Compassion and Gratitude Unite All Species

Last week, I got a thank-you note from an old dog named Darlin’ Louise. She thanked me for paying to have her picture put in the classifieds. At that time, she was an unclaimed stray at the MSPCA. She wrote, “The most wonderful thing happened to me at the shelter! Through my cataract eyes, the clearest vision appeared before me.” And here is her story.

Early in March, on a windy stormy day, the lock on the gate where Darlin’ Louise lived came undone. Her owner told me the dog had a stroke in January and the family feared terribly that she’d be too confused to find her way home. Indeed, their dog did not come back. They called the animal control officer which was the right thing to do, but unfortunately that avenue was not successful.

Eventually the dog wound up at the MSPCA. She was adopted just three days after her arrival. This surprised me because of her advanced age. Plus according to her owner, “Her head was crooked and she walked crooked.” The new family changed her name from Darlin’ Louise to Lady - not knowing that was actually her original name. Lady was happy in her new home but was pretty quickly returned to the shelter. “I knew something was up,” she said in her letter to me, “when my shelter friends were so happy to sign me back in.”

As it happened, the dog’s real owners saw her picture in the paper, and came to the shelter with photos to prove it was really their dog.

“My new parents (as sweet as they were),” Lady wrote, “gladly brought me back to be reunited with the family who had cared for me for all of my 13 years.”

I spoke to the interim owner and asked why he would choose such an old dog. He said, “Age isn’t important. If you could pick your family members, you’d pick the nicest people you could find.” And so, in spite of her cloudy eyes he adopted Lady to live out her remaining days with his family. I asked about his children and how they felt about returning the dog. He described the talk he had with his five year old son. “If you were lost,” he said to his boy, “and somebody found you, we’d want you back. Wouldn’t you want to be brought back to us?” So he told his son that Lady would want to be with her real family too.

I applaud this family who graciously brought the dog back to the shelter. They’ve never spoken to Lady’s owners. But knowing I’d be in touch with them, their main concern was that I should pass on some medical issues, such as the small cyst they found on her neck. And twice, Lady’s leg went limp and she needed to be supported so that she could lie down and be rubbed until she felt better.

And the vision Lady referred to in her letter? “It was my MOM! I thought I would never see her again.”

The owner was in the habit of surprising her sons with presents by saying, “There’s something awesome for you in your room.” And the day Lady came home, that is what she said to the boys who were not expecting to see their beloved lost dog, asleep in her bed, when they ran to their room.

“It was because of your ad that I was found and now I’m finally home. Thank you for helping me,” Lady wrote.

The owner sent a note to the would-be adoptive parents. “Thank you,” she said to them, “for the courage and compassion to return her.”

And it is this circle of compassion that winds through this tale. From the photograph of abandoned or lost animals that runs in the paper on Fridays. And the fact that the Cape Cod Times runs it for free on Saturdays. There is the sympathetic family who brought their new adoptee back. The staff at the MSPCA who were worried about Darlin’ Louise’s welfare, being as old as she was. Lori, the animal care supervisor, who fervently asked me to  emphasize that people who lose their pets should call the animal control officer, and follow-up daily, as well as check with the Animal Inn to see if their pet is being held there.

And the circle of gratitude. The owner who had a tough time telling me the story on the phone because it was hard for her not to cry. The other family who were truly grateful that Lady’s real parents were found, though they had loved her right away. How pleased the MSPCA was to hear that this story would be shared.

And something we can’t control, which is luck. The shelter staff chose to take Lady’s photograph rather than one of another homeless animal in their refuge that Friday. The family read the paper the day her picture was there.

Plus, and most important, there is the miracle. And that miracle is . . . this story would have never been told were it not for a letter-writing dog.