A Life in Snapshots

2005

Oh boy, oh boy here come more people! Maybe one will like me! I thought wagging my tail quickly.

“Mommy, what about that one! Oh, or that one! No, I want this one!” A little boy stopped in front of me. I looked at him and wagged my tail more.

“Are you sure, Alex? Ok, ma’am we want to adopt this one.” The big woman looked down at me with hope, as she unlocked the cage for them.

They attached a leash to the collar I wore and led me outside to a big metal thing, and they climbed in. They had me get in the back and off we went. The metal thing made a loud noise and traveled long distances fast. Upon reaching the destination, they opened the door and let me out.

Oh boy, oh boy what are we doing now? Huh mom? They laughed at my antics and let me inside. I ran around the house in delight, how exciting! I get a home!

“I hope you like him, Alex, he’s your responsibility now,” the lady said as she walked away.

A few days passed and I thought that they were great! We played and had fun and played some more. But the lady did not seem happy, always making comments on how much energy I had. She smelled like sadness and saltwater. Why would she smell like saltwater?

Momma are you ok? I rested my head on her lap.

“No, boy down. I have no time for you, and Alex isn’t here.”

The night passed and we got into the big metal thing again.

Oh boy! Where we going momma? I tilted my head at her from the back.

Looking around I realized that this was the place I used to go on walks at. Were we going for a walk! She clipped the leash on my collar and lead me inside. Exchanging a few words with the big nice lady, she handed the lead over and left.

Where you going momma? I whined. She glanced back and shook her head, continuing to walk out.

The next few days passed, and Momma hadn’t come back. My tail and head got heavy and I howled, she wasn’t coming back, was she? I laid on the cold bed and whined, thinking of the first few days, those happy, happy days.

A week passed and nobody stopped to look at me, they all wanted the others, but not me. The big nice lady was looking at me sadder each day. Why was she looking at me like that? The man who smelled of death was working that night; he took Lily through the door, the door that only he comes back from. I was scared of that door.

Another week passed and the big lady smelled of saltwater, no she can’t smell like that, it means that something bad is gonna happen!

Nice lady, don’t be sad! I barked at her.

“I hope you get adopted soon, big guy,” she looked down at me with tearful eyes.

Later that week, a tall man came in asking to adopt a dog, and when he came to pick one out, he chose me! I wagged my tail so hard that my butt wiggled too.

“Come on boy let’s go home,” he told me.

His metal travel thing was even bigger than the last one. Upon arriving to his home, he led me around and played with a toy with me. I heard another big metal thing approach; he opened the door and I rushed outside barking. The woman getting out of the car screamed and then started yelling at the man.

“What is this? Why did you get a dog? Why this type of dog!”

“Love, please he’s super sweet and he was in danger of being put down.”

“No. take him back, I do not care, he is a German Shepard and he will not live under my roof.” She smelled upset, I whined, looking over at the man. He sighed, went in and came back out with the leash. I knew what that meant, so I ran. Chasing me around he finally got the leash clipped on to my collar and got me into the big metal thing. Off we went, back to the cold place. While he talked to the big sad lady, I stared hard up at him, hoping that the stare would convince him to take me back. It did not work, he bent down and said goodbye, handed the leash to the sad lady and left. I howled as he walked away and as the lady led me into my cage. She sighed and petted my head until I calmed down to just whimpering. She looked at me and told me not to worry there is a family out there for me, with that she left for the night.

I was still sad the next day and was not as excited as I normally was when people came in to see us. A little blonde girl was making her way around looking at all of the others, but she stopped in front of me. I looked up hopeful. Hopeful that she would pick me. That she would choose me over all the others. She did.

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My new home is great! Momma walks me in the mornings, Papa plays with me when he gets home. My new sis loves petting me and playing with me, even though I am pretty big.

It sucks that her friends are scared of me. The darker girl shrieks whenever I run over to her. I just want to smell her; she smells new and interesting. The other girl smells weird, like others and the enemies. Momma won’t let me chase the enemies on our walks; she yells at me and yanks my collar. Her commands make no sense, why would I want to heel? It just makes no sense. Oh, and bigger sister smells like a smaller brother. I wonder where he is? The wooded area smells just like him.

I wish I could go past the door down the stairs, it smells like a new friend is down there, but everyone yells at me to get away from the door down there.

            ------

            Why is my family gone? They put me in the cage and locked it. Why’d they leave me! They are coming back right? Are they ok? What do I do? What do I do? What do I do? I whined. Maybe if I ram myself against the sides of the cage, I can break it. Backing up as much as possible I rammed into the sides of the cages rocking the whole thing. Slamming into the side again I knocked the whole thing over. The bottom of the cage shifted. What if I thought. I rammed into the top to flip it over. Once the top of the cage was on the floor, I scratched at the flooring until it fell down enough for me to try and squeeze my nose through. Finding that to not work, tried to stick my paw out the bottom and found that worked. Nudging the bottom lock over, I stuck my nose through the bottom gap. Pushing as much as I could I got my head through the gap that I was slowly creating, once my head was free, I just pulled my body through. Freedom!

            Upon getting out, I dashed throughout the house, trying to find anyone. When I could not find them, I did the run through again, in the process knocking a few things off the counter.

Oh food! Yummy, I thought when I discovered the opened containers on the ground, Ok, now back to the search for peoples. Maybe if I keep running to and from the window that will help. Continuing the running between the garage door and the front door window for an hour before it worked. Momma’s small white metal thing pulled into the driveway and I saw sis climb out of the back to stare at the window where I was.

“Mom? Didn’t we leave Thunder in his cage?”

“What? Oh no, how’d he get out?”

I am a smart boy; will you give me treats for being a good boy? I looked up at them as they entered the house.

