I couldn’t save you

Spent three days trying to get to know you
Hoping you’d see life wasn’t so blue
Gaining your trust was a must.
Hours of just sitting on the ground
While you just growled and looked around
Yes I am here, I was always there.
Spent an hour reading your files
Your owners drove for miles
To give you a life that would be better
Even I never thought I’d be writting this letter
You stole my heart, in the end it was ripped apart
Left for the pieces to mend, I was left without my friend
I couldn’t save you, I really wanted too
I saw more in you then just your troubled dog
Sometimes I hear your bark through the fog
It’s hard to be a pitbull in a world where you have been ban
Society has become a hard thing to understand.
Because of that it has failed you
You are no longer here, and now I am blue
Some days I just don’t know what to do.
It helps to know I made your last days fun
playing frisbee in the sun,outside for a run.
I’m sorry I couldn’t save you, believe me I tried
Many saddened tears I have cried.
I’m sorry I wasn’t the last thing you’d see
I really wish it was me
But I wasn’t there, and don’t ever feel like I didn’t care
The reason I can not share, but you know why
As time goes by, I’ll always think of you.
You won’t be the last to grab my heart,
or the last to watch it fall apart.
But it will mend, and another dog I will be friend
and the cycle will start all over again.
I try my best to stay true,
There will always be a part of me
that is sad I couldn’t save you.

He was not euthanized because of the ban, but he had come from a place where there was a ban, and sent for a chance at the shelter, unfortunately with his background history and not passing our temperament test, he could not be placed for adoption, sadly he was euthanized. I loved this dog like one of my own, I love them all, sadly you can’t save them all, but you can make their time with you wonderful and fun and worth wild, and this is what I did for him<3

A Shelter Story…Good-bye

My mommy left me a month ago
Sitting here without a home
I watched her cry and walk away
In this cage is now where I stay
Behind these steal gates I watch her go

Nervous and scared here I am
Sitting and wishing I was with them
Now here I am with one meal a day
Wishing she come take me home to play

Mommy moved and left me here,
couldn’t take me, knowing life ain’t fair
This is suppose to be for the better
and sometimes I wish I hadn’t met her

Then I wouldn’t have to say goodbye
left in the kennel wondering why
Here I am left to find a new place to rome
wishing someone would take me home

Days go by and nights get long
wishing and hoping, trying to stay strong
People pass without a glance
I wish someone would give me a chance

Take me home and I’ll be your friend
Take me home before my life comes to an end
But no one wants me they don’t care
or wonder why I ended up here

My days are number as my life gets short
no one there for support
Out of the kennel they took me today
maybe heaven is a better place to stay

The staff take me away,
telling me its gonna be okay
As they hug me I see tears in ones eye
as she softly whispers I’m sorry …I tried

Within seconds I am put to rest
maybe its for the best
One empty cage means room for another
who had to leave their mother

Because of problems were they had to move
leaving the puppy in the pound
with nothing to prove
Just waiting for his time to come around

So this is for every animal that had to die
For every animal who’s owner didn’t even have a reason why
For every stray left for dead
As responsible owners lay home with their animal tucked in bed

Next time you walk in a shelter and walk away
from the ugly dog who can sit and stay
Remember without help he might not see another day
so take em home, save his life, and watch him obey

Because that’s all we ever wanted was your love
Not to be looked after by shelter staff in gloves
But to be owned by someone who is true
Somebody kind enough to love you like I do

Wrote this poem back in 2007, after a dog I had befriended at the animal shelter I volunteered at was put to sleep. I still think about that dog to this day.