Chow Chow

Buddy's story continues to fascinate three office buildings and significantly slow productivity. It appears that it is not true that the owners tried to lure him home, nor is the next rumor accurate: the owners are away and he escaped from "doggie daycare." Well, actually it turns out that the owner is away in a sense--he is in jail and Buddy escaped from a relative's house. This version I have from credible sources--our security personnel whose job it is to know these things and also to chitchat with the animal control folks all day long.

The other true facts are these: he has been on the loose since December 2nd, and one reason that he has eluded his captors for so long is that a group of animal lovers at one of the office buildings has been feeding him and provided a shelter of sorts. This seemed shortsighted when I heard about it, but I am beginning to wonder if Buddy would rather freeze to death than surrender, in which case they are prolonging his life.

Yesterday Buddy flaunted his foxy tail all over the upper parking lot until a small army of animal control cars staked out the area. Then he was nowhere. This morning we were updated at the quarterly all-staff meeting, so everyone knew the plan was to drug his food today and slow him down enough to catch him. I heard several people around me mutter "Run, Buddy run!" and I realized that this is a dog who is rapidly becoming some sort of folk hero.

I am also beginning to wonder if there isn't some sort of supernatural element to all this. Buddy ate his hot lunch laced with tranquilizers and, although he was a little disoriented, he still managed to recognize and elude the enemy with a dose on board that should have caused a serious nap at the very least. And then there are the cars--he seems to have some rudimentary reading skills and will not approach any of the vehicles emblazoned with "Animal Services." It is as if he has decided that he does not need any kind of "service"--not even from the attractive female Chow that was brought in yesterday for friendship and maybe more.

Buddy is smart, and he is wily, and he is rapidly running through every Animal Service trick in the book. Given the manpower invested so far, I would not be surprised to see the ultimate bait out in the parking lot tomorrow: a guy in a County blaze orange jumpsuit with cuffs around his ankles.