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When I Was A Puppy...
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19 Jan 2010, 05:56
Oprah Noodlemantra
Post Count: 300
After reading through the forums on dogs, I came upon this: http://bitsandpieces.us/2010/01/18/i-cried-today/
I figured I would repost it here.



When I was a puppy….


When I was a puppy, I entertained you with my antics and made you laugh. You called me your child and, despite a number of chewed shoes and a couple of murdered throw pillows, I became your best friend.

Whenever I was ‘bad’, you’d shake your finger at me and ask, ‘How could you?’ – but then you’d relent and roll me over for a bellyrub.

My housebreaking took a little longer than expected, because you were terribly busy, but we worked on that together. I remember those nights of nuzzling you in bed and listening to your confidences and secret dreams, and I believed that life could not be any more perfect.

We went for long walks and runs in the park, car rides, stops for ice cream, (I only got the cone because ‘ice cream is bad for dogs’, you said,) and I took long naps in the sun waiting for you to come home at the end of the day. Gradually, you began spending more time at work and on your career, and more time searching for a human mate. I waited for you patiently, comforted you through heartbreaks and disappointments, never chided you about bad decisions, and romped with glee at your homecomings, and when you fell in love.

She, now your wife, is not a ‘dog person’ – still, I welcomed her into our home, tried to show her affection, and obeyed her. I was happy because you were happy. Then human babies came along and I shared your excitement.

I was fascinated by their pinkness, how they smelled, and I wanted to mother them, too. Only, she and you worried that I might hurt them, and I spent most of my time banished to another room, or to a dog crate.

Oh, how I wanted to love them, but I became a ‘prisoner of love’. As they began to grow, I became their friend. They clung to my fur and pulled themselves up on wobbly legs, poked fingers in my eyes, investigated my ears and gave me kisses on my nose. I loved everything about them and their touch – because your touch was now so infrequent – and I would’ve defended them with my life, if need be. I would sneak into their beds and listen to their worries and secret dreams, and together we waited for the sound of your car in the driveway. There had been a time, when others asked if you had a dog, that you produced a photo of me from your wallet and told them stories about me. These past few years, you just answered, ‘yes’ and changed the subject. I had gone from being ‘your dog’ to ‘just a dog’ and you resented every expenditure on my behalf.

Now, you have a new career opportunity in another city, and you and they will be moving to an apartment that does not allow pets. You’ve made the right decision for your ‘family’, but there was a time when I was your only family. I was excited about the car ride until we arrived at the animal shelter. It smelled of dogs and cats, of fear, of hopelessness. You filled out the paperwork and said, ‘I know you will find a good home for her’.

They shrugged and gave you a pained look. They understand the realities facing a middle-aged dog, even one with ‘papers’. You had to pry your son’s fingers loose from my collar as he screamed, ‘No, Daddy! Please don’t let them take my dog!’ And I worried for him, and what lessons you had just taught him about friendship and loyalty, about love and responsibility and about respect for all life.

You gave me a good-bye pat on the head, avoided my eyes and politely refused to take my collar and leash with you. You had a deadline to meet and now I have one, too. After you left, the two nice ladies said you probably knew about your upcoming move months ago and made no attempt to find me another good home. They shook their heads and asked, ‘How could you?’

They are as attentive to us in here at the shelter as their busy schedules allow. They feed us, of course, but I lost my appetite days ago. At first, whenever anyone passed my pen, I rushed to the front, hoping it was you that had changed your mind – that this was all a bad dream, or I hoped it would at least be someone who cared, anyone who might save me.

When I realized I could not compete with the frolicking for attention of happy puppies, oblivious to their own fate, I retreated to a far corner and waited. I heard her footsteps as she came for me at the end of the day, and I padded along the aisle after her into a separate room. A blissfully quiet room. She placed me on the table and rubbed my ears, and told me not to worry. My heart pounded in anticipation of what was to come, but there was also a sense of relief. The prisoner of love had run out of days.

