LAPW: Spotlight on the oldsters
I have a soft spot for senior pets, if you couldn’t tell. I love their deliberate steps (assuming it’s not a reflection of undertreated arthritis!), their thoughtful glances, their calmness. Being a senior pet is to have mastered the art of good pet-dom: I am your faithful companion and I no longer feel the need to eat your shoes.
I’m featuring my favorite rescue today, Retrievers and Friends of Southern California. As the folks from whom I adopted both Emmett and Koa, they have a special place in my heart, though there are thousands of similarly wonderful rescues the world over.
On their front page they have a story about a 14 year old beagle who found a new home. When you hear why the dog was relinquished I think you’ll know why this was such a huge deal for the rescue and the dog. I can only imagine the heartbreak the owner must have felt when she relinquished Leah.
No pet appreciates the value of the human-animal bond more than a senior who has experienced it already. No pet is more grateful for a chance to have it again than one who has had, then lost, the love of a human whom they adored.
And that is the joy and heartbreak of pets, isn’t it? No matter how awful or mean or just human we are, they still love us.
Look at this dog. What a smile. 
“This is Miss Sierra, a 9 year old Labrador Retriever. Miss Sierra is wonderful gal. She is very sweet and good with the other dogs in her foster home. She likes walks and she is also very good with kids. She is very friendly and will make a wonderful companion.”
That is a dog with a lot of love to give. Now my husband is shaking his head at me. I know, I know. She will find a good home, I have faith.
I’ll leave you with something I also found on the website. It doesn’t have an author attribution so I’m not sure who wrote it, but it is so great I wanted to share it with you all.
When we provide this for another living being, we transform the world.
Here in this house…
I will never know the loneliness I hear in the barks of the other dogs “out there”.
I can sleep soundly, assured that when I wake my world will not have changed.
I will never know hunger, or the fear of not knowing if I’ll eat.
I will not shiver in the cold, or grow weary from the heat.
I will feel the sun’s heat, and the rain’s coolness, and be allowed to smell all that can reach my nose.
My fur will shine, and never be dirty or matted.
Here in this house…
There will be an effort to communicate with me on my level.
I will be talked to and even if I don’t understand, I can enjoy the warmth of the words.
I will be given a name so that I may know who I am among many.
My name will be used in joy, and I will love the sound of it!
Here in this house…
I will never be a substitute for anything I am not.
I will never be used to improve people’s images of themselves.
I will be loved because of who I am, not someone’s idea of who I should be.
I will never suffer for someone’s anger,impatience, or stupidity.
I will be taught all the things I need to know to be loved by all.
If I do not learn my lessons well, my teachers will blame themselves, not me.
Here in this house…
I can trust the arms that hold, hands that touch…knowing that, no matter what they do, they do it for the good of me.
If I am ill, I will be doctored.
If scared, I will be calmed.
If sad, I will be cheered.
No matter what I look like, I will be considered beautiful and known to be of value.
I will never be cast out because I am too old, too ill, or too unruly, or not cute enough.
My life is a responsibility, and not an afterthought.
I will learn that my humans can almost, sometimes, be as kind and as fair as dogs.
Here in this house…
I will belong.
I will be home.
