The call was to a small perverted and very redneck town in the southern edge of our county. The dispatcher started to laugh everytime he would start to dispatch. This particular night we had 2 dispatchers working in our Communications Center. The dispatcher that was attempting to dispatch this call to me wouldsay about 2-3 words and then I could hear him breaking out in laughter and then the transmission would end.

After about 5-8 attempts at dispatching this call to me the female dispatcher got on the radio and dispatched me to this run down house on a dead end street reference to a call of a "3 legged dog, living in a trash can, that was barking". At this time I understood why the dispatcher was laughing and could not resist a slight chuckle myself as I said "10-4, enroute".

Like I stated above, this was a cold rainy night and all the way to the call I was mad at my Sarg, who was preparing to go home. Sarg had told dispatch to pass the call to me since the call had come in prior to me coming on duty.

Upon arrival I did indeed locate a dog (no longer barking) that had only three legs and was living in a plastic trash can that had been laid onto its side to provide some 'shelter'. There was a blanket laying outside that obviously was soaked and the trash can was of the design that had a lip that curled inward causing the can to hold some water even when laying on its side.

I contacted the owner, who I know very well since she is a regular customer. I explained to her that this was unacceptable living conditions for any animal and that they need to find some way to more appropriately provide adequate shelter for this dog. The trash can had been shoved away from the tree where the dog was tied to and therefre the dog could not enter even if it wanted to.

When I got back in the car I could not resist laughing as I explained to dispatch that the 3 legged dog was taken care of for tonight and the owner was informed to provide better shelter.

As of today I am still the center of the "3 legged dog" joke but i don't mind since I had an experience that most officers can't say that they have had. I later found out that the female dispatcher was instigating the male dispatcher laughing, but I don't blame her.