Shooting the Breeze by Baxter

Hello to all my fans.

I know I am a few days late on the posting of my blog, but I have had a pretty sad week so far and was simply trying to gather my thoughts about what I was going to write this week. You see, sometimes this can be a sad place even though the humans try to make it as homey as possible. It isn't a home where we have a real family. We live in kennels for 24 hours a day. Most of the time, this doesn't bother us because we are taken care of very well, but this week it seems to be a little more sad than normal. You see, there are lots of us here. Some of us have been here for years and will always live here. Simply because a human discarded us like trash. They didn't think we were worth their time or effort and left us. Some were brought here. Some were rescued from other shelters. Some were picked up as strays or dumped at a vet's office somewhere. Some were adopted out and returned, not because they are bad, but because a human made a choice to not put forth the effort to make the adoption work. The point is humans sentenced us to living in a shelter. This is not by our choice.

We lost one of our own this week. He had lived here a long time and he was an old man. He died at 17. I have been told this is old for a dog but any time one of us leaves for the Rainbow Bridge, the kennel grows strangely quiet.

Care Bear was a grumpy old man sometimes. It was if he was the grandpa of the kennels and you had better respect him or he would let you know you were nothing but a young pup. Even me, and I am middle aged. He left here well-loved. He did not have a typical family, but he had a Mom and Dad who loved him, an large group of dogs who respected him, and an extended family of humans who cared for him over the years and made sure he got treats, a soft, comfortable bed and lots of love. So just know, we will all miss you Care Bear and will see you when we arrive at the Bridge.

We had one adoption this week. Jules got to go home and is doing well from what I understand. River, who was supposed to go home, had to wait a few more days because of those nasty things called heartworms. I am not sure exactly what they are, but I don't have them because I get my treatment once a month. I wish all the dogs got their medicine for this. It sure would save a lot of heartache for the dogs who are sick.

I also heard one of our old guests is returning. I am sad this is happening, but he was an old kennel mate of mine so it is good he is coming back here, and not dumped off somewhere they don't understand him.

Well, I will close for now. As a final word to one of the other dogs: Back off Flaps. I am the writer for Satchel's, not you. Shooting the Breeze by Flaps simply doesn't have the same pizazz as my title.

Love,

Baxter