You can call me "Katie Almighty"

Apparently my house is a beacon for animals who would enjoy some loving care. I am not building an ark but I am expecting the next critters to come in twos.

It started with Matilda.

Then on Saturday night, it was a dog. We'll call the dog "PB" for now.

When Joe drove up to our house, a stray dog bounded up to the car but kept her distance once he opened the door. Joe tried to call PB over to him to check for tags, but she just barked rather aggressively and wouldn't come close.

An hour later, we heard some noises on our porch. PB was back.

We could tell she had just had a litter but didn't have any tags. We tried to get her to come close but she always stayed 10 feet away and kept barking.

Now I love dogs and my family has quite the collection of stray-turned-family member dogs so I wanted to keep trying. But her bark was a scary bark, like "I might want to eat your hand," so we decided to ignore her in hopes she would try to find her home.

But she wouldn't leave. She curled up on our mat and was shaking so badly from the cold. I finally convinced Joe that we should give her a blanket since she clearly wasn't going to leave. Once I set the blanket out, she immediately ran up towards me (I thought she was charging me so I got scared and ran back inside) and curled up under the blanket.

Finally, we went to bed and Joe was searching the Internet for what type of dog she was. I was about to drift to sleep when he said, "Katie, it's a pit bull! She's a pit bull!"

OH MY WORD!

Now you may own a pit bull and say they're the most wonderful pets. Fine. Whatever. But this was a stray dog, clearly aggressive, and clearly hungry if not malnourished. Plus, I've never heard of a miniature dachshund or a golden retriever attacking toddlers.

I freaked out just a little and resisted the urge to check on Madeline even though I knew she was completely safe. Have I mentioned I'm sometimes overreact?

The next morning, PB the Pit Bull was still there, continuing to bark when we opened the door. We tried to call a rescue organization but couldn't reach anyone. We tried to shoo her away but she just wouldn't leave. Since we wanted to leave our house eventually, we finally called Animal Control and threw plates of oatmeal on our porch until they got here.

I still feel bad for her because Animal Control said they put dogs up for adoption only if they pass health tests and allow people to get near. Basically the future didn't seem bright for PB the Pit Bull with those criteria.

So in the words of Bob Barker, spay and neuter your pets. And take care of the ones you have so they don't end up on my porch. Unless it's a friendly boxer and then I definitely want to keep it.

In the meantime, I'll be watching for the next animal who comes. Any guesses what it will be?