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Memories of Queenie
I was about 8 years old when my mom decided she wanted to get a dog. She picked out a little collie mix about 6 weeks old. She named her Queenie. Adorable little Queenie stayed in the house for the first few days until my Dad could build a dog house. As soon as it was finished little Queenie was chained to the dog house in the back of our totally fenced yard. She cried and barked for a while, maybe weeks or months, I'm not quite sure ...we all tuned her out after a while. She was well fed and watered daily, and from time to time my mom would say "go play with Queenie". But it's difficult for a kid to play with a puppy or a dog when you cannot let it off the chain. We soon quit begging to let her off the chain. Time went by pretty fast for us, not so fast for Queenie though I'll bet. Soon I was 18 and moved out of the house. I don't remember ever going back to pet her once I left. About 8 years later Dad told me she died. Well, I am 60 now and not a day goes by that I don't think about Queenie and how she must have suffered on that chain. Living her life out that way, not knowing why no one ever came to play with her or pet her or why she was alone all the time. To this day I cannot think of her without crying, I would give anything to go back and change the life that Queenie was forced to live. Oh, I know all the reasons you don't want your dog in the house, they were told to me a million times when I was a kid and wanted to bring Queenie in the house. Train your dog or if you can't, take the dog to a professional, or ask a friend or neighbor to help train your dog. If you won't bring the dog in because you think it will bring in mud or sand or fleas, there are things you can do to keep the mess to a minimum and get some flea preventative. If none of that works for you, sell or give the dog to someone who will let the dog in their house. I know there is someone out there that wants your dog and will treat it the way it deserves to be treated. I'm sure you love your dog or you wouldn't have spent the money and time and effort to build the pen so your dog would be safe, but I also know that if I could ask Queenie she would say she would rather be free for a day than penned up for a lifetime. This has been a very difficult story to tell but I do so because I do not want you or your son or daughter to feel compelled to write a similar story 60 years from now. I hope with all my heart that you will take this story not with hostility and anger, but the way it was given, with love for you and your companion animal. I hope you have been thinking about bringing your dog in and just haven't yet. I
hope that tomorrow when I walk my dog past your house your beautiful,
loving, loyal companion will no longer be living in that pen but
will instead be in your heart and in your house with you where he
belongs. —D Smith |
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Contact
Info: Dogs
Deserve Better, Inc. • P.O.
Box 23 • Tipton, PA 16684
• Toll Free 1.877.636.1408 • 814.941.7447 |
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