Every time I see Molly walking contently behind me, with her stiff little legs, I ask myself so many questions, so many questions that will probably never be answered but I am going to ask them anyway, even if I don’t know who you are.
And that is my first question: what kind of people are you? Rich, poor, hard working, unemployed, with or without children, alone or with company or doesn’t it really matter and it is normal in all layers of society to pick up your old little dog and dump her somewhere, of course not in your own town because they know you and they might bring her back or know who you are, but that you just take her somewhere and leave her to fend for herself? Victim to everybody and everything that might hurt her, cars, big aggressive dogs, mean people, anything? How do you go about doing that? Are you taking her for a walk, unleash her so she can sniff around, and then tiptoe away so she doesn’t hear the people most important to her leaving her? Do you watch her when you are sneaking out?
And that is my first question: what kind of people are you? Rich, poor, hard working, unemployed, with or without children, alone or with company or doesn’t it really matter and it is normal in all layers of society to pick up your old little dog and dump her somewhere, of course not in your own town because they know you and they might bring her back or know who you are, but that you just take her somewhere and leave her to fend for herself? Victim to everybody and everything that might hurt her, cars, big aggressive dogs, mean people, anything? How do you go about doing that? Are you taking her for a walk, unleash her so she can sniff around, and then tiptoe away so she doesn’t hear the people most important to her leaving her? Do you watch her when you are sneaking out?
Or, when you take her by car, do you just open the door and push her out, of course just outside town or close to a park, insensitive to the look she will be giving you, looking at you and not understanding what is happening, and not understanding why the distance between you is getting bigger and bigger. Did she also try to run after the car with her stiff little legs because she didn’t understand she could always come with you and now you’re leaving?
Whichever way you got rid of Molly, I keep asking myself what you did then? Did you just drive home and forget about her, or did you stop in a bar to celebrate the easy way you got rid of this problem? Or maybe you even went shopping and bragged about not having to buy dog food anymore?
You probably did not have any problems sleeping, not thinking for a minute about this poor little creature that was totally lost and desperately tried to find her way back to her safe home, that was shivering from cold, but mostly from fear, hunger and thirst and cannot find a warm place to lay down her old little body. Because old dogs sleep a lot and really that was all she wanted, a place to sleep, her own little place. But since you were such cowards to leave her like that, she only had the streets to sleep on because nobody wanted her and shooed her away, dirty as she was.
And dirty she was, her fur was tangled and matted, but it was not her fault, it was your responsibility as owners! She became the victim, go away little dog!
Do you know how painful it is for a dog to have such a matted fur? And how fleas and ticks love a fur like that to spend their life in? That alone is serious animal cruelty you are responsible for. You should have cared for her a lot better!
On that good day when she was brought to Scooby by someone with some feeling left, a volunteer relieved her of this nasty fur and gave her a good soft bath. Immediately she looked a lot better but you could see she felt terrible since she had lost all she had known, and that really hurts a dog. In case you did not realize that, now you know! For every dog it is very traumatic to have been deserted all of a sudden by the owners she would have done anything for! She never could have done the same.
But my most important question to you is really: WHY?? Why did Molly have to leave at all? She is so sweet, affectionate and grateful for anything, never too demanding or barking too much. I just cannot find anything wrong with her. She just likes to be close to the ones she trusts and cares about. Did she have to leave just because she was a bit old? So what? I hope she will become a lot older but that is no reason to kick her out in the street. They are so touching and dependant on their owners, you really do not have any feeling or emotion when you are capable of kicking a small one (or a big one!) out on the street like that. You knew from the beginning they could get to be 15 years old and that you would be responsible for them until their last breath. And once you’ve taken up this responsibility, you should keep it until the last day.
Or did Molly have to leave because she had tumours on her nipples as our vet Enrique discovered? So she needed medical care and instead of taking her to a vet, as thanks for her years of loyalty you just kicked her out in the streets where only a painful fate awaited her?
How could you do that? Believe me, little Molly has more feeling in her paw than you in your whole being!
If you cannot take care of your animal due to unforeseen circumstances, there are more humane solutions than just dumping her, and you must know that as well.
In the meantime Enrique has removed her tumours and sterilized her as well, she had a rough couple of days but she is recovering very well. And I think, I hope, she is becoming a happy dog again. She follows me around all day on her stiff legs, and gets along very well with the other dogs, especially with the little puppy Flor (they are playing together all day) and she even likes the cat, but she is certainly no pushover and all of them respect her.
Because you know, when I found out they had picked up this little old dog wandering the streets of Medina del Campo , and I saw her feeling so lost in paddock 7.1 at Scooby, I felt so sorry for her I decided to take her in, and made her the promise she would never again have to feel so alone again. So if she wanted, she could stay with us and I think she wants to.
As for you, former owners, you are not the only ones who have this tradition of abandoning your pets. Research has shown that on average in Spain every 3 minutes an animal is being abandoned. Just take a look in Scooby, what we have coming in there. Old German shepherds with grey faces, old hunting dogs, galgos of sometimes 10 years old, and many other old dogs and doggies who have a small chance of being adopted but who can bring so much joy to a household and yet deserve to spend their golden years in a good home. Precisely these oldies who have experienced the same thing as Molly did.
To all these unscrupulous people I just want to say that I hope they have raised their kids with the same values, of not having to care for the elderly when they grow older and needy, that you can just abandon them. That would mean you are destined for a very bad and lonely old age, and I must say: you have deserved every minute of it.
So you yourself can experience how it feels and what you have done to Molly and all the other dogs.
Wishing you a very bad old age..
Cobie