As is my nature, I was more concerned about her. The burden which she bears weighs heavily on her, and I know that, the same way I knew your every mood.

She gently placed a tourniquet around my foreleg as a tear ran down her cheek. I licked her hand in the same way I used to comfort you so many years ago. She expertly slid the hypodermic needle into my vein. As I felt the sting and the cool liquid coursing through my body, I lay down sleepily, looked into her kind eyes and murmured, ‘How could you?’ Perhaps, because she understood my dogspeak, she said, ‘I’m so sorry’. She hugged me and hurriedly explained that it was her job to make sure I went to a better place, where I wouldn’t be ignored or abused or abandoned, or have to fend for myself – a place of love and light, so very different from this earthly place. And with my last bit of energy, I tried to convey to her, with a thump of my tail, that my ‘How could you?’ was not directed at her. It was directed at you, My Beloved Master, I was thinking of you. I will think of you and wait for you forever. May everyone in your life continue to show you so much loyalty.

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19 Jan 2010, 15:28
foreverglow
Post Count: 217
Oh my god. *runs off to cling to her dog.*
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21 Jan 2010, 02:17
Lauren.
Post Count: 885
HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME?!?

/bawls
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21 Jan 2010, 15:48
DivaAshley
Post Count: 242
Wow... crying at work is so not good. :'(
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22 Jan 2010, 18:35
Lovin'MyLittles
Post Count: 322
It is so very sad. I consider our dog family. We made other arrangements with family to keep him when our land lords said he was too big for this townhouse. We are moving now and I will not even begin to tell you how frustrating it is to find a nice rental home that allows dogs. We will not move without him. Such a sad thing. :(
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19 Jan 2010, 06:12
love♥nik
Post Count: 1010
....

*tear streams*

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19 Jan 2010, 12:19
& skull.
Post Count: 1701
i read this a long time ago. sad.
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19 Jan 2010, 13:39
oh!Boys
Post Count: 26
That made me cry. I wish more people would look at their animals as family-as a lifelong commitment.
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19 Jan 2010, 17:24
neverpretty
Post Count: 35
:( my dog is with me for life.
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19 Jan 2010, 17:31
[accepting.change]
Post Count: 74
Wow. That is so sad. I can't even begin to imagine doing something like that to Doobie. Weeks after we first got him and we realized that the owners had lied to us about his breed; I wasn't getting so attached to him. But soon after and especially after he was sick, I couldn't help but fall in love with him. And he won't ever have another owner.
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19 Jan 2010, 18:22
Oprah Noodlemantra
Post Count: 300
That's the way we are with our dogs. Three out of four of our animals (2 dogs 1 cat) are animals that we "rescued". Shadow (dog) was being given away by a girl sitting in front of Wal-Mart with a box full of puppies, so my friend brought him home. Her grandmother threatened to drown or shoot him the next day, so I took him in for the night, and he stayed. Missy, my mother's dog, was found wandering by the side of the road about 20 minutes out of town, in the middle of winter. She was only a few months old, and there are a lot of coyotes and such out here. My cat, Q, I got from the Humane Society. I can't ever imagine my animals having another owner, and we love them like they're family, because they are.
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19 Jan 2010, 21:12
[accepting.change]
Post Count: 74
Yeah, they are family. Doobie is so much like a freaking child that it's not even funny. He had to have been a human in his past life. L0L.
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20 Jan 2010, 10:23
Aubrey;
Post Count: 377
That makes me cry.
Why do people think that dogs and other pets are just for fun times... a toy you can get rid of when you don't want it?
You wouldn't do that to your children!
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20 Jan 2010, 11:26
xoxo♥
Post Count: 160
ugh everytime i read this i friggin bawl. damnit all. i love my fur kids. They will never leave me. Ever.
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21 Jan 2010, 02:21
American
Post Count: 221
They're just animals, in my opinion. If I had some interest in taking care of one, then I might feel as you all do. I had a small dog when I was younger (half miniature doberman pincher, half cockerspaniel) and I liked having it around, but when it came time to leave I didn't cry or try to give it an hour long going away speech or anything the like. Dogs are dogs, cats are cats. I don't place them up with children because they are not my children and could not ever be my children. I do not like to personoify them, either. It is my understanding that they are very basic, very primitive in their thought patterns, so such a story is merely exaggerating their intellect by comparing it to ours. Maybe I am wrong, but they love those who feed them, shleter them, etc. A child, however, learns to actually love you as a person, eventually, not just because you feed them and shelter them.

