Wanted: Crystal ball

These are the days when we sure could use a crystal ball. This sweet soul presented us with a new mystery when he came into Oakland Animal Services, shook up from his past misadventures. He sat in his run looking very forlorn while the days that his owner could come collect him him ticked away. Poor kid almost got lost in the hustle-bustle, such a quiet guy and all, swallowed in a shelter that's being rocked with the challenges that come from staff shortages during an increase in intake numbers.

Somehow his little spirit found a way to stop us in our tracks. "Who are you?", I asked. I blew through the kennel bars into his face; a rude greeting I give to dogs that we want to suss out. Many dogs offer full ecstatic wriggles when we do this. "Me! Me! Do it again!" Occasionally a dog will snarl and spit back, as if to say, "People have not been nice to me. GO AWAY!" But this guy, he stood very still, lifted his paw and licked his lip when he got hit with that rude greeting. Read: Big baby softie, asking for a connection.

We brought him into the trailer to stare at him. He's a mess: Red, swollen toes ... bleeding, yeasty ears...swollen glands...(very) old bite marks and strange red sores on some of his joints. He was having a hard time walking on those feet and looked like he needed to get under a blankie and drink ginger ale and watch old I Love Lucy re-runs.

"What happened to you, honey?" He just stared back, "I don't feel good. Please hug me."

Dogs live in the present moment, so we don't really need a crystal ball to know when they need help now, but it sure would be nice to know more about how dogs like this came to such a crisis state. Of course we hugged him.

A visitor from Australia was with us and offered a new name for a new day. Huckleberry. Huck for short. Unfortunately our Ambassadog ward has been invaded by puppies while a veterinarian puzzles over a recent spread of dog germs. Huck was safe, but relegated to a noisy ward of wild barkers. He hunkered down, as if to wait out a loud thunderstorm. "Please. Get. Me. Outta. Here." Shelter staff slathered his yeasty ears with medicine goo and filled him full of antibiotics while we strategized an exit plan.

Finally, on Sunday, his big day came. Josie Kat adopters Nafia and James drove up in their shiney red mustang, a fitting get-away car for a lovely boy. He's off to foster care now, and while we may never know anything about his past, we'll do our best to create a better future for him.

Stay tuned for news on the softie dog named Huck while we sort out his health issues and see about finding him a new home.