The Little Stray Dog That Feared Humans

Since just after Thanksgiving of last year, along with three neighbors, I have been trying to get a stray dog off a dangerous street nearby. We have been trying every trap imaginable to capture him. We leave him food, water and toys. I saw animal control try to capture him two weeks ago. One of my neighbors finally called. They have tried three more times and finally gave up. One officer told me small dogs like him were able to be adopted. But, although they gave up, we didn’t. We kept trying.

The animal control officer told me that this dog had probably been beaten by its former owner and then abandoned. I know “dog catchers” get a lot of grief. But I could see the pain in his eyes when he said that. He was wanting to save this little dog we had started calling “Muffin” for reasons I don’t recall.

After animal control gave up, I was able to get “Muffin” to come to me. I had some treats and I also had my shelter dog, Milo, walking with me. Milo was not happy about the dog being so close to us. I was astonished he came that close, especially with Milo growling so menacingly. I threw Muffin some treats and he gulped them down. As you can imagine, this didn’t go over well with Milo. Milo continued to growl. But strangely, Muffin came up to me. He was shaking and nervous. Milo stopped growling when this happened.

I was able to pet Muffin, to rub his head a little as he looked up at me with sad eyes that had seen terrible treatment judging from the scars on his head and neck. I silently cussed the SOB that would do this to a dog or any animal for that matter. I think Muffin just wanted to feel normal again, to try to trust another human again. But in the end, Muffin’s instinct and his tortured past kicked in and he ran away from me at full speed.

This past Tuesday, Muffin met his end on the busy street near us. My neighbor saw it happen and I went with her to get Muffin. The driver graciously stopped and tried to render assistance. But it was too late. We all mourned little Muffin. We’ll never know what happened to him during his short life. But we all had an idea.

Muffin lived a harsh life as a stray. I've seen many strays around my neighborhood who limp around, missing ears and eyes and bleeding. That could be from other dogs and possibly people who take joy out of hurting innocent animals. Muffin lived such a life, a life of hunger, of misery and pain. Life is not fair and no one knew that better than Muffin. He suffered much and finally, his misery is over.

Myself and my neighbors did our best to save Muffin. But sometimes no matter how hard you try, your best is not enough. My brief interaction with Muffin is something I'll always remember. He was a tortured soul who wanted to find some form of comfort in this world of hate and anger. But this world also has love and compassion. Muffin experienced it not nearly enough. But we did our best to show him love before he departed this world. I hope Muffin felt the love we attempted to show him before he met his fate on the mean streets on which he lived.

I don’t know if all dogs go to Heaven. I hope they do. Maybe it’s like Will Rogers said, “If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went”.

I’d say there are a lot of people that share that same sentiment with Will. Dogs are God's gift to this world. RIP Muffin.