What I Know For Sure!

Hello Friends,

It's been awhile since I've blogged, but as a canine of few words (I prefer to howl, truth-be-told), I only write when I have something to say. 

My human and I read with great sensitivity the story about in need of a home. It saddened me that in his golden years, Ben is homeless through no fault of his own. However, my human went onto explain that PAWS is a good place, that the volunteers there are very kind, and that Ben is one of the lucky senior dogs out there since he still has a chance of finding a real home. It was at that moment that I knew I had to get blogging on this very subject.

. And while I wasn't an older dog like Ben, I was an older puppy and a big one at that. I was already 55 pounds, shy, and not house-trained. Also, I was nervous around people and would often pee wherever I was standing (kind of disgusting now that I think about it!) to show submission. So even though I wasn't as old as Ben, I still had a few strikes against me.

Let's fast-forward to today so that I can make my point. This morning my human, my dog sibling Ilsa, and I were out for a long, glorious walk. There is a neighborhood family a few blocks away that got a new puppy a year ago. We often walk by their house and never see the puppy. However today, we finally saw the pup outside.

The former puppy is now a large, beautiful, 70 pound dog. The dog's human family had purchased him as an eight-week-old from a reputable breeder and at great monetary cost. At the time, the family insisted that they couldn't adopt since they wanted a puppy whose parents they could meet and whom they could raise on their own. At least that was their was rationale for going to a breeder instead of choosing adoption. 

Well, while their dog is indeed beautiful and great with them, he is also dog-aggressive. Ilsa and I couldn't even get near him. While his human told my human that they have been working with a trainer for months, things are still very difficult. They can't take him for leisurely walks because if he sees another dog, he goes into attack mode.

My point in blogging about this is that they purposely went to a breeder for a puppy, and spent alot of money thinking that this was somehow a guarantee of a great dog. However as it turned out, this hasn't been the case. So when I hear people say they will not adopt an older dog since they want to "know the dog and raise it their way" it gets me mad. Since with a puppy, you never know for sure what you are going to get. Meanwhile, with Ben or a dog over 4 or 5 years old,  you pretty much do know for sure.

So, I am writing this blog post in honor of Ben, and at my human's request, also in honor of Sampson. Sampson was my mentor and the dog whom was living with my human before I made the scene. My human had adopted Sampson off of death row. And why was he on death row? Because Sampson was a big boy, over five years old, and had been in three different homes prior to being dumped at the shelter.  And since he was in a kill-shelter and had been there for over two months, his name was next on the list for euthanasia.

Thankfully, my human couldn't let him die and so she intervened and adopted him to save his life. But because of his past, she assumed that he would have problems. Well, guess what? Sampson was just about as perfect as any dog could be. Good with the kitties, good with other dogs, good around food, house-trained, and very patient with a pain-in-the-butt big puppy like me.

My human always tells me how adopting Sampson was probably the smartest thing that she's ever done in her life. And that while maybe she saved him, his big heart and unconditional love saved her in return.

So, this blog is dedicated to Sampson, to his kindred spirit Ben, and to all the homeless older dogs out there just waiting for a chance to love you.

Your very good buddy,

Spanky