Have A Heart

My family and I went to the local kill shelter yesterday after I saw a posting about a new litter of Husky/Shepard mix pups ( nine of them!) that were looking for homes. We have a Boxer and have been looking for another dog for about six months now that would fit well with our family. Instead of going the breeder route, which we have done with our last two dogs, we have decided that we wanted to adopt from a shelter to give a dog a chance at a great life.

So after seeing these adorable pups online, we all went down to the shelter to look at them. What a depressing place. A kill shelter reminds me of the trip that I took to the Dachau concentration camp in Germany. It just has this air of desperation and hopelessness to it. The animals can tell this is the last chance that they have, and act accordingly whenever someone comes through the doors doing everything they can to get noticed and taken away before it is too late.

We walked through the corridor to where they were all playing in a large round puppy play pen and, I must say, my heart just melted at the sight of all of these puppies! I wish that I had a few acres of land so that I could take them all home, keeping them all together as a family. It would be such a joy to see these beautiful, rambunctious little guys rolling around in the grass, chewing on sticks and each others' ears!

We narrowed our field of vision to a brown male who resembled a fox and was completely calm, compared to the other hyperactive jumpers and yappers. He just kind of looked at all of us quickly and then fixed his eyes on my two year old daughter and they fell in love. Oh no, what have I done? Am I really ready for another dog? Do I really want to have a puppy and all the work that comes with it? I don't think that I am over the loss of my Boxer, Hutch, yet. I'm not sure if I am ready to have another male take his place!

I want so badly to be able to take him home; knowing that I would be able to save at least one animal's life makes me feel like I am making a difference, no matter how small. But the feeling of apprehension remains and I just am not sure what I should do here.