I read this poem written by an anonymous person, simply titled “A Shelter Dog’s Poem.” I think it speaks to the kindness of the shelter volunteers, and I would like to everyone to take a moment after reading it to give thanks to God for the people that get in there to save the least of them among us, the animals.
Once I was a lonely dog just looking for a home. I had no place to go, no one to call my own. I wandered up and down the streets in rain, in heat, in snow. I ate whatever I could find, I was always on the go.
My skin would itch, my feet were sore, and my body ached with pain. No one stopped to give me a pat or gently say my name. I never saw a loving glance, I was always on the run. For people thought that hurting me was really lots of fun.
Then one day I heard a voice so gentle, kind and sweet, with arms so soft that reached down to me and took me off my feet. “No one again will hurt you,” was whispered in my ear. “You’ll have a home to call your own where you will know no fear.”
“You will be dry, you will be warm, you’ll have enough to eat. And rest assured that when you sleep, your dreams will all be sweet.” I was afraid, I must admit, I’ve lived so long in fear. I can’t remember the last time when I let a human come so near.
As she tended to my wounds and bathed and brushed my fur, she told me about this “rescue group” and what it meant to her.
She said, “we are a circle, a line that never ends.. In the center of it, there is you protected by new friends. All around you are the ones that check the pounds, and those who share their homes with you after you’ve been found.”
“All the other folks are searching near and far, to find the perfect home for you, where you can be a star.” She said, “there is a family, they are waiting very patiently, and pretty soon we’ll find them, just you wait and see.”
“And then they’ll join our circle, they’ll help to make it grow, so there’ll be room for more like you who have no place to go.”
I waited very patiently. They days, they came and went. Today is the day, I kept on thinking, my family will be sent. Then just when I began to think it wasn’t meant to be, there were people standing there gazing down at me.
“I could tell they felt it, too, for a special dog like you.”
Now every night I say a prayer to all the Gods that be. Thank you for the life I live and all you’ve given me. But most of all, protect the dogs in the pounds and in the streets. And send a Rescue Person to them to lift them off their feet.
We must remember we are all responsible in getting the pet overpopulation problem under control so there will be no need for high kill shelters to exist.. I wrote about the line in “In Hope, an animal shelter story” before, but it bears repeating: “For every animal that dies in a shelter there is someone, somewhere, responsible for its death.” Spay and neuter your pets today. There are programs out there to help you if money is an issue. Don’t just talk about it, make that appointment. Goad your friends into doing it. And never forget, it is only through you that the Randolph County Humane Society continues to save lives, one by one.
