On A Cold Chicago Night, Lost Dog Searches For Warmth, Home

CHICAGO — It felt as cold as a freezer outside Wednesday night when a fluffy eared dog, shivering in a pink collar, wandered onto our front porch and began to whine. We couldn't turn her away.

Our uninvited guest devoured a bowl of kibble and took shelter in the basement, safely way from the curious snoot of Nelson the dog and the claws of Harvey the cat.

"Did anybody lose a dog? No tags." I posted on my neighborhood's virtual phone tree on Facebook.

"Wow, what a beautiful dog," one neighbor wrote.

"I hope they find their people soon," said another.

But no one claimed the fluffy stray in the pink collar.

After a call to 311, a friendly animal care and control officer picked up the lost dog.

"If there's a microchip, I'll take the dog straight home," he said.

We held on to hope. He waved a wand over the dog's fur, searching for identification embedded beneath its skin.

No luck. With doggie cookies, we lured the tricolored collie with auburn eyes into the van.

"She'll get adopted for sure," he said.

By Thursday afternoon, a terrible photo that made our overnight guest look like a demon-eyed monster posted on the city's lost dog website.

I can assure you there is nothing devilish about the lost pup.

If you can help find its owner — or a place in your home — please do.

Mark Konkol, recipient of the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for local reporting, wrote and produced the Peabody Award-winning series "Time: The Kalief Browder Story." He was a producer, writer and narrator for the "Chicagoland" docuseries on CNN and a consulting producer on the Showtime documentary "16 Shots."

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