Throughout my life, I’ve helped unwanted pets, mostly dogs. I still don’t understand why people get a puppy or dog and just pen or chain them up outside 24/7. What a miserable existence for such loving animals! Police and animal control do nothing. These dogs don’t get love, attention, socialization, walks, baths, haircuts, brushings, ears cleaned, nails clipped or vet care. They’re lucky if they get clean water in a clean bowl and good food. They live in a small pen or on 3 feet of chain. One pit bull I saw had a very heavy tow chain on his neck. People who force their dogs to exist this way have no heart. They only like the power they have over a helpless animal. Please educate people to be responsible and caring pet owners.
Susie Smith
Dear Susie,
Indeed, I am flattered you believe that I alone can actually do something about these deplorable conditions that you describe because I am just one small dog However, I believe that my tiny voice can make a difference when joined with voices like yours who have the courage to speak out against the mistreatment of animals.
Animals are not accessories to be abandoned when they go out of style. They have spirit and personality and the right to be treasured and treated well by their owners.
Reading your letter reminded me of a book named The Little Prince, written and illustrated by Antoine De Saint-Exupery. Many years ago, this book was translated from French so English speaking children could enjoy its words. My human reads passages to her grand daughter and I curl up by her feet and listen.
The little prince travels within the galaxy and visits planets. On one planet he meets a fox who explains to him what it means to be tamed. To be tamed, the fox explains, is to establish ties with something so that it becomes unique. “To me, you are nothing more than a little boy who is just like a hundred thousand other little boys. And I have no need of you. And you, on your part have no need of me. But if you tame me, then we shall need each other. To me you will be unique in the entire world. …If you tame me it will be as if the sun came to shine on my life. I shall know the sound of a step that will be different from all others. Yours will call me like music, out of my burrow,” said the fox. “One only understands the things that one tames and men have no more time to understand anything. They buy things all made up in the shops but they cannot buy friendship. Then the fox shared a secret with the prince. “What is essential is invisible to the eye; it is only with the heart that one can see rightly.”
Susie, people who are cruel to animals do not understand what the fox has said. Continue working for the animals and I shall too because we understand what it means to see rightly with our hearts.
Remember...Rescuing one pet won't change the world...but the world will change for that one pet.
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