Every dog has a story, and for most of my pals here at the Aiken County Animal Shelter, those stories are sad. Take me—Whitney. My last humans dumped me. I thought we were going for a ride (I’m a sucker for car rides), but then they stopped and opened the door. I thought, “Oh boy, a car ride and a romp in the woods!” I jumped out and to my surprise, they drove off! Without me! I thought it had to be a mistake, that they’d come back, but no-go. I wandered around for such a long time—lost, lonely, and weak with terrible hunger. By the time the animal control guy in the uniform and the white van stopped and waived some food in my direction, I forgot all about my distrust of strangers in uniforms.
Then there’s Scotty. Now here’s the thing about Scotty, he had a home—for, like, forever.
He loved his humans. Then one day, they dropped him off here at the shelter like he was going to the vet or something and just walked out. No ‘atta boys. No goodbyes. No nothing. Scotty was such a terrible scared, stressed-out mess, we all feared for him.
Here’s the point. The how’s and why’s of how we all got here are different, but our stories are all the same: Humans let us down. Big time. We were abandoned and dumped like so much garbage, and we never saw it coming.
So, imagine our surprise to discover the humans here at the shelter are first rate, top notch, the best—especially the volunteers! I never even met a volunteer before I came to this place—and take it from me, you need to get one. They show up every morning and take us for walks or just sit out in the yard and talk to us—not in a mean way like we’re used to—but in a soft, sweet way. They bring us treats and throw balls. It’s the best thing ever! Who knew humans were capable of such world-class belly rubs? Go figure!
But here’s the thing: there aren’t enough of them—volunteers, I mean. It takes a long time in the morning to walk all us dogs, so if we’re lucky, we only get maybe 15 minutes of me-time. That might not seem like a lot to you, but for us dogs? It’s everything.
Plus, there’s no one to walk us in the afternoon. Do you know how hard it is, if you’re a gal me like me who would never mess in her kennel, to only get one chance a day? It’s a misery.
So, please! All you humans reading this, I’m begging you: join FOTAS. Be a volunteer! You’ll have a great time with all the other volunteers, and we dogs will show you a good time, too. Like Scotty, who’s now a superstar thanks to the volunteers. He excels in playgroup, walks on a leash, and sits on command. He’s a happy guy. And when you stop by the shelter, look me up—Whitney. They say I’m magnificent! Not sure what that means, but it sure sounds good!
So please, spread the word: we’re all ready to be adopted and be someone’s new BFF.
Our lives are in your hands.
Joanna D. Samson, FOTAS Vice-President
