Their eyes

"Oh! you poor thing! I wish I can take you home with me! I wish I can take all of you home with me!" is what I hear most often when I am at any shelter - even the nice, private animal care facilities where the difference is night and day compare to the public shelter like the ones in the LA County shelter system. I understand completely this heartfelt desire to be able to help each and all of the dogs sitting in the kennel. This poor Rottweiler (A3764901) came in on December 21, 2007, wearing this chain and padlock. He is affectionate and friendly despite the word "Caution" written on his kennel card, despite being just skin and bone and severely neglected - he is still friendly and trusting. Are we as a race, that worthy of such unyielding devotion and loyalty?

It's in their eyes. Their eyes have the ability to form instantaneous, unbreakable bonds. All it takes is a single glance lasting no more than a nanosecond and I would find myself forever connected to the being peering out at me from behind the cage door.

It matters not the breed or mix of the dogs. They can and often express their emotional state through their eyes with a certain rare innocence and candor.

A3768163 came to the Carson shelter on new year's eve. I wonder if his family is out looking for him. I hope that he has a good family with people who loves him and are out there looking for him. Because if he has people who loves him, he still has the hope of going home again.

A3763282 strayed on December 15, 2007. She has been at the Carson shelter for a while now. She sits in her kennel hopeful and waiting. She has long since passed the legal holding period so now her life is likely in danger. Like the sentiment most often expressed by visitors at the shelter, I wish I can take her home. I wish I can help give her another chance to become a member of someone's family.


A3763253 is truly an unlucky girl. Not only is she homeless in a very high-kill shelter, she happened to be born as the most persecuted breed of dogs in history. As young (just a year old) and cute as she is, her chance of making it out of the Carson shelter alive is slim to none. Hers is a breed that has been abused, victimized, and wrongly branded with a reputation so terrible that any time a dog shows up at the shelter bearing a far removed resemblance to her breed, he or she will be relegated to certain death. Hers is a breed that has been betrayed over and over by a society that has long decided to turn and look the other way.

A3767669 will likely share the same fate as A3763253. He was relinquished and signed over to the shelter on December 28,2007. The look in his eyes tells me that he knows the fate he has been handed and even though it is very sad, he has resigned himself to accept it.


A3766326 can tell his story with this photo taken in the rolling crate at the Carson shelter.




A3753295 is a three-year old Husky mix girl abandoned at the Carson shelter by her family on November 17th, 2007. She has been there nearly two months on borrowed time. I wonder if she will make it out of there. I hope she does.


A3764494 should be able to go to his breed specific rescue group, but likely he is still at Carson because the groups are maxed out beyond their capacity. He must wait. He is not of a breed that has been shunned and deemed vicious by society so he still has a chance of catching a special person's eye and win over this person's heart. It is his only ticket out of the Carson shelter.

This wee pup of a girl arrived yesterday as a stray. At just two and a half months of age, A3769073 has the cute puppy factor working in her favor and as long as she stays healthy she will make it out of Carson. My hope is that she will be adopted by a family who will make the lifetime commitment of loving her, caring for her. providing and protecting her for the rest of her life.

I fall in love often. Each and every time I am at the shelter, my heart swells with love for them. I look into their eyes and we form an unbreakable bond. The promise I've made to them is reinforced and they know that no matter how tough it will get; how painful the heartbreak - I will never give up on helping them.