Blue Skies Over Wildflower Lock (The Wildflower Lock)

Chapter 36

Daisy had found herself in several unexpected situations over the last couple of days, from facing her first sailing boat in the middle of a river to being stuck in marshland. But this, asking a vet what she was meant to do with an unchipped, apparently stray dog that had become undeniably attached to her, felt like it was the strangest.

‘Well, you have a couple of options,’ the vet said. ‘You could put out notices on local social media around the area where you found him. An owner might pick up on it that way, but I’ll be honest with you, it looks like it’s been a long time since he’s had a good meal and the fact that there’s no dog of his description appearing on one of the missing pet databases is a pretty sure sign that whoever had him isn’t that concerned. I could be wrong, of course – you sometimes get people who don’t know about using social media for lost animals, particularly old people. He might still have someone out there.’

‘And if he doesn’t?’ Daisy asked, already sensing the answer.

‘Well, then it’s up to you. There are plenty of dogs’ homes around, and he’s friendly enough, although often people want puppies or at least an animal with a history, so they know if they can have them around other pets and children. But he’s young enough. I’m sure he would be in with a chance of being re-homed.’

A chance of being re-homed.

‘So I would put him into a dogs’ home and hope he finds someone?’ Daisy said, more to herself than the vet.

‘That would be my suggestion. We do have room in our kennels at the moment. If you want to leave him here, I can get in touch with the local dogs’ home? They are normally fairly prompt with pickups.’

Daisy looked down at her feet. The dog was staring up at her, his eyes wide, almost pleading. As if he’d understood exactly what the vet had said and desperately didn’t want to be left there.

‘You’d be okay, wouldn’t you?’ the vet said as she reached across to stroke the dog. Only rather than letting her, he ducked behind Daisy and let out a loud bark.

The vet straightened up.

‘Well, he’s certainly got some character, though I’m not sure if that will help him find somewhere to live or not.’

Daisy’s mind was whirring. Could she really do this? He had followed her for days, let her wash him, and had looked at her with nothing but love and devotion since they had first met. Could she really just pass him off to grow older and older in a cage, praying that someday someone might take him home? And what if he did have an owner? What if he belonged to someone who had loved him dearly? Who hadn’t known about getting him chipped? Or who had planned on doing it just before he went missing? There were just too many unknowns.

‘You know what?’ Daisy said, pushing her shoulders back and taking the lead in her hand. ‘I’ll take him back with me for now. I’ll put up a notice myself. If I don’t have any luck, then I can take him to a dogs’ home afterwards.’

The vet nodded, just the slightest smile twitching at the corner of her lips.

‘Given how fond he seems of you, I think that’s a wonderful idea,’ she said. ‘Only, if you are going to take him, we really need to chip him. It’s easy enough to swap over when you find the original owner, or when you find someone who wants to take him on permanently, but for now, he’ll need to be registered to you. That won’t be a problem, will it?’

Daisy looked at the dog by her ankle. Did all dogs look at people like this? she wondered. Like they knew absolutely everything that was going on in a situation, not to mention everything she was thinking. Maybe they did. Maybe that’s why they were known as man’s best friend.

‘I guess you’ll have to,’ she said.

The vet’s smile widened.

‘Brilliant. Well, with that sorted, how are you paying?’