Most of the dogs have collars with tags and phone numbers, so we’ve been able to directly call their owners and that was the case with the sweet dog Sadie and I found on our walk today.
I noticed her when Sadie started pulling on her leash as she slowly army-crawled toward the lost dog. I was pretty sure I recognized her as a neighbor’s dog and Sadie and I sat down in the grass as I called to her with my hand outstretched for her to sniff.
The lost dog was rather timid, but her tail wagged when I called to her and after about 10 minutes of baby talk, I was able to get her to come close enough for me to read the name and number on her collar. Now she’s safe and sound!
I had to laugh at one point during the whole incident when Sadie’s princess tendencies came out to play. Sadie got a little jealous of the new dog and tried her best to wedge herself between me and the lost dog at all times.
(Check out how well her surgery scar is healing!)
Sadie is all about being face-to-face under normal circumstances, but if you put another dog in the picture, she becomes extra needy. It’s intense.
Lunch
Once we made it back home, it was time for lunch. I prepped a large batch of chicken, figuring I could have it for lunch and dinner since I have a Junior League meeting tonight and will be heading out early this evening.
When I was in Sanibel, I snacked on some leftover chicken that my mom and grandma had late last week and raved about the delicious flavor. Apparently they got the recipe for the chicken from a woman at the condo pool and I was shocked to hear that the sauce only included two ingredients: Orange marmalade and Catalina dressing! (If you want to make your own Catalina dressing, I found a recipe for it on Cheri’s blog.)
My sister and I agreed that it tasted like orange chicken, so that’s what I’ll call it!
Easy Orange Chicken
Ingredients:
- 1.5 – 2 pounds chicken (breasts, drumsticks, thighs – anything will work)
- 1/2 cup orange marmalade
- 1/2 cup Catalina dressing
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray an 8×8 baking dish with cooking spray.
- Combine marmalade and dressing in a bowl.
- Place chicken in baking dish and cover with marmalade mixture.
- Bake for 50 minutes, flipping the chicken halfway through. (If you’re cooking chicken breasts, they may need a full hour in the oven.)
- Serve and enjoy!
I paired my orange chicken with roasted cauliflower and an apple. Quite a satisfying lunch!
Question of the Afternoon
- Have you ever stumbled upon a lost pet? What did you do?
The first lost dog I ever found in Orlando was an adorable maltese. He was such a sweetie and Ryan and I brought him to the Humane Society. I followed up and found out that he was adopted very quickly!
To learn more about what you should do if you find a stray animal, please check out The Humane Society’s article: What To Do If You Find a Stray Pet.
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Yay! I was starting to have Sadie withdrawals!
My dog Annie is the same, she gets so jealous! She even gets jealous of my husband and I. Whenever we give each other a kiss, she races across the couch and tries to make it a three way – sassy!
It’s funny how you say Sadie army crawled over to the dog. My vizsla does the same thing! She wants to meet every dog but seems so timid at first! When we go to the dog park sometimes we find a dog that got too ahead of their owner, but we find them quickly.
I’ve found a couple stray dogs in the past. We use Erie Animal Network (EAN) to help reunite animals with their owners and works both for lost and found pets. EAN is a Facebook group that posts pictures along with information on the lost/found animals and the net worker. They have a great success rate and it makes you feel good to help out a family in need.
Sadie looks great too! Hope she’s feeling better!
YUM! Sounds delicious and super easy. Great recipe!
That looks like some serious orange marmalade…I LOVE blood oranges!
Awe what a cutie!!! Glad she’s ok ! love Sadie’s collar where did you get it?
Yum – I make something similar with orange marmalade and sweet Thai chili sauce, but this sounds even better, esp with homemade Catalina!
This chicken sounds delicious! I love that it’s only contains two ingredients. I bet it would taste great in the crockpot too! 🙂
15 stray pets?! that’s crazy!
ocala is lucky to have you guys! 🙂
So I guess that means that you guys can never get a second dog!!
We have stray dogs all the time… But we live in a SUPER small town so someone usually knows where they belong 🙂
My fiance and I had a stray dog come up to the yard and just lay down in the sun… He looked so skinny like he had been lost for a while (he was a hunting breed), poor fella. Well i had fed him a small amount of dog food (i felt so bad for the guy) and he stuck around for a least a day. I finally got close enough to see the name and number on the collar. When i called the man about his dog he seemed not to care… so i told him i’d call the humane society if he didn’t come and get his dog and take care of it… the next day, the fella was gone. I sure do hope everything went ok..
Awe, that dog is adorable! Hope Sadie is feeling all better now!
