Before the animal control officer could get the large Newfoundland dog situated in the back of his truck, a restaurant employee interrupted by exiting the restaurant's rear door to deposit some more bags of scraps and other garbage into the dumpster.
Ben, after one whiff, knew there was more food to be hand and made a powerful lunge to return to the scene of his earlier crimes. On this occasion, the uniformed employee of the municipal animal control department proved less than patient.
The man tightened the noose of the control pole, nearly choking the dog as he put an instant halt to the dog's surge. Ben felt the resistance to his desire to investigate the tantalizing smells.
The employee noticed the commotion. "Where'd the dog come from?"
"I caught him raiding your dumpster, but I've gotten complaints about him from people in the neighborhood," the man said as he tried to pull the uncooperative canine back toward the truck. Ben promptly sat back on his haunches and refused to budge.
The employee laughed. "I don't think he wants to go with you."
"It's not his decision," the officer quipped.
Brute force might not work and tranquilizing the dog, although an option, would leave him with a very heavy and immobile dog. But the man knew dogs. He'd worked with them for years.
He reached into a bag in the cab of the truck and pulled out a dog biscuit infused with an irresistible scent of bacon and wafted the treat in front of the stubborn dog's nose. "Want it?" The man coaxed.
Ben wanted the treat. He got to his feet and moved forward precisely as the man hoped. The officer kept dangling the treat like a carrot ahead of Ben until he had the large dog secured in a cage. "I knew he wasn't a bad dog," the man said and slipped the treat between the bars of the cage for the now securely imprisoned canine.
"Any idea who he might belong to?" The officer asked the restaurant employee.
"I've never seen him before."
"Too bad. Shelter's filled to capacity. If we can't find his owners soon, we might not be able to keep him long."
"That sucks."
Ben listened, hearing voices but not words, as he chewed the last crumbled portions of the treat without any awareness of his situation.