This touched my heart

[BrianR]

I found this treatise today somewhere on the internet. Given the number of stray dogs I see daily, this really hits home. Snif!



I Found Your Dog Today...
(author unknown)

I found your dog today. 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 good home when you left him out here, but he did not. When I first saw him he was miles from the nearest house and he was alone, thirsty, thin and limping from a burr in his paw.

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 is not of the desert. When you domesticated him, you took away any instinct of survival out here. His purpose demands that he travel during the day. He doesn't know that the sun and heat 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, remove the burr from his 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 the county 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 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 burrs in 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.

[jester]

How very sad and very true. To be quite honest, I have never "bought" a dog or cat. I always end up with "strays". I can't stand to see them out and about. I either have them spayed or neutered, so that doesn't happen, atleast with mine.

[Cicero]

This reminds me of "A Meeting" a short story by Rilke.

Sad.....that's just sad......

This cheers me up...it's an oldy but a goody.....

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5950304/

[Aliantha]

Adoption

I was really only a baby when they tore me away from my mother. I was just a tiny mite, helpless and frightened. Oh I knew they would come. My mother told me right from the start that they would take me, that they would take us all. I just didn’t think I’d be the last to go.

Jen was the first to go. We all knew she would be. She was so pretty and bright. She’d be the apple of any family’s eye. With her big blue eyes and inquisitive nature, it was only natural she’d be first.

Next was my little brother Joe. Such a handsome creature was he, shiny black hair and precise lines. Oh how he screamed when that wretched woman just picked him up and carried him away as if he were nothing more than a loaf of bread. I hope she treats him well, that woman. One day she’ll be sorry if she doesn’t.

Last was me. There were only three siblings in the family. I was the middle one. There was nothing special about me. I was just ordinary. No one likes ordinary these days. They all want something special. I guess I hoped they wouldn’t come for me at all. But one day someone did, an old man. He was so wrinkled and creased I thought he might blow away like a piece of crumpled newspaper. He smelled of fresh smoked tobacco and his hands were gentle. He picked me up and held me in the air as if putting me that little bit closer to the sun would help his tired eyes. He turned to the woman in charge and said, “she’ll do” and I was his. He paid the price and I was carted off.

My poor little heart wrenched as the distance between my mother and me grew larger. I could see the grief and sadness in her eyes as she watched helpless while I was taken away. They say the last one hurts the most, and I guess I know that it hurt my mother most when I was gone. Now she was all alone in that place. What now for her, my tiny mind wondered. Will I ever see her again? All that must be forgotten now as I’m jostled around in the back of the truck.



That first night I cried for my family. I curled myself into a ball in the box full of old rags that was now my bed. There was water for me to drink, and food. I had no desire for either. My poor little heart was breaking. I was so alone. Finally I fell asleep, exhausted by my sadness.
The next day was bright and the old man brought me some warm milk and crushed biscuits. It was really quite good. After that he looked at me with his kind old eyes, and then we walked out into the yard. I followed him, for what else could I do? It was a nice yard, very big, with lots of large shade trees on the edges. It was hot that day I remember, and we stopped by the back gate in the shade of one of those trees and looked out into the paddock. Many cows there were for me to look at, and the old man looked too. All of a sudden I realized I wasn’t sad anymore. I realized that maybe this is a dog’s life after all, and I looked up at the old man with my head cocked to one side. He looked back at me and smiled briefly as he puffed on his smoke. “You’ll do”, and up the cow paddock we went.

[Sundae]

My family never bought a cat or dog either.
I technically "bought" my boys because a dealer wanted to get rid of non-breeding stock. But that's only after every place I contacted wouldn't allow cats to be re-homed as inside only cats and wouldn't consider inside/ outside cats in a place that faced a main road.

I do understand where they were coming from, but the truth is I provided a loving home for my boys in Leicester and continue to do so now in London. I wish their rules were less rigid and they depended more on personal circumstances. Truth is I adore my slinky, needy, climby, intelligent, people-centric cats, so they did me a favour. But they would have been adopted eventually anyway and I hate the idea two "normal" moggies lost out.

[Pie]

Huh. That's interesting -- there's a definite push around here to make prospective pet-owners promise to keep their cats inside-only!

[Aliantha]

We keep our cats inside all the time...except when they escape.