On the way to the bus stop this morning, I walked through a dognapping. Not a dog sleeping with its cute little head on his cute little paws. A dog that was being taken surreptitiously.

I’m walking down the alley that leads to the school in front of my bus stop and trying to unravel my headphones. You know, so I can shut myself off from my precaffeinated world. I look up and minivan is stopping in the alley. Seems strange, but not worrisome. I continue my tired as death march to the bus and the minivan rolls down their window and asks me, “Is that dog yours?” I see no dog and know my dog is asleep on the couch at home a block away. I answer, with confidence, “No.” The minivan drives on.

The minivan passes as I see the dog now. A young boxer or pitbull terrier mix with a collar and tags. A beautiful dog that wags his tail when he sees me and sniffs his way towards me. I wish this dog was mine.

I continue to walk a few steps and a big ol’ bruiser type stomps out of his front door. “They ask you if that’s your dog?” This is another easy question. “Yup.”

Apparently, the minivan flipped a u-turn and was coming back down the alley. The bruiser type starts yelling, “You trying to steal my dog? Huh? You think you’re just gonna take my dog mother fucker?” The two women in the unmarked minivan seem to be defending themselves. They claim they just saw the dog wandering the street and do they were just wondering. That’s all. The man continues to accost them until they drive off.

By now, I’m half of a block away from the incident, with an adorable pup named Bruiser at my heels. I know his name because the bruiser type dude is yelling after him now. I try to shoo him back to his apparent owner. To no avail. I can’t stop and wait for the owner because I need to get to the bus stop. Also, I secretly want to take this hotly contested dog with me.

Halfway to the bus stop, the guy manages to catch up to me and put Bruiser on a leash and lead him home. A bittersweet moment. I thought I might be bringing a friend home for my sweet Dixie. Alas.

Remind me…why don’t I ALWAYS take the bus to work?