Of course, there is a mrgin of error, some room for ignorance, since I haven't owned or even been around a pet for more than the casual encounter at a friend of a friend's house or so since I was 10, which was over ten years ago. But that is my current stance and I haven't seen any new studies that could say otherwise...not that I've looked, either.
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21 Jan 2010, 17:09
Makayla
Post Count: 751
I agree with you on this. I have owned many dogs & loved everyone of them. But I don't EVER see how anyone can place them up there with children. Maybe it's me but it seems like the ones who refer to their animals as children are the ones without children, so really they don't know what they are talking about. And the ones with children that look at their pets as the same as their children, well I just don't understand you at all.
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21 Jan 2010, 18:22
& skull.
Post Count: 1701
i agree. my pets would never exist on the same level as a child would, but i still enjoy their antics and appreciate them.
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21 Jan 2010, 08:10
|stripes|
Post Count: 18
Oh my god I wish I didn't read this!
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22 Jan 2010, 12:59
.Blue Bella.
Post Count: 743
Once upon a time, I believed my animals were the most important things in the world.

And then I had a baby.

Whilst I still love my dogs and my cat, I love her more. They are still my 'babies', but her well-being and safety comes first.

Until you have been put in a position to judge why a parent might get rid of a pet, then you have no idea what it is like.

I recently had to give away 2 of my cats, because they posed a danger to my daughter. It was hard, and I remember my partner saying when I was pregnant... any problems and they go and I cried and said I couldn't ever do that to them, I took them on for life! The day I found my cat incredibly close to my daughters face, arching his back, hissing and ready to claw at her (and she was an infant and couldn't even roll so she posed NO threat to him), I made an instant decision that he had to go. It didn't make it easier, and I had to keep him locked away because I wanted to try and get him a home with people, rather than go to the shelter... but IF I HAD TO, he would have gone to the shelter. Because my daughter and her well-being is more important. Gypsy was given away because she wasn't afraid of her and would jump all over her, and would hurt her doing that (she wasn't being angry with her, just trying to play I spose, or not even thinking Lexi was there), and so she was also given to a good home (with a blooper!).

At the end of the day, when push comes to shove, you do what you have to do and you do what is right. See how you change your tune when your cat or dog poses a threat to you actual human child.

My dogs and remaining cat are my 'children' too. They are living and breathing and I feed them and clean up after them and hug them and love on them. They are my furbabies. But the second they turn on my child? Then they become someone elses babies.
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22 Jan 2010, 18:42
Lovin'MyLittles
Post Count: 322
I agree with you, Pandora. If an animal posed a direct threat to my child I would give them to a new home. I had to do this over the summer with a dog that we adopted from another family on a "trial" basis. The trial didn't go well and when I wanted to give him back, they didn't want to have anything to do with it. I gave him away to a different family. He nipped at my daughter (who is 8) far too many times and I just couldn't risk that, so we made sure we gave him away to a good family with no small children. I hear from them occasionally and hear he is doing well in his new home.

I do agree the story is a bit far fetched but in my personal opinion, I do believe dogs have more feelings than what we give them credit for. I agree that they are very primitive compared to Humans, but I still believe that people need to take better care of them and consider them in the future plans they make.

At least, if you HAVE to move and you CAN'T move and take your animals with you, the best thing is to start looking for a new family for them, and it's still hard. Some animals just do not adjust well.
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