“Oh my god, Thunder! What did you do? Oh, my goodness, he ate the leftover watermelon.”

“How did you do this much damage? We weren’t at Great-Grandma’s for that long! You destroyed your cage door! How puppy? How!”

They were not happy that I did that, but now I can’t get locked in my cage anymore!

2008

            Sis’s friend is over, and they aren’t paying any attention to me, I need them to pay attention to me. Something smells weird past the door down the stairs. It smells like the bunny is in pain. It’s a good thing doors don’t stop me anymore! Friend here I come to help! I thought as I nosed the door open.

            Rushing in, I noticed her trying to chew something on her body in her cage. I rushed over and nosed the gate down, startling her in the process. She tried to hop away from me, but just limped over and then stopped. It was like she had no energy. Something was really wrong. Her white fur was covered in something dark.

            I picked her up in my mouth and carried her away from the corner, somewhere warmer and started to lick her clean. Hopefully sis would notice something was wrong soon. Footsteps sounded from where sis’s room was, maybe she is coming downstairs! I got up to greet her and try to get her over to the bunny. When she noticed I was in the room down the stairs she got nervous and hurried down. Maybe she smelled the bad thing too! When she reached the door, she noticed the gate down she scolded me.

            “Thunder! You shouldn’t be down here, what did you do? Buddy’s cage is open, she could be anywhere down here!”

            “Anya, calm down, I’m sure she’s here somewhere,” sister’s friend said. With that they both started frantically looking and found my friend! They could save her from the death smell! Sister started freaking out and ran up-stairs, yelling for Momma and Papa.

            “I don’t know, she’s wet and she wasn’t moving. Thunder must have done something to her because she wasn’t in her cage and didn’t try to run away when Justina picked her up. Dad, what’s wrong with Buddy?” Sister smelled like saltwater. No don’t smell like that, something bad always happens with the saltwater smell! I whined, nosing at sis.

            “Bad Dog! You know you aren’t allowed down here!” She scolded again.

            “Anya, honey, I don’t think Thunder did anything bad to her. I think she’s dying,” Papa said looking over the bunny. “I’ll take her to the vet to figure it out.”

            Sis looked really sad, but agreed, salt rolled down her face as she apologized to me. I tried to lick the saltwater off her face as she sat down on the ground. I comforted her all through the rest of the evening, waiting for Papa to get back home.

2009

            Papa built something in the backyard for me to play in. It runs along the side of the house and it's got rocks lining the ground, plus metal fencing in front of it. He built it just for me! To keep me safe and cool during the day. But I don’t want to stay in it, it's lonely and I can’t run off my fears that they won’t come back. The metal fence has holes not big enough to squeeze through them, but my feet can fit in them. I wonder if I find a way to wedge myself and work my way out of here! It took me a few minutes to figure out that if I wedged myself between the house and fence, I could slip my feet into the fence and climb out. Just in time for them to get back home and let me in the house!

2010

            Where we going, Momma? I asked as she opened the back of the car for me to get into. Hopping in, I looked over the seat to where sis was sitting behind Papa, oh what you reading sis? My tail thumped against the side of the car and sis laughed as I panted with my tongue hanging out.

            “Ugh, your breath smells foul, puppy,” she told me as I turned my head to her. She smiled at me and reached over to pet my head as we drove to wherever we were going.

            Upon reaching the destination, I got super excited! It's Grandpa and Grandma’s house! They have another dog there and she is super fun to play with! Momma and Papa got out everything I would need for a long stay and I suddenly realized this was not going to be a fun stay. They are leaving me! No! Grandma had to hold my collar as my family drove away and I got worried.

            A week and a half passed, and they still weren’t back, where were they? Being Grandpa and Grandma’s backyard was fun, but it was not home. The door was easily moved by my nose and out I squeezed! I ran out and down the street until a man called out to me.

            “Hey buddy, what are you doing out here? Where are your owners?” He asked as he looked at my collar. He led me inside his garage until someone came looking for me. An hour passed and Grandpa came down the street looking for me and saw me. Calling me over we went back to his house, and the next day Momma and Papa came back!

November 3, 2014

            I am getting really tired; my legs are starting to hurt me. I know I’m getting older, but I couldn’t really feel it until now. Papa and Momma noticed my slothishness and looked down at me sadly. They knew that I would be leaving them soon. Sis was still optimistic, hoping that I would last a bit longer, but I know I won’t.

November 4, 2014

             The morning came and I couldn’t get the strength to my legs to get up. Sometime in the night I had peed myself, so my bed was wet. Papa came out of his room and looked down at me.

            “Hey puppy, you know you are a good boy, right? You know we all love you so much.”

            When the rest of the house woke up, they knew. Momma looked down at me and bent down. Telling me that she loved me and that she would miss me so much, she couldn’t be there for me when I fade, but she will be with me in spirit. Sis looked at me and almost started crying, she bent down and gave me a kiss on my head, conveying all she could in that one kiss. They all left for the day, I expected to be here alone for the entire day, but then Papa came in the door.

            “Hey bud, wanna go for a ride?”

            My tail starts wagging as much as it could, and he picks me up. Carrying me out to the car, he puts me in the front seat. Sitting in the back is sis. She looks so happy to see me and pets my head as we start driving; we make a quick stop to drop Anya off at her school, then off we go.

Papa drove us for a while allowing me to see the scenery as we drive; I look upon the high mountains and keep myself propped up around the winding roads. At some point Papa turns the car around and we head back. We get to my oldest home and Papa goes in; he comes back out in a few minutes to carry me in. He carries me through the shelter and sets me on a cold raised table. A man comes in and connects things to me. I start feeling really tired, but Papa is here smiling at me and rubbing my tummy.