Stray in Baltimore

The other day Florian was driving around Baltimore after teaching his class at a university, and he saw a dog running around in a grassy area near the train tracks. 

When he got out of the car, the dog ran away from him but when he squatted down and waited a few minutes, the dog cautiously approached and he was able to give him some of his lunch. But when he tried to touch him, the dog ran away again.

A neighbor showed up, and told Florian the dog has been running around there for a couple of months.

Florian said he looked just like Fozzie and we had to rescue him. He picked me up after work and we went back.

As soon as we got there a couple of neighbors leaned out of their windows and struck up a conversation about the dog, and told us that a few people come regularly to feed him but no one has been able to catch him. We didn't see the dog at first, but a neighbor said he was probably looking right at us. Sure enough, there was movement in the bushes and there he was.

A large dog, brindled and with a white chest like Fozzie but more stocky and with a bigger head. Maybe a mastiff/boxer/presa canario something. He wouldn't come anywhere near us this time. 

A few days later we came back and this time we met a woman who said she comes a few times a day to feed him and that he sometimes comes and eats out of her hand. She said he likes rice, likes carrots and peas and baked chicken and dog food mixed together, but doesn't like fried food. She said animal control has tried a few times to catch him with no luck. Someone set up a crate with blankets in the trees for him, but this woman said he never goes inside anything enclosed.

I was so happy to hear that there are people caring for this dog and that the people who live around him--in a poor section of West Baltimore--are trying to help him!  Restores my faith in humans a bit.

But we still need to find a way to get him before it gets too cold and before he gets hit by a car!  

Coordinating now among rescues and trappers and neighbors.