I have been thinking a lot about volunteering somewhere lately. I miss doing volunteer work and I want to give back. In college, my roommate Anne and I decided to volunteer at the Lawrence Humane Society. We only went once or twice. We basically just took the dogs out on leashes and walked them around so that they could get out of their kennels and get some fresh air. I didn't understand a lot about dogs then and I was kind of scared when they protested so hard against getting back in their cages. It was hard to see animals in that condition, and even harder to see the "countdown" on the time they would be at the shelter. I just wanted to take them all home, but most of them had serious health or behavior issues that I would not have been able to begin to address. (Not to mention the fact that we lived in the dorms!) Still, the cruelty that some humans seem capable of inflicting on innocent animals was too hard to deal with.
Fast forward to today. After work, I went to the mall to pick up a couple dress shirts and ties that Matt showed interest in. (He almost NEVER buys himself new clothes, and it's hard to pick out things he likes, so when he shows interest in something, I am THERE.) Anyway, I digress.
As I walked through the mall, I happened upon a pet store. Of course I was immediately drawn in by all the little puppies in the windows even though in the back of my mind, I knew it was a bad idea to go in.
After a few minutes of admiring how cute they all were, I started to get really sad. First of all, NO ONE in the store was actually puppy shopping. Kids were laughing and pounding on the windows of the cages. The dogs were all basically on display. I wondered how often they were let out of those 2x3 ft cages, or how often they even got to breathe fresh air. I wondered what happens to the puppies if they didn't get purchased by the time they are too big to be on display.
I wanted to slap down my debit card and buy them all! Granted, that's probably 40 dogs...but you know we have two beagles, what's 40 more puppies in the grand scheme of things! :)
I'm just kidding about buying all the puppies, by the way. I probably wouldn't have a husband anymore if I pulled something like that! Plus, if I HAD bought all the dogs, the pet store would just put 40 more on display tomorrow.
I watched two little beagle puppies playing in the storefront window and then tore myself away. I went home and took my own beagles out for a long romp in the sunny dog park. I may not be able to save the puppies of the world from the horrors of pet stores and shelters. But I can be glad that my own two sweet dogs are not in that situation.
And I am thinking that I might give the animal shelter another try...
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