Lessons from an Unwanted Dog

It’s been a long time since I’ve been to the pound.  Like most people, I avoid this place because I cannot handle looking at the faces of all of the unwanted dogs.

Last time, I was there was probably 15 years ago or so.  I remember the day clearly.  It was the day I bought my last dog; a black lab, I named, Buddy.

As I was walking the aisles of the shelter, dogs were whimpering; some were barking and some were just laying in their cages with that “I have given up” look on their faces.  It was truly heartbreaking.

Like any soon to be dog owner, I had a specific type of dog in mind:  I wanted a puppy.  It had to be cute.  And it was NOT going to be a small ankle biter dog.

Eventually, my search led me to Buddy; who ended up being the most unique best friend in my life for 9 years.  

Buddy and I instantly connected.  I knew the very second I placed my hand on his head that I was intended to be in his life.  That dog made certain I would not reject him.  When released from his cage to meet his possible new owner, he sat politely at my feet and licked my hand.  When I bent down to pet his soft head, he calmly stood up and jumped; staring at me with that “please take me home” look in his eyes.

He won me over.

On the ride home, he sat in the front seat next to me; just staring at me in awe as if I was his Savior.  Little did he know, that the relationship we would quickly form would evolve into him becoming my Savior.

For 9 years, Buddy was diligent in his job to be loyal and consistent in his affection for me.
I learned so much from that dog from the moment I saved him from the most certain cruelest of fate that becomes of all of the other unwanted animals in those shelters to that most agonizing moment when I carried him into the vet’s office to be administered that final needle to spare him the pain that cancer was ravishing on his frail body.

He was three months old when I bought him.   In a span of 9 years, he went from being an unwanted puppy into a dog that I would have given my life for.


A lot of us are struggling with a few things in our lives.   Sometimes, we feel like an unwanted dog sitting in a cage at the pound; just hoping someone will take a chance on us.  We are full of confidence but the cold reality, sometimes sets in… that not all of us get exactly what we want.

The beautiful part of life is when we meet the person we are intended to be with.  There’s a beauty in the equality of two people who simply care about the other.

No person ought to be our Savior or treated as such.  Our happiness can never be dependent on another human.  But it happens.

It happens because sometimes meeting that intended person is like filling in that last piece of a puzzle that took you years to solve.  There’s a sense of relief that we do have a purpose and we are indeed wanted. And there’s a sense of profound loss when that puzzle is knocked over and those pieces become displaced.

No one should ever feel unwanted.  Rejection is a bitter pill.

Lucky for us, rejection does not lead us into a dark room being laid on a cold sheet of metal with a needle being injected into our arms so we can be disposed of.

We should always fight to live.  We should stare down every single person who walks by us and chooses not to accept us.  We should bark like those unwanted dogs at the pound;  even whimper just so we are noticed.

And sometimes, we may lay in the corner of our cage with that “I have given up” look.

But at the end of the day, we should fight to be loved. 

Life is so fucking short.  We should not waste a single day without trying to complete this unsolved puzzle known as our lives.
  
When the day comes and our bodies are too weak to continue on, I hope we all exit this life with no regrets.

And those are the lessons I learned from the once "unwanted" dog I came to know and love, named Buddy.