04/12/2023
My name is Toby.
I lived in a house upstairs, on a terrace. Twice a day, my owner came to bring me my food. I was overjoyed to see him, although sometimes he had no patience with my jumps of joy and pushed me aside, but I still loved him very much.
It was like this for a few years, until he stopped coming around and I kept getting skinny, skinny.... When one day, suddenly, a girl came to pick me up. She was more affectionate. She showered me with hugs and kisses and told me she would take me to a place where there were several friends like me. I could run and play and would not be stuck on a terrace anymore.
Before that, though, I had to visit a vet. He said that I should be about 5 years old, and that it was a shame that I had been living, trapped in such a small place as the terrace, all alone.
I, then, went to this place with other animals. I gained weight and lived there happy and playing, but happier than that, was when a person visited the place. They looked and looked at all of us, but always took the puppies, the smaller ones, or the "breeds".
They held them on their laps, kissed them, hugged them, and adopted them. 😃
I was happy, though, and never lost hope that one day that would be me! After all, I always wanted to know how it would feel to be hugged, kissed and adopted by someone who loved me.
It was like this for a year, until they gave me a little house for myself.
It was a wooden house where I lived inside looking at things outside. In this little house, I would dream that someone visited the shelter, and saw me standing on my back legs, crawling on my belly, playing with a bone, but it seems nothing ever worked....
Vet visit day came again, and he said that I was 10 years old and, now, it would be harder. 🥺... My brown hair, was already white and I didn't run that much, didn't jump, but I still dreamed about my day, everyday. There was so much love overflowing from my heart, and I knew, surely, someone would see it.
More time had passed and, then, it was hard to hear when someone came to visit🥺. I would lift my head and see the person from afar, but I would lie down, waiting to see if she would visit my cage, but she didn't. 😔.... Dreaming, though, was still my virtue.
Everyday for 10 years was like this, and now, I am 15! People still chose puppies. It is easier to place babies.😔... My dream was gone.
At last, I felt someone hugging me and saying, "You will be loved very much, now, but not here. It will be in a purer place, where age, size, and breed are not impediments to love and loyalty."
At once, my legs were not so weak, and my physical strength returned. Instead of running, I gained wings to fly, and I flew! Behind, I left a little body, lifeless, and I was free. I had never stopped dreaming of the love of a human being and a family of my own, but no one ever chose me. I had been loved by the people at the shelter, though, for which my gratitude will be eternal. They did everything they could for me, until my last breath.
Have you read this far?
Are you moved ? When you visit a shelter, before you say your house is small, open your eyes to the cage where the animal lives, ask how old it is, ask how long it's been in a shelter....
You might be their last hope to find love!
Adopt, give priority to the one who spends the longest time in the shelter, as they are the most likely to leave without having had a family.. ”
(Credit: Adapted from Mario Rangel)
