A Magnificent German Shepherd

I was at the Downey shelter on Saturday, Feb. 2 when I met this beautiful German Shepherd. His kennel card listed him as an 8-year old female with the name Roxy. Roxy turned out to be an intact male who was turned in on January 31, with a euthanasia request.

He wore a tired, sorrowful expression in his eyes as if he knew why he was there. He had elbows that were thickened by callous skin. One of many indications that he spent his entire life as an outside dog who was neglected. His fur was clumpy as if he was just recently hosed down and was drying out.

I sat outside his cage as he pressed his nose to my hand to give me a gentle kiss. The space he was allowed was just too small. One could tell that he was at one point, a majestic looking dog. We sat together in the sun for a while. People passed by and he would look up to see if they would pay him a second look. No one did.

He and I both knew that it was not his time to go. I told him that I didn't understand why people can be so cruel, how they can just decide that it was time to end a life just like that. I told him that not all people are like that, that there are people out there with broken hearts because they know about him and dogs like him, but like me - are helpless because we don't have any place to take him to.

When it was time to go, I asked him to go through the guillotine door to the inside part of his cage because I just couldn't bring myself to walk away from him. He looked at me and he understood. He walked through the door and went in.

This is the last photo of him taken by Ryan Olshan.

I looked for him when I got to a computer an hour later but could not find his record. I know he is gone. I hope that his last moment was as peaceful as it could have been even if it was at the Downey shelter. I hope whoever it was who took him from his cage and walked him for the last time to where he took his last breath was someone kind and compassionate.

Here is my prayer for him and all the animals who shared a common, untimely ending like his.

A PRAYER FOR ANIMALS

Hear our humble prayer, O God, for our
friends the animals,
especially for animals who are suffering;
for any that are hunted or lost or
deserted or frightened or hungry;
for all that must be put to death.

We entreat for them all Thy mercy and pity,
and for those who deal with them we ask a
heart of compassion and gentle hands and
kindly words. Make us, ourselves, to be true
friends to animals and so to share the blessings
of the merciful.


--- Albert Schweitzer ---