Rainbow Bridge

Sebastian
December 11, 2008 – January 10, 2009 Those dates do not represent my real age, rather they represent the short time that I was actually alive. For the first 3 years of my life, I was chained up in a backyard without food, water or shelter and suffered in the blazing heat, the freezing cold and during torrential rains. If a kind neighbor had not thrown scraps over the fence, I would have starved a long time ago. Then one day a woman drove by and saw me; she stopped and walked up to the fence and actually talked to me in a soft voice and I wanted to tell her that I was lonely, hungry and just so miserable, but, being a dog, I could not form the words. She did seem to understand what I was trying to tell her and I heard her go around the house and talk to my "people". Then, all of a sudden I found myself in the back of a car. We stopped at a house that looked like mine, but this one had a door and she took me inside where it was warm and there was food and water, a couch, lots of other dogs and cats and another kind woman who stroked my head and told me that it was going to be okay. I tried to eat the yummy food they offered me, but I had been hungry for so long that it was difficult to consume much of it. That night, I got to sleep in a bed with one of my new moms and for the very first time in my life I felt safe, warm and not one bit hungry. The next day we got back in the car and went to the vet clinic and they left me there in a cage, which was strange and scary for me, but I don’t remember much about it. When I woke up, people were talking about the bad news – I was heartworm positive. We went back to my new house and for the next couple of weeks, I lived like a real dog – I had friends to play with, lots of food and water, a soft bed to sleep in and best of all lots of petting and love. I was so grateful that I always waited to go outside to potty and treated everything in the house with the utmost respect. But then I had to go back to the vet for the heartworm treatment and that was not a pleasant experience. Because I was so emaciated and physically depleted, it was a risky procedure; however, left untreated, the nasty heartworms would have killed me soon. After the treatment, I felt extremely bad, had a hard time breathing and didn’t want to eat. My moms took me back to the vet where I had to lie in a cage with an IV in my leg and I could hear everyone talking how much they hoped I would get better, and I wanted to survive so very much now that I had a real life. But on the morning of January 10, my poor heart just gave out. I want my new moms to know that those weeks were the happiest days of my life and had they not saved me, I would have never known what love is. My life would have ended at the end of a chain without anyone even noticing that I was gone. So please don’t cry for me. My heart may have been diseased, but I gave it to you unconditionally and I loved you for giving me this short time of happiness. I would have liked nothing better than to live out the rest of my life with you, but I was already too sick and too close to the end. Instead of grieving for me, go out and save as many dogs as you can; dogs that are suffering in silence just like me and hopefully some of them will be lucky enough to get a second chance. And please tell people that what they are doing is very cruel and heartless. We may only be dogs, but we feel real pain and we get lonely, hungry, thirsty, hot and cold, depressed and despondent just like humans. We love people and we were not meant to live in complete isolation at the end of a chain; it not only hurts us physically, but it also breaks our spirit. If only a few people listen, then I have not died in vain.

Sheila
Good morning, TARA! We wanted to reach out to you to let you know that we lost our precious Shiela this morning. Our family was with her, and the end was very peaceful. We adopted her from your organization over 14 years ago. She has been an amazing dog!!! We couldn't have asked her to be any better than she was! According to your records, Shiela came to us from an abusive background. When we got her, she was leary of men and scared to death to enter a car. She quickly overcame both of those issues, and absolutely loved to ride in the car with my husband to go get an ice cream cone!!! She lived a long and happy life with our family, and we are going to miss her beyond measure. We just wanted to let you know how much she meant to our family, and how happy we are that your organization made it possible for us to have her in our lives! Thank you, the Baumgardner Family