Letter from a stray

I write this letter because it’s important that this dog story be told. I don’t intend to make you sad, but if you read the letter until the end, you will agree with me that we still can save the dog’s World and reshape the future of many who still have a chance and for whom it’s not yet too later.

I came as a puppy into your family and you liked me at the beginning.

But when I grew bigger, you put me on a chain in front of your house. And forget that I existed in your life. I remain alone in my small World, in my little improvised doghouse and this is how years were passing. Days when it rained inside, when I freeze, when I starve, days when I was so alone! And this is how years were passing and I became old.

My legs hurt, and my eyes were tired. I felt many times so sick. And so alone! You grabbed me one day and chased me off your garden. That day, I became a stray, one of the many dogs that become homeless when we get too old.

It’s my last winter …and again, I haven’t eaten for days, it’s hard to walk to search for food, it’s hard to eat it with my teeth, I got really tired. So I lay down, on the floor near the wall of a house, which could be mine, and I fall asleep. That day I got my wings and I moved up in the clouds, in the Dogs Heaven where my dreams come true and where I am fine.

Why it has to be like that and people can’t be dogs’ best friends on Earth, while we are still alive? I write this letter because I know you care. I know some people do care about dogs like me. I remind you shelters are overcrowded and some dogs still have a chance to be rescued. No dog should die nameless, starving, freezing, no dog deserves that because you might not know, but we, dogs, hope until the very last moment.

Please help shelter dogs! Every euro gives hope, food gives warmth and helps us to stay alive and continue to hope to be rescued by real humans. And at ROLDA, thanks to you, we do help dogs. We shelter them until a forever home is found. Or for the rest of their lives.

Dogs like Artemis.

She was found abandoned at the shelter gate, wrapped in a bag and severely hit on her head, terribly scared. Due to being hit so hard, she temporarily lost sight in one eye.

She needed time to recover and trust people again. We gave her ample TLC and medical care. Artemis is still in our care, 6 years later. She has grown old with us. She was overlooked for a forever home because of her large size and her high energy levels.