Homeless Animals

 Every weekday, I wake up at 5:00 to go to a shelter that houses homeless dogs and cats. I walk two dogs every morning, four on the rare occasion.

The animals are there for various reasons, mostly because they have been discarded by a human. Some were born without a home. Each one has a different story.

There are many animals that end up in a shelter like ours, but there are many more that end up in pounds that kill unclaimed animals. There are even more that live their brief lives on the brink of starvation, pregnant, injured, sick, and unloved. 

There is a mountain nearby where people go to dispose of unwanted animals. They take them there, dump them out of their cars, and drive away. The animals have to fend for themselves, but most eventually succumb to hunger, disease, or injury.

Our group goes there to try to rescue some of the animals. We take the ones we can catch, clean them up, get them medical attention, and work to find them permanent homes.

There are so  many stories, so many animals. Most of them find good homes. Some of them are not fit to be with humans. They are not mean, on the contrary, they are too afraid of people to ever want contact with humans. We take care of those dogs and cats through out their lives.

Many of the dogs recently have come to us from breeders, where they used the female dogs to make puppies to sell at pet shops. The females are tired out by ten years old. In the past, those dogs would just have been killed, but now they come to us. 

We don't need any more dogs or cats to be sold at pet shops. There are so many animals that want to have a forever home.

I don't own any of the dogs I walk, and I think that is a great relationship. They own themselves, and I help to give them the life they were denied at some point. My guess is that
they would like nothing better than to live in a home where they could give and get care and love.