Rant - Remember Pepper?

Ok, many of you have probably seen my pictures of Pepper, the Blue Heeler we used to own. We struggled with her for 18 months, to train her bad habits away, all to no avail. We knew she was a working breed dog & we were pretty much told that she was a working dog without a job.

So we struggled with the decision, and ultimately found her a new home. A great man, a member of the Gideons in the area. He has a few ranches & travels to all of them with his other blue heeler. We met with him twice, he gave me his phone number, address, full name, email...everything. I talked to him a couple of times & he told me that Pepper was doing very well & that he had trained her to stop jumping on people (one of our major problems with her). Everything sounded great!

Last night, my husband was driving home from work & saw a dog that looked like her, but he was going fast...so wasn't sure.

This morning we were driving to work together & he had just said "I wonder if we will see that dog that looked like Pepper this morning?" And there she was, kind of trotting along in the ditch. We pulled over, I rolled down the window & said "Pepper!" and she was right there, trying to get in the truck. Meanwhile, she was very thin (no ribs showing), and did not have her collar on (nice leather one with her rabies tag & her name/our phone number on it).

We brought her home, let her eat a little, sniff the house up & then we kenneled her. Pepper has been known to chew up my shoes & we did not have time to clean the house (we were late for work already!).

At work I tred called the guy, Will, and no answer. Finally his Mom answered his cell phone. Said Will had to go to New Orleans for an extended period of time & had asked her to take care of Pepper. Then she said she couldn't take care of Pepper because she wanted to come inside...and she already had a couple of dogs & cats in the house. She remembered that Pepper used to live on Lake _____ so went to Lake ______ and Pepper (supposedly) recognized her home, so she let her out.

SHE DUMPED PEPPER ON THE SIDE OF THE ROAD.

I asked her, did you go up & knock on the door to see if it was Pepper's house? We live on a BIG lake - we found her about 2 miles from our home...in an area Pepper had never even been to.

"Oh no, we didn't knock on the door, Pepper seemed to recognize the house so we just left her there." Why didn't you call us? Will had our phone number, our address...etc.... "I wasn't able to get ahold of my son for a few days, so I couldn't get your phone number."

Where are Pepper's rabies tags & collar? "I'm not sure, I will see if I can find the papers (I want the dang collar!) and mail them to you, can I get your address?"

I am just lived! We struggled so much with finding her a better home, where she could be active, and learn a job - and she was doing so well!

I believe this Mom (Will is older than me...and did not live at home), took it upon herself to get rid of Pepper by dumping her on the side of the road. I don't even think Will probably knows that she did this. I am going to write him a letter and I hope he will receive it. I don't know what his extended business is in New Orleans....or when he will return, but really

So now I don't know what we are going to do. I guess we will evaluate her & see how she has improved. She has wanted to jump on us, but caught herself...so I know she learned that at least. My poor Pepper. And I told him over & over & over....if you EVER don't want her, please bring her back to us.

She is back with us, but I never expected to find my poor girl on the side of the road.

Sorry....this rant is much longer than most of my writing, but really - how can people do this?