Tonight when I was out with the dogs, a young border collie--obviously purebred--showed up out of nowhere--hung around, driving my two nuts--found a tennis ball and when I climbed over the gate, pushed it into my hand.

The street I live on is busy and the one in back of me is the main drag through town, so I couldn't just leave him outside, and nobody came looking for him, so I managed to get him in the house. He's a young guy, probably not more than two or three years old, so he got a little excited and marked a few things (including my knitting bag, but I don't think he got anything inside it). I finally got him into Taenzer's crate, where he was both confined and safe from my dogs bugging him. Taenzer got all anxious; Timber was excited/miffed/both that there was another boy in the house! With his ball! Eating his food! (never mind that his actual meal was out in the kitchen where it always is) Getting attention from his mom! But this guy settled down, leaned against the crate so I could pet him, gave kisses (once I got him in the house, I thought, belatedly, "Well, he *looks* healthy..."), was just generally very sweet and gentle and friendly.

He wasn't wearing a collar, and of course both the vets and the animal shelter were closed, so I couldn't call them to see if he was microchipped. He had some burrs, the little round sticky kind, around his head and ruff, but other than that he looked healthy and well-cared for. Well, and his gimpy rear leg--made me wonder if he might ever have been hit by a car or something. He's a very classic-looking BC, black and white, mid-length fur with a bit of a curl, a white collar and blaze, prick ears. Taller than a lot of BCs, and very leggy, and definitely the BC "eye"! You should have seen him willing that tennis ball to move!

I called a friend who came over after she taught class tonight, and we took him out to the animal shelter--they have crates out front where you can leave animals. I taped a note to the crate, explaining where I found him and leaving my name and work phone number. I hope he'll be okay. Of course I was trying like mad not to cry--I felt like I betrayed him by leaving him--but we could hear people inside cleaning--they didn't come when we knocked, but they'll see him when they come out, surely--and like my friend says, it'll be easier for his owners to find him there than if I have him. And my friend has a BC of her own and was taken by how *sweet* this guy was--he was SO sweet--and she was talking about maybe adopting him if his owner doesn't claim him. And I fed him something while he was here--my dinner... Well, he didn't want to eat the dry dog food, and he was *hungry*, so I cooked him the chicken breast I'd been planning to eat and then gave him some cottage cheese. He thought those were just fine.

When she called I had just taken him out to potty, and let him loose in the house to see how he'd do with my two, and Timber had him flattened to the floor--all body language, no growling or shoving or anything. It was funny to see Timber, who Taenzer controls with a glare and a lift of the lip, so excited and "macho." My little boy. He wasn't being mean or bullying--well, much--he was just *excited*.

Between the visitor and wrestling all day with reformatting two different computers, I'm wired, and trying to relax a little bit so I'll sleep when I go to bed. (Have I said that I had to order a copy of Windows, install it, then run the recovery CD, and then start putting stuff back on the laptop? I took it in to work today to download things using the university wireless system--much faster than dial-up--which turned out to be a good idea, since my work computer froze up yesterday and they took it off this morning to reload Windows onto *it*, so I used my laptop for various work things once I got it running. I think they left some stuff off, including some software I paid for personally. Grrr. I hate it when other people mess with my computer.)

*sigh* I feel bad, and I'm trying to talk myself out of it. I hope he'll be okay. Please think good thoughts for this lost BC boy.