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A LESSON OF LOVE by Laura Adams Chapter One I woke up today as every other day before, with the alarm clock blaring another reminder that another day has passed and a new day begins.
I reached over to hit the snooze “just 5 more minutes I told myself.” As I pulled my hand back I stared at the picture sitting on my nightstand. It was a picture of my dog Meeka. As I laid there and stared at it I could feel a whisper of peace and happiness fill my heart, and smiled as I traced her face with the tip of my finger then I realized once again there was one thing missing …. no wet morning kisses, no chewed up wet sloppy slippers to slip my feet into. It is amazing how even after almost 2 years of her being gone I can still miss her so terribly. I must have laid there and stared at her picture for 5 minutes, as the snooze started blaring again but this time I had no choice but to get up. Somehow, during those 5 minutes of staring at her picture and the alarm clock’s reminder, I had realized as sad as it was staring at my girl, she was the reason I pull myself out of bed every morning and tackle the day and whatever hell it may bring. She is the reason I walk away from a day of hard work and am able to say … I did my best. I’ve never met any type of entity in my life that has been able to teach me so many lessons while she was living as well as after she has left this world. I remember how the whole “pit bull” thing began. We were called out to a routine check neglect of some animals being reported as being left alone in a filthy squalor. Therefore, I and another officer responded to the call. Lo and behold, there they all were - 12 little 8-week-old pit bull puppies in a very small wooden box, all yelping and stepping over each other like a bunch of little piglets, and the smell of faeces and urine accompanied them as well. I remember 1 pup in particular. He was a little feisty red baby boy jumping over all of the others to gain our attention. We proceeded to speak with the owners about how this was an unacceptable way to contain these puppies and educated them on some better ways to handle them. We had done our job and had left. Unbeknown to us we would later return to investigate a much more gruesome site. It was approximately 1 week later that we were informed that the very same puppies had been witnessed being duct taped at the mouth and leg area and laid out on a table only to have a man sever their ears off with a pair of desk scissors, One of the puppies was the very same little feisty red male who tried so hard before to gain our attention. This time, however, we had good witnesses and were accompanied by the local authorities. It didn’t take long for the media to catch wind of this horrible act of animal cruelty, and as it turned out, the pups were taken and a full investigation was launched, The pups were housed at Animal control until a court reached a decision as to whether this was an animal cruelty case. A decision needed to be made as to whether or not they should be returned to the owner. Now to me that was just more than obvious what the answer should be, however, it needed to be presented to a court of law and this was no time to start protesting on the steps of the courthouse. I knew in my heart that justice would be served and it was - a year later. I can still hear it ringing in my head, and it still makes me cry to this day when I heard the judge say, (as my heart, I swear, did not beat until I heard him speak) “While it's on my watch, I'm not going to permit this to happen -- even if you think its common practice within the county or within the dog-breeding and training arena." Judge Tandy then sentenced the 23-year-old Indianapolis man to the maximum term for the Class a misdemeanours, with no suspended time or probation. Witnesses testified that Elisea taped the puppies' mouths shut and legs together, and cut off the ears with office scissors. After I walked out of that court room that day, almost a year later since we seized the dogs, I sat down, my legs we so unstable I sat there and cried, and all I wanted to do was go to my babies and hug them. In my mind I knew they at least had a chance of a good life. It wasn’t over yet however, there was still the issue of who would adopt the baby pit bulls. I had cared for the male day in and day out for almost a year. I was so scared of what would happen to him, until the day my boss called me into her office to speak of what was going to happen to the pups. She looked at me as if it were bad news, and as my heart was just about to drop to the floor she handed me adoption papers, hugged me and said they are safe now. As we both cried I looked at her with a look that words could never describe - she knew my heart and soul were more thankful that no words could ever convey. Therefore, as it turned out, I was the new proud parent of two baby pit bulls. Life was good. However, during all the hype and publicity focused on the puppies - what about their mother? She was a different story, locked up in a kennel with a bite case sign attached to her kennel; no one dared to go near her. She was backed in the corner, not being very social to anyone or any thing that walked by. It took some time before she would let anyone near her. I cannot say that I blame her. Knowing now what I did not know then, there were so many things she was so deathly scared of, and being in a kennel with a bunch of barking dogs, and out in the kennel while the sheriffs’ department firing range was just across the way, was scaring her to death. I am truly surprised she did not go crazy. Little did I know though, she was, inside her little body, as I know now, going stir crazy. Before the decision was made about the puppies and the court case I would spend much of my extra time at her cage just sitting and talking to her. I would try to give her little treats to get her to maybe trust that there was at least still one good human being in this world. To read the next part of this compelling story, please click here: |
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