Out playing or lost?
Hi,
How do I know if a dog is just out playing(let out by the owner) or if it’s lost?
I saw a dog roaming about on my way to work this morning. I walk to work. It was really friendly and tame, with a collar round it’s neck. As I passed, I gave it a smile and patted it briefly on the head. Then it followed me! All the way to my office, a full 15mins walk.
It walked with me into my company’s main gate. As I pushed my office door open, I said ‘stay’ sternly to it, and it seems to understand, pursuing no further though the door was open. Explaining to my boss that it wasn’t my dog and it’s really tame, won’t bite and all, I went out to it. I walked it to the main gate, playing a little with it. It doesn’t understand ‘paw’, but gave me its paw when I gave it my palm. It was really clean and looks like a happy chap, so it should belong to someone.
I said ‘home’ and gave it a slight push. It walked a little away, hesitating. This repeats several times. When it was outside the main gate, I turned to walk back to my office, only to find it following me again. Before entering my office, I gave it another ‘home’ and closed the door. Kinda hard to do that coz I don’t want to give it a feeling I was abandoning it. A colleague peeped out and said it settled itself under a car outside my office door. Half an hour later, I went out and found it still waiting for me, happily greeting me when it saw me. I decided that if it was still around by lunch time, then I will try to walk it back to the housing area to look for possible owner or call a shelter for help. However, by lunch time, it was gone.
What do you guys think? Is it just playing around or is it lost?
I will try to look for it on the way back from work later though.
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