The Emotional Side

When I decided to do my Essay on animal shelters, I was a little skeptical. There’s something about animals without homes that is very hard for me to cope with. I’ve been around animals all of my life. I grew up with Clydesdale horses, my pony, cows, dogs, cats, guinea pigs, you name it. When I was a child I even wanted to be an elephant foot doctor. This was until I realized that there was no such thing. I also grew up with parents that rescued every animal in sight. Both of my parents are animal lovers, but my dad is especially. He’s even gone as far as to take the neighbor barn cats and have them all fixed. As you can see, I grew up having nothing but love and understanding for all animals. I even have trouble with deer hunting (although I realize it needs to be done, I don’t want to be the one to do it), To see any animal sad, in pain, or dead is extremely hard for me. I guess where I’m going with this is to one simple story. Today we were photographing and there were two dogs sharing a kennel. I knew immediately when I saw them that they weren’t at all happy. John Thornton went on to explain that they belonged to an old women who couldn’t take care of herself. She ended up in a nursing home where she couldn’t have her dogs, and gave them to John. As a dog owner, I realize the attachment of a dog owner and their dog. You love and treat them as a part of your family and they love and treat you the same. So for these dogs to have all the love in the world, and then go to a shelter with 288 other dogs, is depressing for them.
That’s just one story. I’m not saying that they were the only dogs I felt sorry for. All of these dogs have their own story, whether their owners were killed in Katrina, or they weren‘t potty trained so their owner took them to a shelter. They have a story and they deserve a home regardless of their background.