Tales of Rescued Dogs

I routinely visit the local kill shelter to walk dogs, and last December, I was walking down the row of cages to be confronted by what looked like a starving polar bear. I remember being impressed by the size of her, and checked the clipboard attached to the cage. She was labeled as a Pryenees and had been found wandering along the highway.

Her coat was scraggly and dirty, and she was very skinny. Despite her condition, she pressed herself up to the cage door and looked up at me with clear, amber eyes (those eyes can talk me into anything). When I opened the cage to put a leash on her to walk her, she nearly plowed me over. She was a sweetheart on our walk, and it nearly broke my heart to see her eyes when I shut the cage on her after our walk.

I spent the weekend while the shelter was closed thinking about her and hoping that she would not have been put down over the weekend. Early Monday morning, I handed $20 over to the Animal Control Shelter and recieved a free vet check coupon for my new girl, Luna. Other than being underweight by nearly 30 lbs, she was healthy.

She was an enormous addition to my home. She was shy and not very affectionate at first. Two years later, she's gained weight and is happy and healthy (and spayed). She waits for me at the gate to come home, sleeps at the foot of my bed, accompanies me on runs out in the wildlife refuge, and guards my young siblings. She also tries (key word there is "tries") to fit into my lap for snuggles, but she weighs as much as I do.

It is SO incredibly rewarding to see the love and affection in the eyes of an animal that you've grown to adore and to know that you rescued her from a bleak future. I can't imagine a dog like her being put down simply because of pet overpopulation. Please, please, consider adopting pets from rescue centers and kill shelters!