazing. Very creative at times. He was left with a notice to clean and we went on our marry way.

Later in the day, still fairly early, we got a call in. Dog Issue: Dog Poop. Long story short, it snows a lot here (well, a lot more than the south) and the winters are long. People have pets. Pets eat food. Pets have digestive systems. Anyone older than 4 knows where I am going with this. So the dog went outside throughout the winter. Said dog did it’s business throughout the winter. All winter. All LONG winter. The owner of said dog wasn’t bothered to go out side and collect after the dog all LONG winter. Come spring melt, owner decides to clean up. Owner then decides to throw collection over the fence. We knock on the door and no one is home. We leave a notice to contact us. Eventually the owner calls and we explain the situation. Please clean up after your pet and dispose of it properly or we will hire a company to do it for you and front you the bill. They complied. We checked.

Friday night and the lights are low. Ok, so it wasn’t night, but it was friday! Friday was spent almost in its entirety at the SPCA. We were assigned our city vehicles and headed to the shelter. We did dog training. A lot of training. Catching, walking, calming, feeding, petting, loading, catching, handling, feeding, petting, inspecting, feeding, petting, cleaning. We practiced loading one of the dogs into a vehicle cage. He was some sort of mix, but of 2 big dogs. Big, big dogs. Picture a golden retriever, on stilts, with a stack of bricks for a head and who has a diet of cookies and ice cream. He was super docile though. A nice dog. Truly a ‘good boy’. Loading him into the vehicle cage – that would have been a sight to behold. He was a little stubborn. He may have never been in a car before. Maybe a farm dog. He was noooot having any of it. Part of the job description is picking up stray/aggressive/at large dogs though. So we had to make it work. And it did. Eventually.

It was a long day – but a good day.

Side note: If the owners of a stilt wearing, brick-for-a-head looking, cookies and ice cream eating dog are reading this, your dog misses you. Go pick him up.

Moral of this story I think there are a couple here, “if your life doesn’t allow you to be able to take proper care of an animal, don’t get one.” “If you are thinking of adopting an animal, do some research. Ask questions.” “If you love animals but your life doesn’t allow you to be able to take proper care of it, volunteer at a local shelter. They need the help.”