So I guess it really is my dog

This afternoon, a week and a day after the mutt we have been calling Magda followed me 3 miles on a run, a 20 something year old kid came and claimed her. I was out running some errands, and I got home, noticed the back door was left open with Charlie standing in it, and hollered at him to close it so the dog wouldn't get out. He started sobbing and said the owner had come to get her.
I was holding a beautiful ceramic treat jar with bones and doggies on it that Rose had given me at the pharmacy and was completely dumbfounded, since I had figured we would never hear from the owner.

This kid that came that claimed the dog lived with a relative of our neighbors, whose child had let him know that we had the dog. This neighbor had kept quiet, since the owner wasn't caring for the dog - after he had taken the dog from our house she came over and told us that he had tied her to a tree with a very short chain, left her for three days with no food, etc, etc. There was even rumors of a sibling dog that had been taken to the woods and shot. All of this was told to us in front of my kids who had just lost their new dog.

The kid who came was calling her "Axle". He had found the dog himself about a month ago, but hadn't put much effort into finding the owners (we had placed a radio ad, flyers in several local businesses, and visited all the local vets - but had no hit).

I felt sick and sad. I told Chuck that I couldn't believe I was so sad about a dog I didn't want. Beth and Chris were over for dinner and he suggested offering this kid $100 to give us the dog back, either that or some crack (if I could spare mine, he said).

I went over to the neighbors who then told us that the kid who had taken the dog had already given her away to someone else. I told our neighbor to tell him that he could earn $100 to get us the dog back.

About an hour later, he returned, with the dog, the food we had given him and some he had for her as well.

I cannot believe that I just paid $100 for a stray mutt I never wanted in the first place, but I don't think I can any longer tell y'all, "That's not my dog." Because I'm very glad to have her home.