Maybe you should take the skinflints to court

Dear Diane: Last month while taking my evening walk, I came upon an injured Bichon Frise puppy. The poor thing was limping with a broken front leg and multiple deep cuts on her face and body.

I gently picked her up, rushed home and drove her to my vet, who splinted the leg and treated the puppy’s wounds.

My vet did some kind of scanning of the puppy and told me she had an ID chip implanted in her. I contacted her owners immediately. They were not home, so I left my name, number and address so they could come and pick their dog up.

Diane, it took those people A WEEK to pick up their injured puppy! I was about to the point of renaming the Bichon and keeping her for myself.

To make things worse, they refuse to reimburse me for the emergency vet bill. They said that since they never asked me to take their dog to the vet, they were under no obligation to pay me back.

Now I am out a lot of money — and a cute puppy. What do I do?

— Enraged in New England

Dear Enraged: Talk with your vet. Maybe he or she can simply send the bill to the owners and the vet can reimburse you.

Your other option is to take these skinflints to small claims court. When you get your money back, you can buy a cute little Bichon Frise of your own. They ARE adorable!