My shelter story....

One year and seven months ago, life was looking very bleak for me. I was in this strange place in a little kennel surrounded by other dogs. None of them were very happy. Some said they were picked up off the street and locked up, others said they had cruel owners that yelled at them all the time. Some like me had had a good life with a nice family when one day, their people dropped them off and were never seen again. Christmas was getting near so lots of people were coming in and taking some of the dogs home. I was too depressed to really care although the smart ones made sure to look as cute and friendly as they possibly could. There was one happy go lucky guy who wagged his tale so hard, he ended up breaking it and then having to have it amputated. The sympathy he got from that sure got him into a new home quick.

One day a girl showed up in a red jacket. She walked slowly through making sure to give everyone a little love. Then she stopped when she got to me. I raised my head for a moment but expected her to move on. She wasn't my person and that was the only one I wanted to see. She disappeared but soon came back with one of the shelter workers. They took me in a small room and tossed the ball a few times for me. My heart wasn't into it but it felt good to get to move a little bit after being cramped in that kennel for so long. And then a moment later, back into it I went. Later on someone came and wrote "HOLD" on my info sheet. What does that mean I wondered.

The next day, the girl in the red coat came back for me. The car ride was nice but I was feeling so awful that I didn't care. My eye was very irritated and full of green discharge and I was developing a cough and breathing problems. My new person and the boy she lived with were very concerned. There were 2 other dogs in the home, Guinness and Stella and they filled me in that this was my new home and that it was a very nice place. There were always balls to play with and bones to gnaw on and the people loved each other and them very much.

The next day I went to the vet who checked my eye out first and got the big piece of plastic out of it and then she gave my new owners some medicine for the respiratory infection I had. I was slowly on the way to being a healthier but still broken hearted Border Collie.

Time eventually moved on and my old family started to fade from my memory. I adore my new family although Guinness left us last summer after becoming ill. I feel sorry for my boy as he really misses him which I can understand after spending 10 years with my first family. I have a huge yard to run around in now though, we go for lots of car rides and walks and that crazy Stella is always good for a laugh. Other than my cancer, which I will leave for another time, life is pretty good and I have a new job being a therapy dog.