The perfect love story starts with a dog. Seriously, I don't think anyone can love me as much as my dog does. I've been away for almost a year, and the moment I stepped my foot in my house, it was like I never even left.
Dogs can help us through so many tough times in life. Whenever I cry, my dog always ends up in my room and in my arms. It's like dogs just know.
Dogs have so many positive traits, yet not all of them have homes. As someone who has worked in a dog shelter for almost 200 hours, I have heard so many sad stories of owners dropping off their dogs for adoption. The excuses are always the same: "I didn't know he'd get so big" or "He doesn't fit in."
I saw underfed, abused and scared dogs. I worked with dogs that were so scared, you couldn't even get in the cage to feed them. I worked with dogs that ran away from home, whose owners never even cared to search for them.
One day, a dog came in. When I tried to pet him, he couldn't stop crying. He was so afraid that I would hurt him. He had no idea what love was. That broke my heart.
People don't realize that when these shelters get too full, they need to put down the dogs that have been there the longest. It doesn't matter if the dog has been in the shelter for 10 years or two months. If the shelter gets too full, what choice do they have?
Most shelters survive on donations and volunteers, and we all know this is minimal. So, they end up having no choice.
Innocent lives being taken away because your puppy isn't a puppy anymore. Innocent lives are being taken because you were too lazy to take care of your dog.
As humans, we are so selfish. I don't feel like you've ever felt true pain unless you've had to wash a dog who was about to be put down. That has happened to me.
I remember going home and crying because the creature I held and played with had no idea what was coming. That innocent soul I held in my arms wasn't going to be here anymore because he was too ill to save.
He suffered so much and he wasn't even two years old. He was so fragile and so skinny.
After that, I didn't want to return to the shelter because of what I saw. I was mad at the world. People just don't deserve dogs. We don't deserve lifelong friends, cuddle buddies or little creatures that love us unconditionally.
Abusers hurt their dogs and use them in dogfights. Yet, these dogs are still happy when they return; they are still loving, even though they've been hurt. They stay loyal, and this is so sad because there are people out there who just can't care for them.
If you can't take care of a dog, don't get one.
Dogs don't ask for much, and what they give in return is so much greater than anything we deserve.
I returned to the shelter about a week after. I knew the shelter needed volunteers to help out. And I was more determined than ever to save these dogs.
I started dressing them up in the cutest outfits I could find. I begged people and showed them the dogs I fell in love with. And some of them ended up in a forever home.
I took the dogs for walks, fed them and played with them. Each one has a different personality, but all of them have one goal: to get adopted.
I fell in love with so many dogs that when they were adopted I wanted to cry, not because I was sad, but because I knew they'd finally get the love that they deserved.
I have been in these shelters. And as someone who bought dogs from breeders, I have nothing against them. But before you do that, please consider adopting instead.
Give that dog that has been in a shelter for five years a chance. Give that dog that came out of an abused home a chance.
Give that dog a chance to be loved and cared for. Save a life and adopt.
