Sweetie

by Bette
(Ohio)

On December 29, 2002, after the death of my husband, I visited the local animal shelter to obtain a companion to help me fill the void in my life caused by his death.

There I found a wonderful little gray poodle huddled in the corner of a cage. One of the staff members recommended I spend some time with him. She brought him into the waiting room and the little fellow just ran up to me and hugged my leg. It was love at first sight for both of us. Upon our leaving the shelter the staff member called out to me "where is he going to sleep". I laughed and replied "with me I hope" and for years he has done just that. My sister calls him the "perfect" dog. He is around 14 now and I am 71, every day I count my blessings that I visited the shelter that particular day and that I have had such a wonderful companion to share my life. He has no clue that he is not human and I for one will never tell him. We are both growing old now and not as active as we once were but we continue to enjoy our day to day lives together and hope to share many more together. I wholeheartedly encourage anyone who sincerely wants to share their life with a mature animal to visit their local shelter and talk to the staff members there about adopting s discarded pet.