It's Hard Not Getting Your Hopes Up...
and it's hard to have them not come crashing down on you. Either way, I hope this doesn't end like that because I think we found Steve. I'm not sure. I have no real evidence. But, I have this wild hunch. I saw an advert today on a website advertising a mini dachshund. And the correct wording was "FOR SALE. Dachshund. Male. 8wks. $250." And so I called the number given. A woman answered in broken english and told me he had been sold. I asked more questions, but her reactions were odd. She wouldn't answer more than "sold," and "female mother lives here," and his coloring "brown and red." When I told her I had lost my dog a few days ago and that there was a thousand dollar reward she got sort of squirmish. That's the best way I can really describe it, I guess. And so she hung up the phone.
My mum called her 5 minutes later. The woman told my mum she didn't have, and never had, a male dachshund. Instead, she claimed, she had 2 females. One brown. One red. My mum got off the phone with lost hope.
Becca offered to call next, mostly because she's a) the greatest breathing soul in texas b) she speaks spanish & c) she has an unequivilent love for dachshunds and an infinite amount of compassion for my situation. By the time she got off the phone and relayed the word to me the story had again changed. Now the woman had a male, but he was sold. He didn't have any paperwork. She wasn't sure about having all of his shots. He was still brown & tan. She has had him since he was born. But she doesn't have the parents. He was pure breed. And there was only one puppy in the litter- no brothers or sisters. All the time, she was acting squirmish and odd and so on. This seemed weird on a lot of different levels. Firstly, you can't have an 8week old puppy since he was born and not have the parents. It's impossible. Puppys can't leave their parents until there at least 7 weeks old. Secondly, how can she not be sure about what shots he has and hadn't had? Third, where are his papers? Fourthly, and most inportantly, why would you sell a pure breed dachshund for only 250.00 unless you don't know what you have? Pure breed dachshunds go from anywhere between 400dollars to the mid 800dollar level. I relayed the info to my mum who quickly called back. When the woman answered and my mum asked questions about the puppy, the woman instantly became avoidant. She answered questions half way. And then, almost abruptly, there was an odd silence that lasted a few seconds. Some muffling in the background. And followed by "Sold! Bye Bye!" She hung up on mum. We all got that uneasy feeling. That feeling where you just don't know what to do. Where you feel horrible because this may all really be a misunderstanding but at the same time it's too eerie and coincidental to be dismissed, especially after her behavior. And so someone called back doing the only last ditch effort we could think of- impersonating a police officer. And it worked. It got her attention. And she didn't doubt one second of it. She was more avoidant, though. More uneasy in her answers. When asked for the contact information of the new owners she responded by saying "Um. Oh. Uh. My husband is at store will be back tomorrow with information." Her husband was at the store and would be home tomorrow with the information? It made no sense. And so we called back one final time still under the disguise of 'Officer Williams." The phone rang. And she answered. "Hello Ma'am. This is Officer Williams of the LAPD calling back." ::CLICK:: She hung up on who she belived to be a Police Officer. And so I've called the SPCA. And they're going to return my call either tointe or tomorrow and then all of this mess will be sorted. Im not going to stop checking shelters and so on. And I'm not going to stop flyering. All of that would be too optimistic. I still am going to have a bit of hope in my heart, though.
Becca offered to call next, mostly because she's a) the greatest breathing soul in texas b) she speaks spanish & c) she has an unequivilent love for dachshunds and an infinite amount of compassion for my situation. By the time she got off the phone and relayed the word to me the story had again changed. Now the woman had a male, but he was sold. He didn't have any paperwork. She wasn't sure about having all of his shots. He was still brown & tan. She has had him since he was born. But she doesn't have the parents. He was pure breed. And there was only one puppy in the litter- no brothers or sisters. All the time, she was acting squirmish and odd and so on. This seemed weird on a lot of different levels. Firstly, you can't have an 8week old puppy since he was born and not have the parents. It's impossible. Puppys can't leave their parents until there at least 7 weeks old. Secondly, how can she not be sure about what shots he has and hadn't had? Third, where are his papers? Fourthly, and most inportantly, why would you sell a pure breed dachshund for only 250.00 unless you don't know what you have? Pure breed dachshunds go from anywhere between 400dollars to the mid 800dollar level. I relayed the info to my mum who quickly called back. When the woman answered and my mum asked questions about the puppy, the woman instantly became avoidant. She answered questions half way. And then, almost abruptly, there was an odd silence that lasted a few seconds. Some muffling in the background. And followed by "Sold! Bye Bye!" She hung up on mum. We all got that uneasy feeling. That feeling where you just don't know what to do. Where you feel horrible because this may all really be a misunderstanding but at the same time it's too eerie and coincidental to be dismissed, especially after her behavior. And so someone called back doing the only last ditch effort we could think of- impersonating a police officer. And it worked. It got her attention. And she didn't doubt one second of it. She was more avoidant, though. More uneasy in her answers. When asked for the contact information of the new owners she responded by saying "Um. Oh. Uh. My husband is at store will be back tomorrow with information." Her husband was at the store and would be home tomorrow with the information? It made no sense. And so we called back one final time still under the disguise of 'Officer Williams." The phone rang. And she answered. "Hello Ma'am. This is Officer Williams of the LAPD calling back." ::CLICK:: She hung up on who she belived to be a Police Officer. And so I've called the SPCA. And they're going to return my call either tointe or tomorrow and then all of this mess will be sorted. Im not going to stop checking shelters and so on. And I'm not going to stop flyering. All of that would be too optimistic. I still am going to have a bit of hope in my heart, though.