This is only the beginning

So what is sure to be the first of many over the next three years...a stray dog is now sheltered in our yard. It started when I noticed a puppy in our neighbors yard, they have a small fluffy black and white adult dog called Lila, but this German Shepherd cross was not her. I also noticed that we hadn't seen our neighbors car for a couple of days, but a different car was in the driveway. My assumption, they were gone, someone who was housesitting brought their puppy. The puppy cried and barked a lot, and despite a light being on in the house every night, we didn't see anyone for a few days. I started tossing treats in to the puppy, who gobbled them up. Then taught the puppy that rather than jumping like a maniac on the fence, treats would only come when he sat down. Continued the lessons from my office balcony, throwing treats to puppy when he saw me and sat down. Still no people. I was worried about him, started feeding him meals, and considered climbing the fence to get him out, especially since the neighbors yard was in considerable disarray, with potted plants and plastic pots destroyed everywhere, and usually our neighbors (who we can not yet actually communicate with, but are an older German couple who seem nice, generally) are very tidy and have obviously spent considerable time on the yard. Finally, the neighbors arrived home, apparently they were in Lisbon for 6 days, and had no idea why a puppy was in their yard. When seeing the mess in their yard they were very upset, and the husband grabbed a heavy metal pole and hit the puppy a couple of times. I immediately had to go over (under the guise of walking my dogs). Puppy was cowering in a corner of their yard, they were trying to shew it out, I whistled and it came running over to me at their gate, they thanked me and promptly shut the gate. So a quick summary of a long story: Puppy is now in our yard. I have since walked the puppy around our neighborhood and asked (as best as I could in my limited Portuguese) if anyone knew where he lives, nobody did, and I was laughed at for thinking this stray puppy had a home. So now we are trying to find a new home (Dan seems to think two dogs is enough, and, in theory at least, I agree with him). Problem is we leave for Al's wedding next Thursday, so time is limited. The pup looks like a German Shepherd cross, not sure how old, definitely very friendly and "puppyish." The photo up top is of him from our balcony, sitting nicely so he can get a treat. I have since taught him to lay down as well, and we are working on fetch and bringing the ball back to me. Smart little guy, here is hoping something works out for him.