Published: October 16, 2009 03:59 pm      

Buddy the survivor

To the editor:

Hi, my name is Buddy. I saw a letter kinda like this one in the paper before, so I thought I would tell you my story, too.

I think I am about 11 weeks old, but not really sure. I can remember being with my five brothers and one sister when we were tiny. We would huddle up together with our Mom and drink milk. I remember how sweet and good it felt to have my whole family together and be so warm and content, knowing my Mom would take care of me no matter what happened.

I knew she would protect us and find food for us and make sure we had a warm, dry place to sleep. Then one day, when I was about six weeks old, the humans we stayed with started acting strangely. They put us in a box, loaded us in a car and all of a sudden I looked around and my Mom was not there.

We had never been in a car before and we were so afraid, we were shaking and wondered where we were going. We just wanted to hurry and get back to where Mom was. It was not a very long ride and thank goodness the car finally stopped.

The humans took us out, put us behind this huge building and got back into the car and pulled away. We took a head count and were so happy that we were all still together.

Somehow, we just knew Mom would come and find us soon. Then it began to get dark. We had never been in the dark without Mom and we kept watching and waiting for her to come. We waited, waited, and waited. Some of us cried and cried, especially my sister, but I tried to be brave and told them everything would be alright.

We finally curled up together and went to sleep. I got as close to my sister as I could, hoping I could somehow take my Mom’s place, just for this one night. Her little body was trembling, but I tried to be calm, and she soon became still and rested.

Well, we stayed there two days and I found out that the huge building was a church and a nice human fed us once, because she felt sorry for us. We stayed under an old trailer, looking for Mom, but she never came. We were so hungry.

Every time some humans would come close to us we would all run out to greet them, but then they would leave and we would be alone again. Then, a lady human saw us and came over to pat us on the head. We thought she would take us home, because she was really nice, but she left, too.

In a little while we looked and saw her coming back again. She put us all in her car and took us to her house. She has fed us and took us to the doctor, where we got shots and all kinds of things done to us, but I’m glad, cause now all those fleas are gone. The doctor gave us all numbers and I am #5. The lady human, now my foster Mom, has found happy “forever” homes for everyone, but me. We know that one of these days, just the right human will come along and give me a “forever” home. I really miss my brothers and sisters, but I am happy they have good families to live with.

I asked my foster Mom to write this letter for me so that no other puppies or kittens would get taken away from their Moms, and abandoned, like we did. We were so young Mom did not have time to teach us how to find food and water, so I believe our lives were saved. We were lucky. I hear there are some who are not so lucky.

Please, please be good to your pets.



Buddy, Puppy #5

Assisted by Deborah Duvall