Found Dog = Big Deposit in the Bank of Good Karma

Is it possible for a session to simply be described as a mistake? That's the only way to describe today. The much-hyped swell never materialized at the break I surfed. There was some energy in the water. It just wasn't enough energy. I was looking forward to big waves that required little to no paddling (given the way I've been taxing my body over the last few days). What I ended up with were slow waves that barely broke. They weren't even worth all the paddling that was required to get into them. Sleeping in would have been the smarter thing for me to do today.

The session wasn't a complete failure. I did my good deed for the month before I made it home. There was a dog that was alternately running around on the beach and up on PCH where the surfers park. No one paid much attention to the dog until she ran onto PCH a few times. Then a few of us tried to catch her. Thankfully, she headed back down to the beach. I grabbed a leash (a surf leash out of my car) since she had neither a leash nor a collar. We didn't chase her. The few of us who showed concern tried to get her to stop. Finally, she walked up to a woman who was about to paddle out. Then she, the dog, sat and let the woman pet her. That's when I fashioned my leash into a dog leash and slipped it around her neck. I spent a good 45 minutes walking around trying to locate the dog's owner. I had no idea what to do with her. She was such a good dog too. I didn't want to leave her there, not knowing if her owner was in the water or whether someone was looking for her. I also didn't want to leave my leash, thank you very much. The lifeguard said he was too busy watching the water to call Animal Control. He was also too busy to give me the number. So I tried to reach them on my cell phone. I won't go into it. Let's just say I gave up. I finally decided to take her to a shelter. But how to get her in the car? Luckily, the nice guy parked behind me helped to get her in. And away we went.

Not knowing what to do, I called information and got the address for the shelter in Santa Monica. They said they couldn't take her because she was found in an area they don't serve. They told me to go to the shelter in West L.A. And away we went again. Once I'd found this shelter, the people there told me they couldn't take her either, that I'd have to take her to the shelter in Malibu. WTF?? (The dog did not have a microchip.) This was getting old. As pissed off as I was getting, I was ready to drive her to Malibu. I'd want someone to do that if I lost my dog. I asked them to find the address to the Malibu shelter. When the guy who went to find the address came back, he said I could, in fact, leave her with them. Neither he nor the other people at the desk knew their shelter serviced the area in which the dog was found. I then took a picture of the dog so I could post it here. From what I understand, the shelter holds dogs for five days and then puts them up for adoption.

I'm glad she's now safe. I do hope her owner is looking for her. However, I also believe someone will adopt her quickly. Here she is: