Subject: SPDR: I Found Your Dog Today
This should be read by all the people who abandon their dogs…though maybe they just don't care.
No, he has not been adopted by anyone. Most of us who live out here own as many dogs as we want; those who do not own dogs do so because they choose not to. I know you hoped he would find a home when you left him out here, but he did not. When I first saw him he was far from the nearest house and he was alone, thirsty, thin and limping from an injury to his foot.
How I wish I could have been you as I stood before him. To see his tail wag and his eyes brighten as he bounded into your arms, knowing you would find him, knowing you had not forgotten him. To see the forgiveness in his eyes for the suffering and pain he had known in his never-ending quest to find you? but I was not you. And despite all my persuasion, his eyes see a stranger. He did not trust. He would not come. He turned and continued his journey; one he was sure would bring him to you.
He does not understand you are not looking for him. He only knows you are not there, he only knows he must find you. This is more important than food or water or the stranger who can give him these things. Persuasion and pursuit seemed futile.
I did not even know his name. I drove home, filled a bucket with water and a bowl with food and returned to where we had met. I could see no sign of him, but I left my offering under the tree where he had sought shelter from the sun and a chance to rest.
You see, he cannot survive on his own. When you domesticated him, you took away any instinct of living on his own. His purpose demands that he travel during the day. He doesn?t know that hunger, heat, and lack of water will claim his life. He only knows that he has to find you.
I waited hoping he would return to the tree; hoping my gift would build an element of trust so I might bring him home, heal his injured paw, give him a cool place to lie and help him understand that the part of his life with you is now over. He did not return that morning and at dusk the water and food were still there, untouched. And I worried. You must understand that many people would not attempt to help your dog. Some would run him off, others would call Animal Control and the fate you thought you saved him from would be preempted by his suffering for days without food or water. I returned again before dark. I did not see him. I went again early the next morning only to find that the food and water still untouched. If only you were here to call his name. Your voice is so familiar to him.
I began pursuit in the direction he had taken yesterday, doubt overshadowing my hope of finding him. His search for you was desperate; it could take him many miles in 24 hours. It is hours later and a good distance from where we first met, but I have found your dog.
His thirst has stopped; it is no longer a torment to him. His hunger has disappeared, he no longer aches. The injuries on his paws bother him no more. Your dog has been set free from his burdens; you see, your dog has died. I kneel next to him and I curse you for not being here yesterday so I could see the glow, if just for a moment, in those now vacant eyes. I pray that his journey has taken him to that place I think you hoped he would find.
If only you knew what he went through to reach it? and I agonize, for I know, that were he to awaken at this moment, and if I were to be you, his eyes would sparkle with recognition and his tail would wag with forgiveness.
Within the heart of every stray.
Lies the singular desire to be loved.
That story was more than a tear jerker I'm crying like a baby now. These stories break my heart. I have to wonder how these people get the attitude that you can just dump your animal. Does it start as children? My parents put up with me dragging home every lost and stray animal I came accross. Those that didnt get claimed we found a home for or kept ourselves. I even raised kittens someone had dumped on the side of the road in a box, so young they still had the umbilical cord. My 17 yr old cat was dumped in the desert as a kitten to fend for himself. As much as I hate the idea I feel they should at least have the guts to take the animal to the shelter having to look someone in the eye as they abandon thier pet.
I also believe that animal shelter are NOT the worse thing that can happen to an animal.
Being hungry, homeless and unwanted are so much worse.
I can only hope that these folks that dump animals are someday in need…maybe then they will see how it is to be in need.
Our Bongo (then Donko) was left in the desert outside El Paso. He was chipped, so the shelter that got him when some kind soul found him and turned him in was able track his previous owner and let them know they had found their dog. "Oh, we don't want him back - we left him the desert because we think he'd be happier as a 'wild' dog," they said. How that is not a crime is beyond me.
It took him a long time to trust again. Three months after we got him we were frustrated and wondering if we'd made a huge mistake. He was destructive, skittish, drove his basenji "sister" crazy – almost like he was testing us. "If I (chew, destroy, taunt) will you abandon me too? Because if so, I don't want to get close to you." Of course, we can only guess at his thoughts.
He came within days of being PTS. Today, Bongo is a happy, healthy pup. He lights up my life and I like to think he thinks the same of us.
People who abandon their dogs should be sentenced to feel the same sense of abandonment, uncertainty about where their next meal or sip of water or caring touch are coming from.
Cody is curled up next to me and Moe is laying at my feet. After reading this, I had to cuddle and hug them.
I agree. A shelter isn't the worse thing that can happen. At least they have a chance at a new life, and they will be fed, sheltered from the elements, and kept safe. If they are just dropped off in the middle of nowhere, their chances are slim.
That is such a sad story - one every person who ever left a dog to fend for itself, or a cat for that matter, should be made to read. We've had many cats and dogs through our lives, and most were strays who wandered into our sight. My basenjis are the only dogs we ever got through normal means, and not because they were strays. We've seen people move and just not take their cats, drop puppies off in our neighborhood, turn animals out because they "couldn't care for them anymore." For anyone like everyone on these boards, abandoning a pet is the worst crime. One person I confronted told me she wasn't going to take her two cats to the shelter because it "might cost her something to drop them off."
very sad, i was also raised taking in all the lost animals.
This reminds me of how I got my dear sweet Eski. Animal control brought him in, he was on two of those loop poles, trying to take the whole place apart. It had taken months for Animal control to finally get him, even though he'd been spotted many times in the same neighborhood.
He was about 1/2 his normal weight, coated in mats and burrs, and angry at the world. I spent a lot of time outside his cage, crooning to him and sharing my chicken sandwich lunches (that was his favorite, I could tell, because he would come to FRONT of the cage to bark and snarl when I had one)
Eventually we made peace, I got him out of his cage and bathed him. I brushed out the mats and pulled out all the burrs. I clipped his nails. All of this he allowed, because I think he knew he had found LOVE.
He never did like or trust strangers, but he did know love, and gave the best of all love to me. I'll never forget him, and I hope I gave him all he ever wanted in his life.
So sad..and yet so common.. Breaks my heart..and yes, made me ball like a baby.
"Saving one dog will not change the world, but it will change the world for that one dog."
One of my beloved b's was a b running loose in Olympia Wa. He was not caught by animal control until he was "clipped" by a car…
He came to my house and we love him until he passed.
But really, it was only luck the car didn't kill him.
We don't have a problem with stray dogs in norway (cats are a different story) - but still I have to cudle Tric just one extra time now…
