Current mood:

worried

Coco
I've started volunteering at the Humane Society here in CU, and it's usually a lot of fun: I get to play with dogs and feel good about it because it's "volunteering." I fall in love at least once every time I go, and I usually leave pretty happy.

Today was kind of different.

The first dog I walked today was Jack, who was a real sweetie (although maybe drugged up because he'd just been neutered). Happily, he was adopted and hopefully in the position to go home to a loving family.

I was out with Jack until about half an hour before the humane society closed and (almost) all of the dogs had been walked. I was going to go home until I noticed the one dog that hadn't. Her name is Coco, and I think she's got some pitbull in her. I'd say she's maybe two and a half feet long. She's nine months old. When I walked by her run, she perked her head up and slowly got up to come over and see me. That was when I noticed that she didn't look so good. Her eyes were goopy. In some spots she had no fur, and all over most of her body her fur was so thin that you could easily see her skin. When her tail wasn't wagging, it immediately went down between her legs. Her chest was about a foot across, but her waist was so skinny that I could have put my hands around it. I later noticed that she had just gotted spayed, which was (at least partially) why she had a hard time getting up to come and see me.

What all of that means is, basically, that whoever had had her during her short life had neglected her to the point of cruelty. Someone just did not feed her. Being that skinny is not healthy for a dog and is, I believe, the result of severe hunger. The lack of hair indicates horrendously poor nutrition. Goopy eyes means sickness, maybe allergies that no one's bothered to take care of. I mentioned that she had just been spayed; this is not a sign of cruelty (and the humane society spays or neuters all of its cats and dogs) but just added to the discomfort this dog was feeling.

So what did this neglected, downtrodded (and also probably drugged up) dog do when I walked by? Just because I paused to look at her, Coco got up and came over to see me. Because she seemed so nice and hadn't been out yet I decided to take her on a walk. This dog was nothing but loving. She wagged her tail every time I looked at her. When I stopped, sat down and called her name, she happily came over to me, got as close as she could get, and licked my chin. Her tailed wagged even harder when I gave her a gentle hug.

I had to take Coco back in because the humane society was closing for the day, but I wish I could have stayed with her. I was amazed that something who had been mistreated so badly was still so damn nice; if someone had routinely starved me, I would probably be angry at everybody.

What's been killing me is that someone, over the course of months, was starving this affectionate, loving dog. How could anyone be so cruel?