I love this chicken recipe. I mean, how simple is that. Plus, orange and me are so jamming right now. Get it;)
Awww Sadie!! She never fails to make me smile in your posts!
Last time I was in FL I found a lost dog in the street and gave it to my friend to find it’s owner. I wasn’t from the area and figured he’d know whose it was. The End.
Thank you for helping strays/dogs that got loose! If they ever don’t have tags, you can take them to the nearest vet or shelter and get them scanned for a microchip.
cute post. you may want to fix the first sentence though … (yes, i am the grammar police, but i think since writing is your full-time job, proofreading is extra important.)
ahhh! thank you for saying something. i edited the post. thanks, k!
I always feel bad for stray animals when I see them around esp during the cold winter months. Glad you were able to get her back home!
I don’t really come across too many stray animals, but I did see a dog running after a boy on a skateboard today. It was hard to tell whether the dog belonged to the boy or not, but I didn’t see any collar. The boy also didn’t seem to be too interested in the dog.. so I hope that dog finds his way home!
I’m glad you and Sadie have been able to help the lost puppies find their way home! My stepdad puts orange marmalade on salmon and its one of my favorite ways to eat it!
I haven’t found a lost dog, but I’ve been on the other side. One time the gate in our yard opened and our dogs got out. Luckily it was summer because they were out all night. The next morning I got a call from the jail. Not the pound which I thought it was at first, but the actual jail. A security guard saw them on a camera and let them in through their gate. He was really nice about it and we were so happy that they had stayed together.
Sadie is such a sassy gal! It’s hilarious! I’ve never heard of catalina dressing, but it looks fab!
I found a lost dog near my parents’ home–a beautiful golden retriever–walking in the middle of the road. I loaded her up in my car. No collar, tag. Took her to the Humane Society and luckily she had the pet id chip. Her owners did get her back but it was not the first time she’d been turned in to the HS. Made me sad for her…
I wonder why so many dogs get loose? They must all be sure to tag their dogs since they KNOW they’ll get loose.
I guess the dogs in my neighborhood are just mean. Once, my sis and I were out walking when this dog came charging up to us, barking the whole time. Its owner stayed at her car, laughing, “Oh, he won’t bite!” Yeah. Not gonna believe it. My sister was so freaked, she was almost shaking. Not knowing what to do, I (stupidly) charged the dog, barking at it (I don’t normally get that weird). It worked, and the dog left us alone. Might have been a friendly dog, but it was acting just short of snarly.
Our dogs were always getting out and running all around town. Once, my dog ran away at night, and didn’t come home until lunch the next day. I was so worried that I skipped school to keep looking for her.
Oh my gosh, that meal looks/sounds delicious & so easy! I am going to do this!
A couple of summers ago, we were having a BBQ and left the sliding door to our second floor deck open. Suddenly one of our friends says “hey you guys didn’t get a dog did you?!!” A beautiful young-ish looking husky was standing right inside the door sniffing around the food laid out on the table! He had come up from the yard via the stairs on the side of our house! After the excitement settled down, we took him out to the street and his owner (who lived a few blocks away) was already wandering and calling his name. Apparently, the little guy is super mischievous and had done similar things in the past!
My hubby and son love orange chicken! I’ll have to try that recipe!
I think it’s soooo important to make sure that your pets in the yard. I know it can’t always be helped but sometimes it doesn’t end well and that’s so sad. My hubby was out running one day and came across two escaped dogs. They ran into the street and it didn’t end well. My hubby followed the first dog and carried the hurt dog to his house. I have never seen my husband so upset when he got home. Please keep your pets secure as well as you can!
My parents will never let me live down the time I brought home a lost/stray dog! It was Christmas 2011 and there was lots of snow on the ground and it was COLD (I live in Ohio)! I was driving to my parents’ house from a seasonal job and there was a dog playing by the road. Being the sappy animal lover I am, I stopped and called it over to me. He was wearing a collar, but no tag. Along with the help of my neighbors, I took him to the vet to check for a microchip (no luck), called the Police Department to find out if anyone was missing a dog (again, no luck), and eventually called another neighbor who works at an animal rescue in my hometown. She couldn’t take him until the next morning, and I had to go back to my apartment, so I had to leave the poor guy at my parents’ house where he scared my parents’ dog and peed on the [fake] Christmas tree. He was adopted by a nice family a few days later, but I have a feeling there will be some payback from my parents sometime in the future! It was worth it, though, knowing that he was safe, warm, and loved!
My step-mom makes this in the crock pot! Sooo good. She uses chicken breasts and lets them cook for about 8 hours in the sauce and then serves it over rice! The sauce is delicious with the rice.
