A Dog Story

BETHLEHEM — After ram­bling for six wet weeks from Naugatuck to Watertown, from Morris to Washington, Conn., and all around Bethlehem, a German shepherd finally went home Saturday.

But it was a new home.

“Hi, buddy boy,” said Dan Di­eterle, a Bethlehem resident who adopted the dog Saturday after having sheltered him for five days and turning him in to authorities Feb. 16. Dieterle lifted the dog into a bear hug at the Watertown Animal Shelter on Saturday afternoon, allowing him to lick his face.

“I can’t believe it,” he said. “I love this dog.”

The previous owners of the dog, a 9-year-old named Alex, read about his travels in Satur­day’s Republican-American, according to Bethlehem and Woodbury Animal Control Offi­cer Angela Bond. They called the Watertown Animal Shelter, where Bond met them Saturday morning.

“They are not bad owners,” Bond said. “Some things hap­pen in your life you have no control over.”

Bond would not disclose the names of the previous owners, saying they were from Nau­gatuck and that they raised Alex from when he was a pup­py. Bond said the couple pre­sented her with a complete medical and pedigree history for Alex.

And though Bond wouldn’t say how the dog got loose or why the couple were unable to track him down, she said she wouldn’t file any charges against them.

“If I felt there was an issue, I certainly would file charges,” Bond said. “That’s not the case.”

Bond said the couple ap­peared happy Alex had been found but also felt upset after giving up custody to the town of Bethlehem.

“I don’t think it was an easy decision,” Bond said. “But it was the best thing they could do."

Bond allowed Dan and Nanette Dieterle to adopt Alex without paying the $50 adoption fee.

The Dieterles joined a group of neighbors and busi­nesses around East Street in Bethlehem who helped feed Alex during an odyssey that began around Christmas. People spotted Alex at Black Rock State Park in Water­town, downtown Morris, in Washington Depot and Beth­lehem. Several people got close enough to pat his head while feeding him, though he mostly ran away when ap­proached.

The Dieterles said Alex lay down two weeks ago on a blanket in a neighbor’s garage before the neighbor closed the door behind him. The Di­eterles took Alex to a veteri­narian and paid for a full checkup and shots.

The Dieterles own a 40­acre horse farm on East Street, including three fenced-in areas with shelters for Alex and their two other dogs.

“I told him his blanket is waiting for him,” Nanette Di­eterle said. But she also knows she’ll need to keep her eye on this dog, which has a penchant for wandering long distances.

“We can’t let him get loose,” she said.