| A LESSON IN LOVE by Laura Adams Chapter Two
Little by little each day I gained a baby step of trust from her. It wasn’t an easy process, for either of us, her not wanting or truly sure about who I was or what was happening to her, and me not being sure of how trusting she was of me, and the hardest factor…. getting so close to her only for there to be a possibility that she would be put to sleep. I couldn’t think of that; all that mattered to me at that time was this poor dog feeling so alone, being labelled a DANGER TO SOCIETY when in fact she was frightened and alone. I sat there day after day as much as I could, just staring at her, trying to figure out what it was I could see in those eyes, what was she thinking, was she frightened of me, or was she aching to trust me? I would sit and talk to her about everything that was happening with her babies that were abused. Although as I sat there talking to a dog behind a metal fence I knew everyone looked at me as if I had lost my mind, it seemed to sooth her though, our talks did. the soft tone that was coming from me to her. Therefore, I continued to talk to her, and in her own way that maybe just the two of us understood she would talk to me. One great day for us was the day I told her that we had won the case and that her babies would never have to go back to that horrible place! She seemed to have felt my positive energy because that was the first time I had ever seen her wag her tail, and from that day on we were buddies, we would walk and talk and spend as much time together as we could, she came out of that shell and stuck to me like glue! It was then I knew, in my heart, I had to do whatever it took to try to save this girl. When the time came to either find her a GOOD home or have her put to sleep I knew it would be hard to be able to find her a home where she would be well taken care of by good honest decent people, after all she was a level 5 dog and I honestly don’t think I have seen but one level 5 animal person walk into the shelter, they are usually level 1 or 2 first time dog owners, so I knew this was going to be so hard. I remember praying for God to send her someone who would care for her deeply. Then one day my prayers were answered. After a long discussion of what she needed and how she was to be handled, she was on her way to a good home. I remember crying to myself the day she left the shelter, I had but one picture of her during the time she spent in the kennels, and to this day, I hold that picture dear to me. It was about a year later when I was surprised with a phone call from someone who knew of me as the lady who adopted the 2 baby pit bulls. She said to me that she knew the person who adopted Meeka, the mother of the 2 babies, was going to have to move and she couldn’t take Meeka with her, she didn’t know what to do with her. She was afraid to take her back to shelter for fear she would be euthanised, so this gal had given her my phone number. I immediately called her and asked if I could come over and talk to her about Meeka, she was happy to hear from me. When I arrived there my eyes filled up with tears as all the memories of the bond we made came flooding back to me, I ended up taking her home with me, and from then on we were inseparable. No one knew her like I did, as a matter of fact, I don’t think anyone knew either of us as well as we came to know each other. We had so much to learn about each other but at the same time it was as if we had known each other forever. I knew her fears and she knew mine. I remember her being deathly afraid of thunderstorms, so if there was a day that I was at work and I noticed dark clouds rolling in, I packed up and told my boss I had to go and make sure she was safe, and when I arrived at home, there she was, sure enough, hidden underneath something, shaking. The only thing that would comfort her was for me to hold her close to me and stroke her ears. She would look up at me like “mommy that makes it all better”, she was a thankful dog, as well as a forgiving dog. I never met an animal in my life that was as loving as she was. All was not a fairy tale with her though. I had to construct a 9-foot fence due to her being able to scale straight up and over a 4 ft, 6 ft, and then an 8 ft fence. 9 feet was the winner. She would not do it to get out and run. She did it to get to me. She did not want to be away from me at all. It got to the point where if I turned around there she was, right underneath my feet. I often wondered why she was like this so much. However, I guess now looking back at what she went through in her life I suppose she was afraid that if she lost sight of me, she would be abandoned like before in her life. Knowing she was animal aggressive I had to take several precautions to make sure that we never had any mistakes. Seeing how I had her, her son and daughter, there had to be some major adjustments in my household, special doors, baby gates, separate feeding areas, separate crating times; I had them on a very strict schedule for everything. I did my best to be most responsible and we were great for such a long time. Looking back at it all now, I can see where maybe I could have done some things differently and it’s an ache I live with everyday, but also lessons I will never forget.
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