Love, Your Little Dog

Author: Catherine Howell
Word Count: 691
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Love, Your Little Dog

Love, Your Little Dog belongs to the following groups:

Mans Best Friend's (Dogs only) and Rescued Pets

Oh boy!! My mom is taking me for a ride today!!
I wonder… will we go to the park or maybe to the store to get a toy?
I am so happy.
As I jump in the back seat my mom looks sad and I snuggle close to her
because I love her and my job is to protect her and comfort her.
I love my mom.
My window is partially down and I smell so many exciting things.
People laugh as they see me with my tongue hanging out,
Slobbering in the wind.
I love spring!
We are driving farther today than usual.
I think we might have passed the dog toy store.
What is this bumpy road that we are on and where are we?
My mom is tense and crying and I am not quite sure what is wrong with her.
I am on guard because my instincts tell me that she needs me.
She stops the car and lets me out to potty.
As I smell the flowers in the ditch I hear our car door shut.
I look up to see our car driving away.
She must have forgotten me! I run after her, but our car is going way too fast
And I cannot catch her!
I am alone.
I return to the ditch and wait…
Night is falling and I am hungry.
I am afraid to leave and look for something to eat because I might miss my mom when she returns for me.
I hear a car!
I run to the place where she left me and I look, but it is not her.
A stranger throws a can out of the window and yells at me.
I run farther back into the weeds!
I am scared.
Across the street there are dogs barking and I smell food.
I cross the road and sit by the fence, but the man at the house throws rocks at me
So, I run back to the ditch to wait for my mom.
I wonder what I did to her.
Am I in trouble?
I always barked when strangers drove up.
I played gently with the children.
I did not beg at the dinner table.
I am so lonely…
Surely my mom will come for me.
I miss my pack, my family.
To complicate matters, I have stomach cramps. Maybe if I find food
I will feel better.
My sides are aching so bad and I feel tremendous pain.
I find a spot under some reeds beside the railroad tracks
And all of a sudden something is leaving my body
And I cannot control it!
I turn towards the pressure and there is a wriggling, wet image of myself
Straining to make its way into the world.
I lay in the nest I made, all night, puppy after puppy
Entering the world.
I must protect my new family, but now I am practically starving.
It has been four days since my mom left me here
And I have a family to feed.
I am hungry.
A lady in a white truck stopped and tried to speak to me,
But I do not know her.
Will she also throw rocks at me?
I just do not know if I can trust her.
I think it was her that left some food in the ditch,
Though, I am not sure.
My end is unknown to me.
I will wait right here, where my mom left me.
I will remain faithful.
She surely will come looking for me.
I know she just forgot me.
It is getting harder to feed my family.
I hope my mom comes soon, to help us.
Even though this is a foreign place I have to wait here, for my mom.

I love you, mom,

Love,

your little dog.

“I wrote this because I am distraught over all of the dogs that are dumped out here, in the country, where I live. I cannot rescue them all! The last one we took in had nine puppies and we have 5 left to give away. We had the mom spayed and she also needs a home.”

Mark Chapman

Great writing, well done.
Catherine Howell replied

Hi Mark,

Thank you very much for reading this poem and for commenting.

Have a wonderful day,

catherine
Lauren Huggan

This actually brought tears to my eyes. So touching, it’s awful the way animals get treated.
Catherine Howell replied

Hi Lauren,
Thanks so much for reading this. This subject is very close to my heart. I see it all of the time. Few are willing to help. I live in a rural area where dogs are left on the side of the road all of the time. I simply cannot take more than I have at this time so I find myself leaving food on the side of the road whenever I can. We do not eveb have a shelter in the county where I live, nor animal control. I have called the sherriff before and they tell me to go and shoot the dogs. I cannot shoot a dog. The only way I would ever shoot a dog is if it came into my yard and attacked my dogs or horses and then it would still be hard. The situation out here is pretty bad sometimes. It breaks my heart:(((

