Debbie Downer: Doggie Dumping

Someone dumped a dog again near where I work.  I get so angry with the cowardly assholes who leave their dog somewhere rather than surrendering it to an organization that could help.  When I first pulled into the parking lot I thought she was dead.  She wasn't dead, but she was neglected.  She had a bare, raw strip around her neck where a collar had rubbed when she was tied out.  She was lame with a sore on one foot.  She had recently had a litter of puppies.  In spite of this, when I stopped my car and talked to her she got up and wagged.  She had a hard time walking, but she hobbled over and smiled at me.  I lured her out of the traffic area with string cheese from my lunch.  She liked the cheese.   Then my coworker pulled up in his truck, and I realized I was crying.  It was embarrassing.

How could anyone throw this smile away?

It seems obvious that the dog had been dumped.  She was too lame to have escaped.  She could hardly walk, not to mention run away.  As soon as I stopped the cheese and petting she dragged herself back to the front of the parking lot where I had first spotted her.  I think she was going back to where she had last seen her people- where her people had thrown her away.  In spite of the neglect and abandonment she was still waiting expectantly for them to come back.

Someone had already called animal control when I got there, and they came to collect her.  The animal control officer was kind.  He lifted her gently into the pen even though it is standard to use a noose pole to keep the officer out of harms way.  Hopefully things will work out for her, but no matter what happens she is better off than she was loose near a highway.

I'll probably always be the kind of person who cries over abused and neglected dogs.  It sucks, but it beats the alternative.  I hope I never become desensitized to the suffering of others- humans or creatures.  I would rather hurt when others are in pain than feel nothing at all.