Of all the things I’ve heard something always stuck with me. I heard it getting thrown around that you should be grateful with what you got, but with my past, it’s been so difficult.

It’s been said that you don’t remember anything when you’re first born but for me it’s the opposite. I remember pretty much everything that has happened to me because it was the worst experience I’ve ever had to go through. I had been living in my owner’s basement for about two months and I could already tell that my life was going to be harder than I ever expected and hoped for. There were about nine dogs including myself trapped in that small basement. All of us were being starved to almost the point of death. Our owner was always so preoccupied with his own life that we were never taken care of. He was barely home, but whenever he was it wasn’t for very long. He never gave us the time of day. I knew he couldn’t just permanently forget about me and the rest of the dogs because the house reeked. I don’t understand why he didn’t take care of us anymore, because at first when I was born I remember him always feeding me, petting me, playing with me, and bathing me, but times have drastically changed. It would be much easier if my mother was still alive but she died giving birth to me and my siblings. I don’t remember her very well, but I know she always comforted me when I needed it. It went from me being spoiled to me being completely ignored by my owner. Sometimes we all wondered if he just picked up and left us all behind. Other times there were weeks that passed by when we weren’t let out of our cages. We were all starving and tired of lying in our cages for so such a long time. We wanted to break loose, but we knew we couldn’t because he locked every single of one our cages. At this point I realized I was being neglected. I knew he didn’t care if I died right there and then. We got the idea he only cared about us when we were younger because we were the cutest things. Now that we got older he just shoves us aside and pretends we were never born.
One day I heard our owner’s foot steps coming down the stairs. He seemed in a decent mood compared to other days. We all got so excited to see him that we started barking and wagging our tails. He didn’t come downstairs for us, he came down to grab the things he needed and quickly ran back upstairs. Not after long we heard a door slam shut. That was the last I ever heard from him. I had no idea what was going on but I remember being terrified and aching for food. I was too weak to care or try to do something about it. I was getting so frustrated with being starved, not taken care of, or even looked at.

Sometimes during the nights I would wake up because the sound of my stomach growling so loud. This happened frequently. I started to bark and the rest of the dogs joined me. Weeks passed and I was getting more fragile then ever. I was losing all hope. Nothing seemed to be going right in my life. There was nothing to look forward to. Suddenly I heard a woman’s voice. My ears started to perk up and I somehow managed to lift myself up from lying down. The woman came towards me because I was the only one awake. I think she realized how upset I was so she took me out of my cage and held me in her arms for a while. It felt so good to be loved especially since I was as frail as I was. She told me that everything would be okay once I got out of here. More and more people began to come downstairs into the basement. People questioned how they got here and she just told them how neighbors were complaining about the noisy barking in the middle of the night. They looked at each the dogs and asked if they could have one. The woman made them sign papers and make sure they get the nutrients, shots, and everything they needed to survive. She told me not to worry how no one had asked to keep me for themselves because she set me aside from the rest of the dogs. She put a sign on my cage saying, “Not for Sale!” The woman had bigger plans for me then I would’ve pictured in all my life. Every day I would wish someone would come and save me when I was going through that tragic experience. I had finally gotten my wish. I know that you have to go through the bad in order for things to get better. And for me my future was starting to look brighter from here.

The woman took me to a place I never heard of. It’s called the North Shore Animal League. So far they’ve been taking great care of me and make sure I eat well. It’s harder for me to eat compared to the rest of the dogs there since I’ve been starved for so long. I only weigh 24 pounds when really I would weigh 50 to 60 pounds. My whole body is extremely thin and I haven’t grown very much because my growth has been stunted due to starvation.

All I really want now is to be happy, healthy, and safe. So far my stay at the north shore animal league had been going pretty well. I feel much safer then I ever had. I didn’t trust the man that was my owner. All of the people at North Shore tell the customers about me. They say my big brown puppy eyes tell a story that no one would want to hear. Who knows if he did ever did come back what he would do to me or the rest of the dogs if we were still trapped in that basement. It’s scary to think about but sometimes I try to picture what my life would be like if that woman never stepped a foot into that house. Now I don’t have to worry about being neglected or starved because I’m in good hands. It’s still hard for me to trust everyone but I believe they are only trying to help me back up on my paws again. I get excited when people pass by me. They never seem to ignore me, it feels amazing! I haven’t gotten this much attention in a while and I’m glad I’m receiving it now. It’s like they all say, “Better late than never.”
- Amanda Turano

This entry was posted on Friday, January 2nd, 2009 at 7:27 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.