One puppy no parents; this is how I am described by people who walk past me. I felt sad and upset because no one even took a second look at me. I want to realize my hopes and dreams to finally find someone who won’t abandon me. I am going on a journey through my past, present, and future to reflect on my long journey to where I have come from and where I am now.

I was born in an alley with no one around; a puppy abandoned at birth. I was feeling hungry and started looking around for something to eat. I had no name, no family, and worst of all, no food. It seems I had to leave this alley and try to find my family, my friends, and a new home but I couldn’t because I could not walk yet. Just as I was trying to walk, some tall and scary man picked me up and put me in a cage. I was scared at first but realized that the man who put me in the cage wanted to take care of me so they gave me a home, if only for a little while. They said they would euthanize me so I got really scared and hope that wouldn’t have to happen because I really wanted to be in a loving home with loving people to take care of me. I would sometimes feel sad and think this was the end but I would also say to myself this can’t be the end I really wish someone would take me in their loving home. A few days later, the pet shelter said they were going to euthanize me but I got rescued by some people from the North Shore Animal League. I feel like this is a very loving home and already the doctors are looking at me and telling me that they save sick puppies who would normally be dead right now. They nurse them back to health so I can be adopted and put into a loving family that will continue to care for me for the rest of my life. I was so happy I was rescued; it shows that people care about sick puppies like me and it shows that they won’t abandon me like my parents did and there are a lot of good people who will give me a lot more attention then when I was on the street and in the pet shelter.
I am in the doctor’s office and for some reason they call me Bradley. I never had a name before but to me I felt like an individual. While I was in the doctor’s office they were giving me tests to test for illness and it seems they tell me I have a disease called Pneumonia. Pneumonia is a disease of the lung that is caused from inhaling bacteria and other bad organisms into your lungs.(www.medicinenet.com) The North Shore Animal League said I had a chronic case of pneumonia and said I would have to be monitored the rest of my life. This saddens me because I like to run around, feel energetic, and play around with my family but how could I do it if I had these terrible conditions? The answer to this was I would have to take an inhaler to help me breath and to be monitored my medical professionals for the rest of my life. The monitoring was to monitor my collapsed lung lope and to treat it so it would not become any worse then it already is. After the doctors said I was ready to be adopted, I was so happy and thankful that I was rescued from that awful pet shelter and able to live a normal life. The Animal League said they were going to screen my possible adopters to find the one best suited for my characteristics and personality. Just because dogs look the same doesn’t mean we have the same personality. This proved to be a long process but I pray and hope my new family would really like me and take care of me like I always dreamed. A loving family finally adopted me and I easily fit into it. I felt great for the first time in a while and I connected with all the members of my new family. For me, these are going to be the best days of my life.
I have gotten all that I could have wanted but I really would like to fix all the damage that I have suffered as a result of living on the street. I want to fix my collapsed lung lope which could hopefully done by a lung transplant and I have hope that the doctors can do it so I won’t have to be monitored as much anymore. If people can support me enough, then maybe the North Shore Animal League can do it which would be helpful to my family and friends so they don’t have to see me suffer while I run around and play. I also wish that there was a cure for Pneumonia so I could completely be cured of it and then maybe I won’t be wheezing or coughing a lot. In the future, I will thank the doctors by living my life to the fullest with my family and being a good, happy, and loving dog.
I feel I wouldn’t have gotten all the care I needed if it wasn’t for everyone in the North Shore Animal League so I greatly thank you all for your care and generosity. My family is wonderful and I couldn’t have asked for anything better. They always take care of me and give me all the love possible. I feel that my story will have an effect on dogs across America and this shows the suffering of the dogs that are left on the street. I ask that you continue to save us from the bad people that throw us away. From my journeys beginning to its end, it has been a long road to walk. This is a story of reflection to write down all that I have been through since I was abandoned on the street.
- Michael DiGiacomo

This entry was posted on Friday, January 2nd, 2009 at 7:28 am and is filed under Student's Corner. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.