(Un)Willing Dog Angel?

Just a harmless visit to a friend....with my dog...no big deal, right?  Allie and I are driving down Rt. 71 (merrily) and she begins to smell the vent and whimper.  Hmmm...  She's never done this before.  I keep driving.  She again gets up and smells the vent and whimpers.  Hmmm...does she have to go out?  I keep driving.  Again, same routine.  "Alright, I say, we'll stop at the next exit.  I could use a break too."  The next exit comes up and we exit.  Choices, choices, McDonald's or Wendy's?  Wendy's wins because it's closest to the exit ramp.  We pull in and I quickly get Allie's leash on and get her out of the car (because now I need a "walk" too :)  She does her business, I scoot her back in the car and then jog into Wendy's. 

When I return to the car, I say to Allie, "Well, maybe we'll go through the drive-thru, I could use a soda."  Fateful words, little did I know.  As we make the turn from the order booth to approach the payment window, Allie whimpers.  What's with all this whimpering?  I see that she's looking outside, so I look too.  What's that in the field?  The thing in the field turns its head.  Uh-oh.  It's alive.  The thing gets up and trots off.  Crap, the thing is a dog.  I immediately begin to tell myself that the dog belongs to the small repair shop nearby.  I am beginning to convince myself of this story and then I notice the woman at the payment window waiting for me as I'm staring off into the field.

I pull up to the window and apologize, explaining why I was distracted.  "Oh, that dog has been around here for about a month.", she says.  "We feed it so it doesn't starve.  No one can catch it."  Crap.  There goes MY story.  I'm watching the dog as I'm waiting for my Coke and fries (yes, I succumbed to ordering fries, too.)  Before my food comes up I whip the car into a parking space and head out towards the dog.  It comes near, though obviously will not let me touch it.  It's a nice looking dog.  The woman in the drive thru window yells over to see if I want my food.  I answer, "Yes", and wave her off.  Later, I think, later... 

After getting a decent view of the dog and "reading" it, I get Allie out of the car.  I, of course, have to be careful not to set Allie up to get injured and you just never know what a stray dog may have been through.  The dog is VERY interested in Allie.  I keep Allie very close to me and the dog comes right up to sniff Allie - very politely, tail wagging.  She play bows vigorously and dashes about with a couple of little barks.  Still having nothing to do with me.  I get out some kibble and toss it.  No interest.  I feed some to Allie from my hand - the dogs gets curious.  The dog takes a couple of kibbles from my hand.  This is major progress!  I realize, however, that this is going to take a while.  I decide that the dog has been here for a month, it'll be here tomorrow when I come back through and have more time (and food and treats to offer.)

I go up to the drive-thru window and tell them my plan.  They are excited that she's eaten from my hand (they watched the whole exchange, of course.)  I give them my cell number in case anything happens overnight and I tell them that I'll be back mid-day on Tuesday.

Allie and I drive off into the sunset - no wait, it was only 2:30pm...  To be continued...