The Best $86 Investment I’ve Ever Made
Having adopted dogs in the past, I’d already figured out that it was much more rewarding to be able to help save a life and share a home, than to pay hundreds of dollars for a dog with a special label in the perfect color.
Years ago, Chad just showed up at my front door, which meant he’d been “dumped” off the dirt road in the country which had no other homes on it for miles. He was a plain, black medium sized guy. After a few days of feeding him and keeping him outside, I couldn’t live with the guilt anymore, one night when it began to rain, so I let him inside.
I’d placed a blanket on the floor, next to the front door, and told him to stay there. The next morning I’d woken up, he was still there in his spot!
He was the perfect dog. Once we decided to build him a doghouse, he started getting in it before it was finished, as we were building it. He knew it was his house.
The thing about Chad, is that he was all about me. He did whatever I asked, looked me in the eye, longing to know what I was saying and wanted to please. (Gosh, it sounds like I am talking about a sappy man!) I learned from that point on, the impact kindness and compassion could make to an animal.
I believe a pet is a gift from God, period. They long to be a companion and friend.
Chad went on to an untimely death that made me cry uncontrollably for days. I decided to be happy about the good life he did have for a few years, and only to adopt my pets from that moment forward.
With that in mind, after a while I’d adopted a puppy, Dylan from the local pound.
The staff at the pound said a country man had just brought in his 3rd batch of puppies! IGNORANT! So in a cage, I see 9 black puppies running a muck. I decide to offset the ignorance, I would have to take one home.
I read books on how to pick the best puppy out of a litter, followed the guidelines, and chose Dylan.
He was a plain black half deutsch hound and who knows what. He grew into a fabulous house pet. My husband (of that era) was totally in love with Dylan, so I made the hard decision, to allow my husband to keep Dylan when we divorced years later. I knew Dylan would have a good home and it would free me up to give another pet a home.
Which brings me to about 10 years ago. I’d been visiting adoption centers for a few months, waiting for the perfect pet that moved my heart. Pets can be work, so you must choose wisely!
Then I saw her. Tiny, dark, shaking, scared of all the noise and the other dogs barking from their cages at the open adoption at Petco. I watched her eyes. She was smart, focusing on my eyes showed that she was trying to assess me. I held her in my arms, for 10 seconds and knew she was mine.
Jazzy Lee cost me $86. I’ve have her for ten years. She is smart, low maintenance, understands many words, is friendly to all and she has been there for me through rough times. She is the most important thing I own, and wish desperately to be able to tell her that!
When she has done something wrong in the past, such as accidentally get locked in my closet, get frustrated and chew up a sequined top…we have “conversations” in which she gets so embarrassed that she looks away.
Two weeks ago, while visiting Carmel, California…we had run into so many pet owners. They all introduced their pet as a “rescue.” The cutest one was “Wink” who only had one eye! One lady, Patty , in Half Moon Bay had a greyhound she’d adopted. These were all successful, enlightened people that were proud to tell about the pets they’d adopted.
If you are ever thinking of purchasing a pet, please go to a local shelter, just to see what they have. Maybe you could save a life. There is one in Houston that has rows and rows of full bred dogs, that people give up. A lot of people do not understand how to communicate with animals so they give up on them. I have found it’s usually the person.
Again this blog is about the things I love that inspire me, my Jazzy is one of those things. The joy she’s brought into my home is priceless…all from a skinny, scrappy little dog with no home.
One Jazzy ….price $86.oo Ten years of joy and companionship…priceless.
(coming next….”Bella…because Jazzy needs a friend)
-September 10, 2012
–SDS
