The doorbell rang (a rare event) around 9h30. Once at the gate I found two or three cars had stopped on the road and people were milling about. They explained that a small dog was blundering about in the middle of the road. Someone caught it and we found it had an apple tag attached to its collar. No name, no phone number on the collar.
One of the cars was off to the airport for a flight. The second had a rendezvous somewhere else at 10am. They headed off.
By default we had been designated as the dog’s saviours.
We set about finding the owner, called the the vet and took the dog. No microchip, but they found a tattoo once an ear was shaved. The owner’s details popped up in the database like magic.
La chienne, Fripouille, a female, is 16 years old. The vet rang the owner and left a message, twice. No reply.
By lunchtime all was quiet. No contact from the owner. We installed the dog on the terrasse with some croquettes and water. It stumbled about, drinking and eating a little and eventually lying on a blanket we put down for it. It is sleeping now.
The poor little thing looks to have poor or no eyesight and poor or no hearing. It reacts best when you give it a little tap. It’s well-behaved but disabled.
I rang what I took to be a fourrière not too far away, who told me to ring the gendarmes, who rang the owner, who never answered.
I rang the vet again for the guy’s address. But it turns out that he is elderly and doesn’t live there any more. So no-one has his address. In which case his phone number probably isn’t reliable either.
The vet would not take the dog so I rang the Mairie as it is in their remit to deal with stray dogs.
But they are on their Congés!
The mairie is not open until Wednesday, but that’s a Jour Férié!!
I couldn’t find an emergency phone number for the mairie and the maire is not in pagesjaunes.
But I did find a conseiller municipale and she is contacting the adjoint who deals with strays. No call from him as yet…
Sadly, I reckon that the owner is ill or has possibly passed away. The dog is old and infirm. Someone nameless has chosen to dump it in a suitably remote place where no-one will see them do it, but where there are a least a couple of houses. The dog was turning in the road. May not have even seen the cars. It seemed to have appeared in the road suddenly, not to have walked there. Especially as it can’t see well.
I take it that there is no chance that you will look after her? For a dog of that age who is so infirm there is no chance that any of the authorities you contact will do anything other than end her life.
I doubt there is much I can do to help but if you care to give me an approximation of your whereabouts I may know somebody.
What an awful thing for someone to do simply to avoid a lethal injection cost. If she was abandonned there it is clear that someone hoped she would be run over. 
My theory could be wrong David. But what you say in your last paragraph didn’t occur to me.
We’re OK for the moment. She is sleeping well. I think I will talk to the vet as well as the adjoint.
Maybe not - near two properties, perhaps hoped someone would take her.
Thanks for your comments Sue and David.
I’m very pleased to say that all’s well that ends well, thanks to a bit of detective work.
I looked at pagesjaunes to see if I could find the surname I saw in the vet’s records. Lo and behold I found one person, who lives locally. An elderly gentleman who told me and the gendarmes categorically that he has no dog.
But once he understood where I had found the dog, he said he would phone his daughter who, it turns out, lives not far from us. He gave me her number, I called her, and I’m so pleased that Fripouille is now back home. The daughter said the dog must have escaped from the house. It must have managed to walk at least 700m down a road/across fields to get to us. A bit of a feat given that she can’t see.
Still, it’s a happy ending. My theory was wrong.
Happily, mine too. 