I walked slowly over to the dog. His collar only had a rabies tag. No ID or anything.

“What do we do?” I asked. . .

Earlier that day, we were in the living room.

“Hannah, Luke. I’m going for a hike. Want to come?” my mom asks us.

“Yes!” we reply back at the same time. I throw on my Nike sneakers then walk out to the car to meet my mom. We jam out to music on the way there, enjoying one of our last days of summer. When we get there, there is not a single car or person in sight. I get out of the car excited to explore the new hiking spot. Just as we enter, a filthy looking Golden Retriever runs up to us.

“Be careful, he could have rabies.” my mom warns us.

I can’t  help but stare at his fur. It is covered in dirt, and is all matted up. Feeling sorry for the dog, I ignore my mom’s warning and go over to the puppy. His collar had a rabies tag, (at least we know he’s not dangerous.) and nothing else. No ID or anything…

“Do you think he is lost?” I ask my brother and mom.

“Maybe he belongs to one of those houses.” my brother explains as he points to a row of about 5 houses.

“He is probably right!” my mom adds.

“Like always.” I mumble quietly to myself.

“He’s too skinny. I think he is lost.” I point out.

His round brown eyes stare at me like he is so happy to see a person. I think of how I would feel if my dog ran away and speak up.

“I think we should call animals control. It’s getting dark anyways.”

My mom agrees and pulls out her Iphone to call them. As we walk back the dog follows us. In the blink of an eye, the dog just runs away. My mom is still on the phone explaining our location. As we get closer to the car, the dog pops out again. He follows us to the car.. His tail is wagging back and forth. His tongue hangs out of the side of his mouth as if he is trying to tell us he needs water. We dig through our car and find a water bottle and a yellow pail. I fill the pail up with the Poland Spring water and place it on the ground. Just as I turn around the dog is gone.

No Where.

To.

Be found.

My mom and I look at each other as we see the animal control van come into the lot. A lady walks over.

“Hi, I heard there is a lost Golden Retriever.” she says

“Yes there is, but he kind of ran away.”

“Well there has been no call of a Golden Retriever missing so there is nothing we can really do.” the lady responded quite rudely.

“The dog’s fur was covered in mud and he looked SO skinny… he is most definitely lost.” my mom says.

“I can look around I guess but you all should go home.” she says.

‘Ok.” my mom answers.

We thanked the lady then got into our car. As we drove aways, I stared at the yellow pail. Hopefully the dog did belong to one of those houses. I could only hope and pray that he was okay.