How Adopting A Senior Dog Changed The Direction Of My Life
This is Nenito
On the morning of Christmas Eve in 2022, I woke up as if possessed, and by the end of the day I had somehow adopted a senior dog without any planning or previous thoughts.
Divine Influences
That’s really the only way I can describe that morning. I already have 2 dogs in their senior years, and I had zero intentions of adopting a senior dog who was in his geriatric years.
However, I had recently started working with some families near my area who were quite poor but had 9 dogs. The family’s teenage daughter kept finding strays in deplorable conditions and bringing them home.
The home consisted of wooden slats and a tin roof, and while she did her best to feed these dogs, they had barely enough money for themselves. One of the dogs (she can be seen in this picture in the middle walking away from the camera) was in particularly bad shape and particularly beautiful, with steel blue eyes. My friend wanted to adopt her and see if we could nurse her back to health. I immediately went to the internet to find a rescue organization that might be able to suggest a vet with reasonable fees.
We didn’t find a vet in time unfortunately – a few days after our visit the girl wrote me to let me know the dog had died because she tried to eat a “sapo” – a toad, most of which are highly poisonous to dogs.
My friend and I were both devastated.
I spent a few days crying and pushed by a sense of grief kept looking at the rescue pages on Instagram.
On one of these days, while looking at DEFENSORES DE ANIMALES PTY I came across this picture
For those that don’t read Spanish it says
“Name: Nenito, Age 13, Sterilized, Vaccinated, Has never had a family. Because of his age he has no hair. He sleeps all day and is very quiet.
13 Christmases without a home. 4,745 days in the refuge.”
Later that afternoon he was in my lap on our way home.
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