The week I almost became a thief

While on vacation last month, I seriously considered stealing two dogs. Seriously.

Our 2nd night in the cabin two dogs showed up on the front porch. A dachsund and a mutt. Extremely friendly, except... the doxie would pee whenever one of the men touched him.

Raise first red flag.

Since there were several other cabins in the area, we decided to wait, hoping they would return to their owners.

They were outside all night. We heard them barking. Outside in the mountains.

But the next morning, they were still there.

Jena was especially worried, so I made her the promise that before we left for home we would either find their owners, or call "the animal rescuers" (ie. the local humane society).

That next day, when we were loading into the car to leave, the doxie jumped into our drivers' seat. I tried to coax it out, to no avail. Went to pick it up... and it peed all over the seat.

And let me be clear, the peeing instances were not I'm-so-happy-I-literally-can't-contain-myself types of peeing, but more of a I'm-so-scared-I'm-pissing-myself sort of peeing.

Raise second red flag.

Sometime on the 3rd day, we determined that they belonged to the family at the cabin closest to ours, when the man came looking for them.
Later that same day, they dogs were happily lying in the driveway to our cabin. The mutt farthest away, was friendly, but not outgoing, and never came directly to us.

Until her owner called her. The minute she heard his voice, she beelined for our legs.

Yeah, a dog who refuses to approach strangers, until her owner calls her for her? Then she runs for the strange folks and hides behind their legs?

Raise third red flag.

And that is when I contemplated stealing the dogs.

Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe my gut is wrong (even though it's never been wrong before), but I'm pretty sure those dogs were abused in that home.

And so I gave serious thought to stealing a couple of dogs. I spied on the neighbor a couple of times, just hoping to catch him in the act so I could call the authorities. But no.

But I still considered stealing the dogs. Maybe I should have. What's two more, right?