What have they let me in for...?

Well, I've never done this before so I hope you'll bear with me as I finally put paw to paper. As you know my name is Cleo,and I allow my humans to live with me in Winnipeg. They adopted me about 12 years ago when I was just a pup and living happily at the Wnnipeg Humane Society. Probably the best thing that ever happened to them I always think, as it allowed me to train them properly; just as humans should be trained. The only thing was that, while at the shelter, I had enjoyed life on my terms, mostly pooping and, by rolling in it, using it to cover my doggie smells. I guess they did not like my natural doggie smells very much as the first thing they did on getting me home was put me into a big white tub for a bath. The ignominy of it. Thank goodness my friends at the shelter could not see me then, I'd have died of embarrassment. ! It didn't take me long to get them into my routine though, that I can tell you. A typical day is, wake up, stretch, get a belly rub, treats, breakfast, walk, long lazy nap, treats, supper, walk, long lazy nap, walk, more treats if I can con them into it, and finally, bed time. After a hectic day like that I need my beauty sleep too. They say it's a dog's life......if only they really knew.

Things went on this way very satisfactorily for years. Just my cat, Meggie, and me, allowing the Mr. and Mrs. to share our house with us. But then one day I heard them making those strange communicating noises. Those typical squeaks, burps, gutteral growls, you know the stuff,. We've all heard it eh? It seems that they were thinking of helping some other dogs I did not know settle here in Canada after they were rescued from bad situations in other places. I wondered what this meant for Meggie and me. Would we be neglected? Not likely as they had always been loving and demonstrative to us. But all we could do was wait.

One day Dad came home and said, "Sally, (she's a lady who, apparently, has a soft spot for abused dogs), wants us to foster a little Border Collie named Wilbur. Wilbur, later re-named Willie, had spent the first year of his life tied up and ignored in someone's back yard. He had then been taken to another home and relegated to a basement, and ignored therealso. His custodians then decided that they no longer wanted him and were taking him to a shelter, where he would be taken to the Rainbow Bridge within 3 days unless someone else offered to take him away with them. Sally, it seems, has an army of wonderful people who transport dogs like Willie to safety. This is what happend and, one evening, Mum and Dad brought Willie into my house. He seemed quite cute, though I did have to put him in his place a couple of times as he got quite fresh with me at the beginning. It then came out that he was supposed to have some sort of "gift" and could sense when a child was going to have a seizure. The trouble was that he tried to communicate this information to his humans by licking the child's face. This, supposedly, was why the other people were going to send him away....because he was trying to help their child! How can these humans be so stupid and ungrateful?

Anyway, Willie settled in very well, except that, being a Border Collie, he wanted to "herd" the cat. But then she's only a cat anyway so who cares?......LOL. After a while Mum and Dad had a young woman from Regina and her little boy, come to stay with us. The little boy suffered from seizures and they hoped that Willie would be able to help thim by warning of the onset of a seizure. But this did not work out so, after about 5 days, they went back to Regina, leaving Willie with us. By now the little guy had quite grown on me. He was polite, needed lots of cuddling from Mum and Dad, and, I could see, had grown on them too. But they knew they could not keep him. If they did then they could not foster other dogs who needed them. So they told Sally to keep looking for a forever home for Willie. One day a really nice young man named Martin dropped by to see Willie, and I could see they were attracted to one another immediately. About a week later Mum and Dad, very sadly it seemd to me, took Willie over to his new forever home. When they came home they seemed very relieved and they told me that they were content that Willie had gone to a home where he would be very much loved and well treated. Funny how, for them, that seemed to take the pain out of having to say goodbye to the little guy.

As a footnote, a few weeks ago, and about a month ior so after they took Willie to live with Martin, we all went to the dog park and met with Sally and her dogs. That ingrate, Willie, acted as tjhough Mum and Dad were total strangers. That made Dad laugh, and he said this was how it should be, as Willie was obviously at home with Martin, and we all knew they would be together always from now on. Martin was happy witn Willie and Willie was happy with Martin. And that, said Dad, was what rescuing and fostering was all about. I wonder who'll be next? And to think that I thought I'd be in for a peaceful old age.

I'll keep you all posted,

Cleo

Comments

Tags