He can’t believe it happened. Not to a dog like him.
He’s old. Been on the earth for a little more than 10 years. And they weren’t the best years, either.
His back leg is messed up. Has been for a while. The home he had when he was a puppy had a particularly aggressive 5-year-old child and the adults let the child do, quite literally, anything and never corrected any mean behavior.
One afternoon, the child used a bat. On his hind leg. He hadn’t been able to put any pressure on it for weeks, but no one noticed.
He tried so hard to stay away from the people; eventually, they got sick of having him around and gave him to a family member.
While he didn’t have to worry about any kind of violence in this house, the food was pretty scarce.
When the man remembered to feed him it wasn’t a really good food and his stomach was upset pretty much all the time.
By the time that man had passed away, he was pretty thin. He remembers licking an itchy spot on his chest and his tongue bumped over his ribs.
The next door neighbors took him in after that, but he wasn’t really “in.”
They kept him in a pen outside and rarely ever even talked to him. Luckily, he got a bowl of food every night, but no one ever touched him or said anything to him.
He’s still not sure why they continued to feed him – it seemed like he meant nothing to them.
The day someone from the shelter came to get him, he figured this was it.
He was almost 10 years old at the time and couldn’t really remember what human touch felt like – not a kind one anyway.
The person talked really softly and reached a hand out for him to sniff, and he hoped with everything in him that she wasn’t going to hit him – he may have even flinched a little when she slowly rubbed her hand along his jaw.
He shivered because the kindness and attention felt so good.
Throwing caution to the wind, he crawled into her lap and she sighed, “Oh, sweetheart.”
After getting set up in his kennel at the shelter, he got yummy food every day and medication for his problems and surgery – even at his age – and they put him in the adoption kennels.
Secretly, he thought it had to be some kind of joke. He wasn’t cute like the puppies. He was a mixed breed dog with a limp and unattractive fur and scars. No one would want him.
He was just so glad he had a warm place to sleep and people that loved him, he didn’t even care.
When his mom came to adopt him, he actually thought he was asleep and dreaming.
By the time he got home with her, he had a warm bed and snuggles every morning and night and food and water and all the love he could ever ask for.
Some days he can’t believe his life is real.
On the nights when he sits with her on the couch in front of the TV and she slowly strokes his jaw, he gets scared he’s going to wake up in a kennel.
Somehow she seems to sense his worry, and that’s usually when she kisses his head and says out loud, “I love you so much and will never let you down.”
He inhales and sighs and feels his heart beat with warmth for the first time in his life.
And he knows he’s home.
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Jennifer Vanderau is the public relations coordinator for the Cumberland Valley Animal Shelter and can be reached at [email protected]. The shelter accepts both monetary and pet supply donations. For more information, call the shelter at 717-263-5791 or visit the website www.cvas-pets.org. CVAS also operates a thrift store in Chambersburg. Help support the animals at the shelter by donating to or shopping at the store.
