As many people who have read my blogs and visited my website, you know I am a Realtor in San Antonio, Texas. I have encountered all sorts of wonderful people through my city and hear great stories of great communities. I myself live in one of those great communities. But this is a story unlike others I have seen.
Last week, as I was showing homes to a client in a north side neighborhood, which will remain unnamed for reasons you will read later on, I ran across something that inspired me to blog about.
We were leaving one of the homes my client was interested in and I was placing the key back in the lockbox. As we were heading down the stairs to the front yard, I noticed a small chihuahua dog across the street in the yard. I thought to myself, surely the owner is outside watering or gardening for this puppy to be out there. As I walked further out toward my car, I noticed a much larger dog behind the puppy and it started walking across the street toward my client and myself.
I said, “Oh no, he sure looks big, I hope he is friendly.”
Then we noticed that the large dog was limping from his right hind leg. I felt bad for him but he looked so scary, I just stood there. I did what I always do when a dog approaches me. I spoke baby talk to him and he started wagging his tail.
“Aw, he ‘s hurt,” I said to my client.
As the dog came closer, I held the back of my hand out to him with my fingers hidden, just in case, and he fell to the ground, on the grass and rolled over. He was so big but so adorable I just had to lean over and pet him.
My client and I were so surprised at this gentle giant. I noticed his huge paws and at the same time, his big, beautiful and sad-looking eyes. The small puppy just went around us and laid a little further back from his large friend, not wanting to come close to us.
“What are we going to do with them?” my client asked.
Both of us being animal lovers, we decided to walk around to see if maybe there were open gates they might have slipped out of. Nothing! We walked half the block but decided we needed to move on to finish our home search for my client. We also decided we could not just leave them there. I felt as if I had abandoned them. We decided to go see the other home close by, then come back and see what we could possibly do for these creatures who seemed to be wandering the neighborhood without direction.
“If you take the big one I will take the small one,” my client stated.
“If I bring home another dog, my husband will kick me out,” I burst out laughing.
I already have three dogs that I brought home before. Plus one cat….I did say I love animals!
We drove back and saw the large dog laying on a different street close to the curb and the little one just across the street on another yard, keeping a watchful eye on his friend. My client decided she was going to knock on the home he was laying in front of to see if they belonged to them.
As she was doing that, I noticed a gentleman picking up his mail close by, so I decided I would ask to see if he knew anything about these beautiful, but lonely animals.
“Excuse me, do you know who these dogs belong to,” I asked.
“That’s BO, he’s the neighborhood dog,” the man said.
My curiosity and my love of animals was intrigued. What did he mean the “Neighborhood dog”?
The man began to tell me the story of BO…
He showed up about 6 or 7 years ago in the neighborhood. No one really knew where he came from or how he came to be in that neighborhood, but he just hung out. People would feed him, let him roam around and he seemed to be happy. I mentioned the limp I noticed in Bo’s leg. The man said he had been like that for a long time. He pointed to the home where Bo was laying on the street in front of, stating that the lady who lived there is the main caregiver of Bo’s needs. She has tried to get him into the yard and he just will not stay. Others have also tried, including this man telling the story, but Bo will not have it. Many people in the neighborhood feed him and watch out for him and have tried to see what’s wrong with his leg, but if you touch it, he gets up and leaves. I was perplexed as to the generosity and heart of this neighborhood for BO and his friend.
“What about his little friend, who is he?” I asked
“That’s his running buddy”
I learned from him, as well as another neighbor I also talked to during the next few days I visited, that the little one has been Bo’s running buddy for about six months. They just call him “Yipee”, because he barks so much. He does not really let you get too close to him, although I am told he is starting to warm up to some people. Bo had another friend, a black lab, who ran around with him before Yipee, but I was told the pound got him.
THE POUND???? Good question. Bo has been around this long and the pound has not picked him up? I know no one would ever call the pound, at least not in this neighborhood, but they do roam different areas once in a while
“Bo is very street smart, he’s a street dog and knows them when they come around. He’s too fast for them.”
Another neighbor I spoke to said when it’s cold outside, they have a bed on the front porch and Bo goes and sleeps there. She also mentioned that Bo would shy away from men in the beginning. He seemed to not like them very much.
“I think maybe his previous owner was male and maybe abused him,” she said.
It’s hard to speculate what kind of life Bo may have had in the past or where he came from, but one thing is for sure: Bo has a great life now with a very large family that takes care of him, feeds him, keeps him warm, and would even like to take him to a vet if he would let them. Why would he not want to be just one’s family special dog and be in a backyard to himself with toys and food and water for sure everyday, and trips to the vet and car rides? Remember what the man told me? Bo is street smart!
Indeed he is! With a whole neighborhood loving you, feeding you, watching for your well-being, and now even a stranger writing about you, why would you want to limit yourself to one family? Bo has the best life…..A Whole community that has become HIS family.
As for me, I will probably go visit Bo from time to time and also take him some food. Even though it is not my neighborhood, if I was looking for a great neighborhood to live in, this would be the one!
Congratulations to you all and thank you for sharing with this inquisitive blogger the heart warming story about BO and more importantly, about the Great “Family” that takes care of him.
This truly has inspired me now more than ever to Keep the Faith!
What are your thoughts about BO and his extended family?
Leave us your heart warming story.
Around The Town-San Antonio 
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