The Labs Escaped and Took us to Ft Lauderdale

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I can't believe how much we've gotten to see and do in Miami in a short time. This afternoon, we met up with Andrew's cousin, Megan, for lunch at an Indian restaurant in downtown Miami. The food wasn't the best I've had (bharta is my favorite food, but theirs wasn't anything spectacular), but the company was the best. We enjoyed our meal together and then took a stroll north in search of a coffee shop. We found a cafe around 23rd and each ordered a coffee. We sat outside, sipping our drinks, sharing stories, when two black labs darted across the busy downtown streets toward us!

The shop keeper came out and called them over. He started petting them, and they seem friendly, but then they tried to run back out into the street again. Drivers glared at us, thinking we were the owners, while we tried desperately to lure them back to the patio. The shop keeper went inside and grabbed two plates of chicken salad and two bowls of water. The dogs eagerly ate and drank. The female then laid down at our feet while the male ran from person to person getting affection. They were very friendly and seemed well-fed and taken care of. We figured they must have escaped, but Stasa said there were only apartments and condos nearby. We worried they came a long way, and no owners were walking by looking for them.

We soon started calling around to various Humane Society locations. It was 6:05pm, and all the locations closed at 6pm. We called some emergency vet clinics to see if any Humane Society locations had an after-hours dog drop-off. They all said no. Although the dogs were friendly, Stasa didn't know if they'd be friendly to her dogs (most of which are small chihuahuas), so she didn't want to bring them to her house. She decided to drive them over to her emergency vet to have them scanned in hopes they'd have microchips. We said goodbye to Megan and started driving. Aminta continued calling locations and found one in Fort Lauderdale that was open until 7pm. We ditched our last plan and drove 20 minutes to Fort Lauderdale. The dogs were thrilled to be in the car and hung their heads out the windows.

Unfortunately, they weren't microchiped, but the woman we dropped them off with at the shelter got all the information she could from us (including where they were found) and entered it into the computer. Other shelters will have access to that information, so we hope the owners look at shelters. They'll probably wonder how their dogs made it to Fort Lauderdale! After five days, if no one looks for them, then they'll be put up for adoption. They were so sweet and friendly; I feel confident they'll end up with a good home!

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Photos

Here I am with the Slender Male Lab
I nicknamed him, "Rover."