1983

Animals have always influenced my life. Their unconditional love has always inspired me to learn to love as they do. My first dog was named Doobie. Ha ha I know. Anyway, Doobie's story is not a kind one. His life was great, but the end of his life was horrible. In fact it was an unnecessary nightmare. I can't imagine the suffering he experienced. And still 26 years later I cannot think of it without generating nausea and tears. I will write more details at another time and in honor of him write about him from time to time in hopes that other animals will not suffer as he did. Basically he was taken into custody by animal control due to a freak isolated escape (wandering away). He was more or less tortured (unintentionally I suppose) at the Baltimore City Animal Shelter for 31 days until I discovered him. Oh I went there every other day and called daily. They had a photo of him hanging on their board. Yet he was in some quarantine section that they neglected to tell me about until my 16th visit. I was taken back to this section I was never shown to look through and there he was. It was over 100 degrees (and had been for several days) and he had lost about 25 lbs weighing around 30lbs (Typically he was 55-60). He was infested with tics and barely able to life his head. There was no water, no covering for these animals, and he hadn't eaten the entire time he was there (I fond out later). My mother could not recognize him though as he attempted to lift his wobbly head I knew it was him. He still had on the choker collar I had described and though he was about half his size and dirty he had four white paws. (couldn't be anymore distinct).
I became quite hysterical and screamed for an assitant to get him out of there and they ushered me inside. They came in a moment later and informed me he had died from a heart attack. Of course they also stated they would take care of the body. Yeah right...I said " Oh no you will not"
"You bring my gog to me immediately" And so I drove immediately to an animal hospital to have and autopsy performed. There are more details but the bottom line is it got ugly and I become devoted to help people who lose their animals as well as advocate for the vulnerable.
He was a fantastic dog and great friend. He greeted each of my four children with more love than most humans on the day they arrived home. My best friend and my mom were with me that day. We shed so many tears on that drive home, we hardly could speak, but were very happy to have him back. Though I had to go home and tell my children we would never be with him alive again due to the negligence of this system. Oh there was a lot of publicity and the shelter over there on the west side was closed down permanently. Thanks to all who helped me. We can change things if we work very hard to do so. So finally after all these years I love being able to pause and save a few paws if I can!