I was in LA recently, in fact it was the day after Barak Obama became President Elect. I was looking forward to seeing my friends and getting a sense of the political climate the “day after”. Needless to say, all of my compadres were ecstatic over waking up to a new world. But, Los Angeles is a land of plenty, and you just never know who may cross your path.

A few days in to my vacation, I decided to take a walk around the neighborhood I was staying in. I headed towards the park and on my way I noticed a woman leaving her dog in the car. The dog was not happy at being left alone-especially with the temptation of chasing squirrels in the park. As the woman tried calming her dog, to no avail, she hurriedly left the dog and rushed across the park to her destination. As I witnessed this, I thought to myself, “people should not leave their dogs in the car if they are not trained”. This poor dog was clearly upset at being left alone, and the owner seemed more concerned about getting to where she wanted to go.

I decided to let it go, and hope the owner would not leave her dog for long. About fifteen minutes later I headed back in the direction from which I came. Within a few minutes I noticed a dog running loose in the park. The dog had a leash and was obviously lost. I asked the few people in the area if the dog belonged to them. No one claimed the dog. I intuitively felt that this dog was the dog that I saw just fifteen minutes before. I took the leash and led the dog back to the car where I saw the owner leave. There was no dog in the car, all of the windows were up- except for the sun roof. At the moment I realized that this was the dog I saw earlier. A woman pulled up and asked if the dog was mine. I said, ‘no’, and assured her that I was sure that I could find the owner.

I headed towards the pool where I was certain I would find the owner. I asked the very nice staff if I could take the dog poolside to see if anyone would claim her. Unfortunately, no one did. Since I did not actually see where the owner went, I decided to check the neighboring buildings. No luck there either. I headed back to the pool. As I approached I saw one of the employees wave at me. When I got there, the owner was standing at the door soaking wet! Sure enough, dog and owner were reunited. I offered to run her dog in the park while she finished her swim. Bella, and I were now formally introduced. Now that Bella knew where her owner was, she did not want to wander far from the pool. So, we went back and waited. When her owner came out, we headed back to her car-the same direction I was headed in.

And here’s the whole nugget of the Obama Dog story…remember it was the day after his election. As I talked to the owner about what happened she said, “I think that people are hopeful right now. I’ve noticed that everyone is a little bit nicer. After all, it’s all about love isn’t it?” I smiled, and went about my day knowing that a simple interaction with a stranger and her dog would make a lasting impression on me. It was indeed the beginning of a new world.

Posted: November 23rd, 2008 |

Thank you for visiting my site. Stay tuned for more information on pet tips. Aloha, Holly

Posted: October 18th, 2008 |