Puppy Dog Tales

Master McNeill asked us of our emotions are closer to the surface since starting the UBBT. I had to answer yes, most definitely. I had been wondering what was wrong with me over the last several months- everything gets a response from me now. Little things like dumb commercials about an old man spilling his milk nearly makes me cry.

Larger things like driving home and seeing all the stray, unfed and uncared for dogs makes me so angry, every day. On multiple occasions I have stopped to pick up a particulairly bad looking dog, and have successfully found homes for them. I know one is named after me, bringing the total up to two dogs that bear my name. After watching a car stop, drop off three young pups on the side of a highway, then speeding off, I was torn between running the car down or stopping. I stopped for the dogs, and they all have homes. My fiancee says I care more about animals than most people. I wonder why. We had a box of day old puppies (seven of them) dropped off at my moms store several years ago. The mother had been shot, punishment for getting pregnant. The pups were not moving- we thought they might already be dead. I took them to the vet, and they told me there was no way they could be saved, and were going to euthinze them. I said no, and I took them home. My mom and I hand raised them, feeding them every three hours, day and night, from a bottle. Every one of them lived. The two we kept, Diesel and Harley, grew into two of the biggest suckiest monsters I've ever seen. My own dog, Chloe, was found as a starved puppy on the side of the road. I was to take care of her until we found her owners, and needless to say the owners did not want her. So, she's mine, and I'll never give her up. Happiest dog I've ever known, and most spoiled.

The UBBT has made me even more aware of these kind of issues, from poverty to crime to puppies without a home. I now carry a container of dog food in my car. I know I cannot save every dog, but I will absolutely help those I can.