True life: The last time I tried to help a lost dog it chased me back to my car. This was right after I backed into a mail box delivering meal on wheels. As they say.. “no good deed goes unpunished.” 😉 It makes me laugh thinking about it now.
I am like a stray dog whisperer. They flock to me. I once found this little mix dog in my old neighborhood who would try to chase me and my German shepherd. I gave it a quick Cesar milan “shhhhhhhh” and it quickly became my friend. Haha. That man knows his stuff.
I’m glad the baby got home!! One of our best dogs was a lost pet. Cali had no tags, no collar, no chip, nothing when she was a puppy. We put out help wanted posters and everything but there was no response. Not because we didn’t try! She passed last year from cancer, but she was my best friend growing up
Definitely trying this recipe, thanks!
walkinginmemphisinhighheels.com
There’s a really cute Chihuahua in our neighborhood that has a very friendly owner. The :owner takes him for walks quite frequently–and even attaches a leash to him!–but for some reason the owner doesn’t bother to hold onto the leash and allows the dog to run freely up and down our street (which is a very busy 4 lane street). This morning, I took Butters outside as I always do before work. I was a bit distracted and I didn’t notice that the Chihuahua was running freely–he ran right up to Butters and almost attacked him! This has happened on multiple occasions and it is INCREDIBLY annoying, especially when the owner ambles up after the dogs have already started barking wildly and acts like nothing’s wrong.
What a good idea to put marmalade on chicken, why cant I think of these things myself! haha
In Boston, we found two lost dogs near our home. Both times we called the police and held on to the dog until we found the owners. Our only problem is that both times were Sundays, so if the owners hadn’t been found, we’d have had to keep the dog until the next day when Animal Control opened. Luckily that never happened.
I always try to rescue a lost dog if I can, because I’d want someone to return the favor. Our little April is an escape artist and can run way faster than I can.
The few times I’ve tried to help a lost dog they’ve barked at me… So zero successes…
we found a lost puppy without any tags or a microchip in my neighborhood in early january. we posted fliers in the area and reached out to the local humane society to see if anyone had reported a missing dog. no one ever came forward, so we have since adopted him and named him archie. he’s the sweetest puppy (only 4 months old!) and we couldn’t be happier. 🙂
I make orange chicken all the time! But I mix a packet of dry onion soup mix for a little extra oomph! SO good!
I love that you stopped to help this dog and find its owners! If I see a lost dog, it does not matter where I am going or if I will be late, I have to stop. On my way home from church a couple years ago with my parents we saw a dog run across a busy street. I made my dad park his truck, called the dog, brought him into the truck and drove up and down the neighborhoods asking people if they recognized him because he didn’t have his tag on his collar. He ended up being a family dog and I was so happy to reunite him with his owners. I am seriously the crazy dog lady. Glad to see that Sadie is recovering so well from her surgery!!
Sorry if anybody has already said this (no time to read all these posts, I’m supposed to be workin!). I use the orange marmalade and catalina dressing over meatballs in the crockpot, and I always get rave reviews (I just use whatever frozen meatballs I pick up, about 2# at a time, I believe).
that sounds great! I bet that’d be really good with some veggies & brown rice for a side dish! Yum-O! 🙂
I live across the street from a park so I have found several dogs without their owners. Luckily, all of the dogs I have found always have a license on so I was able to call animal control and get the owner’s phone number so they were able to come and get their dog. We live relatively close to a few busy streets so I’m always scared the dogs will bolt and get hit by a car.
I am obsessed with downton abbey! I am behind too though- I watched the first season on netflix and now I am on season two. I cant wait to catch up when I get to season 3.
Too funny about Sadie and the lost dog. My dog is the same way when it comes to other dogs/animals. He HAS to be closest to me. He is so an only child.
I found a golden retriever who was injured badly, no collar or tags.. I have two yellow labs with me, they are so sweet. The four of us sat in the grass until scraps (animal control) showed up. Thank goodness the dog was chipped. I was concerned for her so I called the next day, I was worried the owners wouldn’t want to pay the emergency Medical bills beings scraps had to take her to the vet ASAP and it was evening. Fortunately the owners were there first thing in the morning to get her. I felt so bad for her, it all ended well though!
What a great sending 🙂
*ending
That recipe not only sounds super delicious, but seems SO easy to make! I would love to try it with baked tofu or tempeh. Thanks for the great idea :).
Ocala sounds a lot like South Williamsport! We have lost dogs running down the street all the time. My dad’s always in charge of going and getting them and checking their tags and bringing them back to their owner. My dog Bailey gets so jealous she cries hysterically when she sees my dad with another dog. ;p
Sadie looks like she’s guarding you. That lost dog didn’t have a chance at a snuggle 😉