Buddha and Sierra

Buddha and Sierra
Or How We Helped A Half Blind Pit Bull and His Seeing Chihuahua Find Home

My husband was up before I was, having rescued my sleep from the interruptions of our two shepherds. However, it was a short-lived rescue since the dogs were put out to do their morning ritual on our rural hillside home and acting as a pack had flanked two stray dogs that had wandered into our yard. Barking warnings, their alarm foiled any last vestiges of sleep I could hang onto and I reluctantly relinquished the wisps of dreams as said dream chasers were placed, indignantly, back into the house still barking their warnings leaving me to wonder what they were barking at and where was my husband?

I heard the door to the house open, hushing commands uttered softly, which if I wasn’t so sleepy I would have mocked, and then the door opened again as my dogs picked up the alarm with additional agitation

The visitors, as it turned out, were dogs. Two to be exact I noted with some alarm that one was a Pit Bull that was carrying a withered looking left leg. My husband was talking to it softly, extending a hand and gaining the dogs trust. My first instinct would have been to lock the door and call animal control. As I watched I saw my husband gently taking the paw of the dog and wrapping it in gauze, the self-sticking kind that surgeons use for stitches, a leftover from an injury he had suffered. The dog stood panting letting his paw be wrapped and then I heard my husband asking about cookies and saw, through the window, him putting dog cookies down. A very small, very large eared, Chihuahua type of dog appeared attempting to smell the cookie meant for a larger dog. The Chihuahua was nervous and flighty, prancing and dancing around the Pit Bull but not barking and never going far from him as he allowed my husband to scratch his head and pet his side.

After my husband was done with the bandaging I cautiously stepped out of the front door onto our front patio overlooking the yard and he called to me softly saying he wanted me to write down some phone numbers from the dog’s tag. Living in a rural area we often see wandering deer, Coyote, fox, and even had a herd of goats run down the street; so having stray dogs appear was not unusual and having two of our own we tried to get them back to their owners, normally. Ascertaining that the pit bull wasn’t going to lunge for my husband’s throat, I sat down on our patio loveseat (with a table and patio rail between us) while my husband informed me that the dog was bleeding, the leg had been injured a long time ago from what he could tell, and one eye was completely missing while the remaining one had a cataract developing on it. The Chihuahua, less trusting than the Pit Bull, but obviously well fed and cared for, edged up to me, then ran away watching me while my husband read the tags from the dog and I wrote them down. Neither tag on the large dog supplied us a name or phone number for the owner but gave us the vet and animal control, which concerned me because the dog was well cared for and I didn’t want to have to call animal control to take him away.

The Chihuahua had tags also, I noted as she sidled up to me curiously, and I thought one looked suspiciously like an ID tag, the trick was going to be getting her to trust us enough to let us look at them. I moved to the steps of our patio walkway and sat down on them allowing the dogs to become comfortable with me, knowing the Chihuahua would respond better if I didn't reach out and grab her or try to pet her. I still wasn’t comfortable with the Pit Bull but he was the one who came up and nuzzled me wanting attention first. When I started to scratch him the Chihuahua came up and I began scratching her also. Dogs being dogs most of them love to have the section on their back hips, above their tails scratched, and the Chihuahua wasn’t any different. Scratching her, you could almost see her smile as her back legs danced and skittered stopping only when I paused the scratching. After a little more dancing she let me look at her tag and I found her name and phone number on it

“Her name is Sierra,” I said as if that was such a good thing for her to be named and I recited her phone number. Immediately my husband dialed the number, which was answered just as quickly. Roughly an hour had passed since we had found the dogs, an hour filled with frustration at trying to find identification, or a number to call; an hour of wondering if we would be able to get through at the vet and whether he would have the records and whether we could find the owners.

“Yes,” my husband was saying, “he’s here, too, but his foot is bleeding.”

So both dogs did belong to one person.

I heard my husband tell her the Pit Bull was injured, which we had addressed, and then heard him give directions to our house. An area the owner was unfamiliar with but only a mile away.

As the dogs waited, having received water and some kibble, the Pit Bull, tiring, went up to the front door stoop and laid down on the door mat/ Sheltered from the bright rising sun and comfortable on the mat the exhaustion was evident in his features. I was surprised to see Sierra go up to the massive dog and lick his ear, a custom my dogs followed as well. Wagging her tail, she continued to lick and the Pit Bull leaned his large head over to her more, which caused her to wag more furiously. I was mesmerized by the interplay and had to smile at the contrast of this reputably vicious dog accepting the attention of what could easily have been a snack. It was as though Sierra was communicating that all would be well. They would be going home soon, because the Chihuahua began to pace from the opening of the patio where she could watch the road and driveway, back to the Pit Bull and making sure he was okay, sniffing his foot and his nose.

Because I continued to sit on the steps from the curved driveway, I was able to observe the interaction between the Chihuahua and the Pit Bull without obstruction

A neighbor’s truck went by which caused the Chihuahua to perk up and stand still at the entrance as though wondering “is that them?”

She went back to the Pit Bull still laying on the mat then immediately a second truck was heard coming up the normally quiet street. The sound caused the Chihuahua to come back to the patio entrance and hesitantly wag her tail as she stood at the opening

My husband had explained while we were waiting that the owners lived a mile down the hill from us, she and her husband had been up all night looking for the dogs who had chased after a herd of deer that had run through their backyard. Caught up in the chase they determined that the dogs must’ve simply got lost and wandered onto our property or followed the deer path through our property and were trying to find their way back home.

A woman’s voice could be heard calling for Sierra, a truck having pulled into our driveway, and the Chihuahua, with a burst of energy hurtled our two-foot retaining wall onto the driveway to greet what had to have been her Mom. The woman approached and on seeing her Pit Bull laying on the mat was happy to see that he was okay.

The dog didn't get up except after a lot of coaxing, his movements slow reflecting his tiredness. He approached her with an expression of relief, slowly wagging his tail. But in confusion he looked from me to her and then leaned against me.

In doggy language, as my former Labrador had trained me, this means a hug. The owner explained that the Pit Bull, whose name was Buddha Boy, had been run over several years before, lost his eye, lost the use of his leg which the doctors did not amputate because he still relied on it for balance, and was going blind in the other eye due to a cataract. The animals had disappeared and they had been frantic all night searching for them. She acknowledged that people don't normally approach the Pit Bull and the Chihuahua is very skittish, so she was surprised and relieved that we had been able to find her number, especially since the Pit Bull didn't have his tag on. An accident she was going to quickly remedy since dogs tend to lose tags every once in a while.

After helping a reluctant Buddha Boy get around the truck to leave (the cataracts intensified the early morning sun glare and blinded him completely) he recognized the smell of home and eagerly climbed into the cab

It was a relief to find Buddha Boy's owners and know that here was a beautiful animal despite his scars and his breed’s reputation had a loving home and had such a wonderful buddy, in the form of an attentive Chihuahua, who despite her own fears and reluctance stayed by his side and ended up helping him and them to find their way home.