Take care, Lauren,

catherine
AnitaInverarity

Heartbreaking Catherine, so powerfully written- I have tears. I hope you find good homes for the doggies you have rescued and this spurs people to think about adopting, fostering, helping in any way. I’m a cat girl but I used to foster and rehome “fighting” dogs, who had been dumped after no longer serving their “purpose”. Staffies and Pitbulls make the most wonderful companions, so loyal and gentle if they have not suffered to much psychological damage, I still support the local rescue group, although I cant foster now with my kitties.
Its so sad we can only scratch the surface.
Catherine Howell replied

Thank you very much for reading this, Anita. It is sad that we can only scratch the surface, but we do what we can, and it does make a difference. We have a lot of the fighting dogs around here. I wish people could put themselves in the place of the dogs for once, let alone the poor animals that they use for bait. Take care:)))
liljo

Dear Catherine…my little dog is from the shelter… had been dumped when the novelty wore off… I imagine… as you have expressed so beautifully in your poem…
Yet he is such a happy fellow, optimistic, friendly … loyal companion, he lifts me…
Without animals, without living things about me… I am not human,
all symbiotic… I wish more people felt this way…
Catherine Howell replied

Dear Jo, Thank you so much for reading what was on my heart…

Your little dog is so very Blessed to have found you:)

Thanks so much for your thoughtful comments regarding this poem.

catherine
Alexandra Felgate

Catherine, that is a very very moving poem, it certainly brought me to tears. I wish I could do more for our furry friends who are treated so incredibly badly. The one and only charity I support is the RSPCA, but I don’t have a lot I can give them. You are an amzing soul to do what you do for these dogs, bless you xxx
Catherine Howell replied

Hi Alexandra, Thank you so much for reading this poem and for understanding! it is very frustrating that it still happens! We also do not have a lot as we have so many animals. I would truly love to find homes or several, but economic times are not great for a lot of people. Until then, we will just keep on keeping on and hope some step up to the plate.

Thanks so much, Alexandra:)))

catherine
Catherine Howell

I meant “for several” :)))
Enivea

Oh, this has reduced tough ol’ me to tears! Thanks for being their voice.
Catherine Howell replied

I truly appreciate you reading my poem “their poem.” Thank you:)

Kind Regards,

catherine
Diane Swarts

I am bawling now, very touching. Why do people do that to animals? I just dont get it.
Catherine Howell replied

Hi Diane! I don’t know and I never will. Thank you so much for reading my take on this painful subject:)))

best wishes,

catherine
Catherine Howell

Thank you SO much for featuring this writing in “Man’s Best Friend) Dogs Only!!!!

I really appreciate it:)

catherine
copperhead

Always sad when this happens. It pains me even when I read about “found in the night drop” at the pound that someone would just dump their dog in the cage outside the pound seems the epitomy of heartless…but the ones left to fend for themselves by the road always make me the angriest at the humans. Well written piece!
Catherine Howell replied

Thank you very much, copperhead…

there are so many around here! It is so very sad.

thank you so much for reading this. I truly appreciate it.

best wishes,

catherine
joannadehart

This piece touched me so deeply I could not comment on it. I am crying again just thinking about it. I have found dogs by the side of the road or on city sidewalks and taken them home. I went to our local shelter and saw a pile of dead animals behind the building so I will nor take any animals there. I will find them homes or keep them. God bless you for your work.
Catherine Howell replied

Thank you, Joanna!!! I realize that the animal shelter cannot save them all, but it is a very sad, horrifying thing to understand that so many get put down.

I wish people would just spay and neuter!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I wish people would be responsible for their own animals!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

God Bless you also, for taking in helpless animals and trying to help them:)

catherine
joannadehart

I wish all pet stores would have a copy of this in their windows, maybe people would stop and think before they buy a (so called ) pet. They become a part of your family. They are not just buying a pair of shoes that can be discarded when they tire of them. The animals have feelings too.