Wednesday, May 11, 2011

I Love My Dog

You've heard me mention it many times on the weekend morning editions of Newswatch 16.  I go for a walk most mornings, a little beagle by my side.  She's a darling princess, spoiled beyond belief.

We take the same route most mornings, encountering friends along the way, like the retired gentleman who has two lovely young Brittany Spaniels romping through his yard.  There's another retired man who has a big, old dog named Bear.  Bear is usually on the front porch or in the back yard when we walk by.  He knows us and rarely barks.  I call them "the puppies."  Three poodles live in a house along our walk route.  My dog loves them and perks up when she hears their barks in the distance.  We frequently see another beagle, Maggie, being walked by her owner.  There's a new addition to that family-- a big bulldog.  Then, I always see an elderly woman walking a pug, Oliver.  We frequently stop to chat.  Our dogs came from the same shelter.  The last one on our walk circuit is a weiner dog, who spends a lot of time lounging in her fenced-in back yard.

We all have something in common.  We all care for our pets.  It makes stories like the one we reported Monday evening even more difficult to stomach.  Someone in Lycoming County is in trouble for abusing several beagles, a wonderful breed.

A good friend ran a shelter in Luzerne County for several years.  He suggested I sign on as a volunteer.  I couldn't do it because I feared the heartbreak of seeing all those animals without homes would be too much to endure, and I'd go home with a car full every evening.   My friend said the way to get through it is to concentrate on the good you can do, not what you can't do.

The abused beagles are now at a shelter, getting some medical attention.  Hopefully, they'll soon be well enough to be adopted out to good homes, something these animals apparently never had. 

The story is awful, but at least there are people out there trying to do some good.