Finding My Forever Folks

Sorry to get back so late. Fred and the crew and I went on a train ride this morning. Fred loves trains, don't know why, but we love Fred so we all go where he goes. Bet you didn't know there were trains in Heaven huh? It's all here, almost. Back to the story of me that needs to be told:

So the van drops us all at the Shelter. What a big place! I never saw so many people or dogs.

It was quite shocking, scary some might say. I was poked and prodded and all sorts of things by somebody called Vet. Don't know the guy but he was nice about it all. People spoke to me. To me....my gang guys never spoke to me like this. Maybe running off was a good thing afterall.

After the Vet fellow I was taken to a big room. It was huge and there were 140 dogs there and all in cages. OH NO. Not cages. I hate cages. I was taken to my cage and found someone else in

there. This is not good, not good at all. Bad things happen with cellies I've heard. This was one BIG guy too. He was a pure white golden retriever. But he was old so maybe I'd be safe huh? I got in and was shaking like a leaf. I curled into a ball in my corner, not wanting to cause trouble. There was lots of noise in this big room, lots of barking. After a little bit though the noise stopped. The cellie just looked at me and said it's ok, relax. I was more scared now. He said that this was a good place and that nobody would hurt me here. I asked him how he got there. He explained that his forever family passed away so there was nowhere for him to go but here. He

sounded sad but strong. I had no idea what a forever family meant. He told me these stories, glorious stories of love, petting, belly rubs and all important...FOOD. Lots of food, on a regular basis too. And he said he got tons of kisses everyday from his people. He had people! I had

no idea it could be good to have people. He said they sat with him, rode in a car with him, took him out for long walks everyday. This was too good to be true I'm sure. But I couldn't help but listen and want to believe. Finally I asked how do I get my own people? What if I didn't deserve to have all this? He said I'd do just fine, to not be afraid. I slept that night better than I ever did.

I had dreams of walks, kisses, and wondered what love would feel like. I didn't want to wake up.

In the morning the workers came and brought us food and water...room service! Wow, this is a nice place! They took us out for walks too, although it was because they didn't have inside bathrooms for dogs. So I enjoyed my first walk and hoped for more. WhiteGold (my cellie's name to me) said that people come during the day and wonder about, looking for their lost dogs or looking for a new dog to take home. That sort of scared me...what if the gang guys came and I had to leave with them? WhiteGold spent the morning telling me more about his life and things that would help me in my life. It's hard to explain how much his experience meant to me. To be so loved for so long sounded more and more like what I wanted. But what if nobody picked me? Our cage was in the first row. We saw all the dogs get their walks as they had to pass us coming and going. There were some beautiful dogs, way nicer looking then me. They seemed to know how good looking they were too. They walked with confidence, not fear. Me, I had been called mangy, I had scars on my legs from the stuff done to me. Who would want that in their forever dog? It scared me to think I would be here forever. But if WhiteGold stayed that would be good. He didn't think he was going anywhere due to his age. That seemed wrong, he was so kind and gentle and really handsome too! If I was a human looking for someone I'd pick him right away.
A bit later a volunteer came and took some of us for walks. This was some place huh? I felt really special with these kind people doing all this for us. While I was gone though it seems a person came looking for her dog. Oh no, did I miss my person already? WG said when I got back that she looked really sad, like she'd lost her best friend. She went cage to cage and spoke to all the dogs. The entire room was silent, nobody wanted to bark 'cause that might scare her off. She had made it to the door at the other end of the room, I heard the door open and I started to cry. OK, sure that makes me sound like a baby right? What would you do if your forever person may be leaving with never having seen you? The door shut. I cried again. But then...I heard footsteps. She shut the door but from the inside. She walked, very slowly across the room. The steps would stop and I'd wimper and then she'd start again. I know I should have kept quiet but I just couldn't. All of a sudden she was right there in front of our cage. I jumped about 4 feet in the air, I was so excited. (yes the cages were that tall, it really was a nice shelter). She looked me straight in the eyes and said: MAX. I didn't know what that meant...what's Max? WG just looked at me and smiled, his eyes tearing up. Max...that must have been a good word I guess. Right then the volunteer came back in, returning another dog from his walk. She looked at the person and said, It looks like you found your dog...the lady said I guess I did! And with that...I had a person! I was a Max. I was going home. I jumped up and down over and over again and they just laughed and laughed. WhiteGold just said I told you so, Max!