I'm a firm believe that when you save an animal from the pound, they know it.
There is probably a smell of death and desperation just lurking around every corner in those places. Each animal, just sitting in their "cell" waiting for their turn to leave, and not return.
We didn't really have a specific kind of dog that we were looking for. A good dog. A loyal dog. A nice looking dog. A happy and playful dog.
There were thirteen rooms, with about 12 caged mini "cells" each. We walked through each one. Nope, nope, not yet, not that one. I just knew that when we saw him, we'd know him. But on the final room - I really thought, "Is it really possible that our dog wouldn't be one of the last 144 dogs???"
About halfway through the room, passing prison after prison, we saw a dog laying on his side. The rest were all sitting up, barking, and curious. This one? He had given up. His fate was decided and there was nothing he could do about it. Boy oh boy, was he a good looking dog! I had never seen a dog quite that shade of auburn - and he had the cutest little fluff around his neck that curled into little ringlets. I looked over at the name on the kennel. JAKE.
"Jake?"
Nothing.
"Is that your name? Jake?"
A slight wag of the tail.
"Yeah! You know your name! It's Jake! Come here, Jake!"
He lifted his head, connected his gaze with mine, and it was lights out, folks. I was a goner. He was mine and I was his. I patted my leg, and he ran over, ready to love me with as much love as he was feeling already from me!
We didn't tell my husband - we knew he would be thrilled. He is an animal lover and I was the hold out. If I brought a dog home, he would be doing back flips. We went to pick him up from work, and he looked into the car smiling - "Hello family!" and then his eyes connected with our new family member. I'll never forget the way they looked at each other. It was like our little doggie knew ahhhh that's the last one of our clan huh? I approve!
He only remained Jake for about 60 seconds, before our middle son came up with his new name: Parker, which was short for Peter Parker, AKA Spiderman! 😋
There was never a better dog than you, Parker the wonder dog! You were the craziest, wildest, boldest, strongest, fastest, most mischievous, funniest, smartest dog in the whole wide sea.
You protected us at your own expense, so many times. You ran wild with the coyotes every night - when every other dog would cower (with good reason!) - you just didn't know you didn't belong! And so you partied every night and howled at the moon. Somehow, they must have thought you were just too crazy to bother - so you were ok to hang with their crew!
And fast? I've never seen a dog built for such speed!
And power??? My gosh, for a medium-sized dog, he was SO strong.
But he listened. He was SO smart. He knew exactly what to do - but then knew EXACTLY how to get around that too, and do it sneakily and innocently so he didn't get in trouble! hehehe
And when I was in danger, you barked, and growled and bared your teeth, and wouldn't relent until I was out of harm's way. Even when I didn't understand, and told you to hush - you knew better and protected me from danger just beyond where I could see. My protector!
Some people don't think that animals go to heaven, but I do. And I know that you are already there, at my beautiful little cottage on the grassy mountain overlooking the ocean. You'll be ready for races, and snuggles and as soon as you'll see me - it will be lights over, folks. We will reconnect in a moment, and I will be yours and you will be mine, forever and ever.
I love you always Parkie Poo.
for the #speekpeece crew ❤️all images are mine, and are used with Parker's permission 🤗
This post is indelibly and lovingly memorialized in the Hive Memorial Forest, a place of memories for the blockchain forever. Thank you 