The Value of a Life

Some people just don't deserve to have the love of a dog.

Splash. A Portugese Water Dog. My personal favorite at the kennel. I spent time with him, played with him, and was getting ready to work on his obedience training because the owner had decided she didn't want him and was going to leave him at the kennel until a home was found for him.

I spent extra time in his kennel because he was nervous all the time. The owner said he was "aggressive" because he bit the son. No one at the kennel believed it. He was a sweetheart to the core, though you had to work a little for his attention sometimes. He loved me and I would have taken him home in an instant.

This morning I came in and he wasn't in his cage where I left him last night. Curiously, his bed and favorite bone were still in the food room. So I asked Jaime if maybe he found a home. I was hopeful.

I was crushed. They euthanized him because his owner decided she didn't want him and she didn't want to pay to kennel him anymore.

I bawled for a good hour before I became enraged. I swear if that woman comes back to the kennel I will deck her. If not more.

Animals. Are not. Disposable.

What makes me angrier is I couldn't save him. I couldn't even be there for him so he had someone there that loved him when he went. I feel like it's my fault because I didn't know in time to stop them. I would have taken him and fostered him. Screw maintenance I can pay them off to keep their traps shut for the few weeks I have left here. Any one of the kennel crew would have worked their asses off to find him a home had we known what the owner was going to do.

I hate people. I really, really do. I'm furious. And I feel guilty as hell. Though happy things happened today I can't seem to get them to cover the fact that a dog was killed much before his time.

People make me sick.