A Letter From My Dog

 

Hey Joe!

This is your dog Roscoe.  It’s hard to believe it’s been over 6 years since you picked us up from the side of the highway. That’s a real long time for us, so I thought it might be a good time to tell you exactly what happened. 

My sister, the one you call Reese, and I were just a couple of little puppies, who loved to be around our mama. She never said a whole lot about her past except that a very bad person dumped her out on a county road while we were in her tummy.  Lucky for us, a very kind person took her in, let her deliver me and all my littermates, and found everyone good homes - except for me and my sister. We were going to stay with the nice person’s family, along with our mommy. I think that’s called a forever home. 

We were so happy. The family even had a little girl who loved to play with us! Everything was great until mama took a walk to explore the woods near our house, and we went along.  We followed our mama everywhere. This was going to be a great adventure because it was so much fun to see the world around us.  There were so many new things  smell!  Well, that’s when it happened. We got so distracted that we became separated from mama. But we weren’t worried because she always came back for us. 

Not this time.  Soon it began to get dark. We yipped and barked, ran and smelled, hoping mama would hear us, but she must have been too far away. By now, Reese was really scared, so I stayed close by and never let her out of my sight. We spent the night in the woods curled up close to each other. There would be lots more nights like this one. 

We woke up hungry. When we were back home, someone from our forever family always had breakfast ready for us. But we weren't home. And I don’t like to be hungry. The only thing for us to do was to get up and walk - maybe mama or the forever family would find us. Further and further we went until once again, the sun went down, and once again, we spent the night in the woods.  The sounds from the owls and coyotes scared both of us. This is when I missed our forever family the most. All Reese and I had were each other.  

It was the same day after day. We would get up, walk and hope.  Occasionally, we would drink water from a puddle or stream. Sometimes we found scraps of food at old campsites, but that was never enough for a couple of pups like us. Both of us were getting skinny. I could see the bones on my sister’s ribcage.  

Eventually, we found a little road and a few houses.  It wasn’t our home, but it was something. Some of the people were kind to us and threw us food scraps.  We even slept near their front porch for a few days.  I liked that because it reminded me of our old forever home.  Other people were mean; they threw firecrackers at us and sicced their big dogs on us. Why would someone do that?  I think this is why I never trust dogs and I’m scared of any kind of popping noise. 

Weeks passed, and now it had become wintertime.  Reese and I were cold all the time.  Sometimes it seemed like we shivered all night. If only we hadn’t got separated from our mama!   

After more and more  walking, I began to believe that this would be how we would spend our whole lives.  Then one morning we heard a noise - it was the sound of a busy road.  It would be easier to find food here, but we had to be careful.  Mama  warned us about the dangers of being close to a highway. 

Lots of people would slow down when they saw us. A few of them would throw us a half eaten sandwich. However, most people in the cars just turned their heads and kept driving.   

Except one. A black car not only slowed down, it turned around and parked right beside us. “Hooray!,” I thought. “Maybe we’ll get some food.”  Well, that’s when the strangest thing happened. A little girl popped out of the car and ran toward us. She seemed friendly, so we ran towards her. The next thing I know she’s petting us and hugging us!  We began to yip and run because we were so excited.  Soon a young man came out and began doing the same thing. The next thing we know, they are loading us in the car.  At first, we were a little scared because we didn’t know what was going to happen. But all three of them were so kind. They didn’t even get upset when Reese got carsick. 

After what seemed like a long time we came to a nice house and they put us in a big fenced yard.  We liked that because it was another place to explore. Soon the little girl brought us two big plates of hamburger meat.  It was the best thing I had ever tasted. Not long after that, we heard the gate open, and someone walked into the back yard. It was you!  I’ll never forget how you sat on the ground and petted us for the longest time while we licked and sniffed you. And when you finally got up and went inside, I turned to Reese and said,”I think we’re at our new forever home.” 

And we were. Thank you and your family for rescuing us. We can never repay you. 

I guess you could say we really are lucky dogs. 

Your bestie, 

Roscoe 

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