It All Began With A Crash

I have a dog named “Crash”.  The first day I saw him, he was lying on the pavement after getting hit by a car.  I had no clue how important this moment was going to be in my life.    I was working one afternoon and casually looked out my window, just in time to see a car slam on its brakes and a ball of white fur roll out from underneath it.  I didn’t think twice as I jumped up and ran outside to see a puppy lying on the ground.  A little girl walked up to me and said, “Help my Dog”.  I see a man standing behind her, who I assumed was her father.  I pointed to the fur ball on the ground and said to the man, “You have to take care of your dog… he is hurt”.  To which he responded, “No Dinero” as he shook his head.

I turned and looked down at the dog, who was now in the middle of the best theatrical performance of his life.  I bent down to him, careful not to upset him more.  I reached out and slowly began to pet his fur.  I could see some blood coming from his nose while his eyes stared out to the road in front of him.  I thought, “This dog is dying right here, in front of me, on the asphalt.”  I slowly picked him up, brushed the dirt off his back and walked to my car carrying the limp pooch.   I decided I would take him to the doggy daycare center up the road…. I felt maybe they would know what to do.

When I got to the daycare center, I explained what had happened to the little fuzz face.  The owner felt calling animal control would be the best thing to do.  So I sat down on the floor next to this lifeless pooch and waited for the professionals to arrive.  Sitting with my legs crossed, I reached out and touched the dog’s face, he looked up at me and our eyes met.  He slowly lifted himself and dragged his body over to me and began to crawl onto my lap.  I knew at that moment, I had to save him.

When animal control arrived, I described what had happened without leaving a single detail out.  The man said that without anyone claiming the dog, he would most likely be euthanized, because he was injured.   They county couldn’t put him up for adoption and no medical attention would be given to him, seeing as no one would be paying for his medical expenses…. here comes the big but.  As he goes onto to say, “But, seeing as you traveled to a different city from which the dog came from, you will have to relinquish the dog to our custody to ensure you did not just steal the dog.”

Let me clarify, I live in Orange County, California… every block is a new city…. It is not like I drove hours to get away with my stolen K-9.  And while we are on that topic… why would I steal an injured dog?  You would think that I would look for merchandise that was not defective before my heist.  Not a lot of things get me really upset, but this was hitting a home run.  Now the rest of the story involves me almost getting arrested for talking back to the animal control man, but in the end, I was able to adopt my new little friend and I decided to name him “Crash” because it seemed fitting.  Crash has become such an important part of my life.  He makes me smile everyday.  He is always at the window waiting for me to come home, knows when I don’t feel good, will keep me company at night when my Parkinson’s won’t let me sleep and makes sure that I don’t get cold at night.   That day, I saved a dog, but in reality, it was Crash that saved me.