Nellie
I was going through the BarkingProse archives and I found this draft written by Nellie. She was a rescue dog that came to Asherpark through Old Dog Haven. It needs a little work but it’s such an amazing story. I wanted to polish it up but Mom said we should let Nellie tell her story in her own way. So here ya’ go. The first chapter in Nellie’s own words. (Finn)
I Am Nellie
Hard luck, bad luck, lucky little devil, no luck at all and finally a turn of fortune. That pretty much describes my life.
I was sitting on death row at the so-called animal shelter in Tacoma. The people who work there are nice enough.
Most of them really care about what happens to the unlucky creatures that find our way into the shelter. But they get overwhelmed. The cruelty, the senseless mistreatment of the animals that come through their doors wears on them.
They have to make choices every day – who lives, who dies. I don’t hold it against them that they put me on the who’s gonna die list. I would have picked me too.
I was past my prime, probably eleven or twelve years old. You could smell me before you could see me. I had a huge tumorous ball on my side. It was saturated with urine and they thought probably malignant.
Nobody was going to adopt me and so I had to die to make room for a younger more adoptable dog.
I had a couple things going for me, but in the chaos of the shelter not everyone could see that I really did have some value.
For one thing I was an Australian Shepherd. Now you may not think that’s a big deal, but Aussie lovers have been known to do crazy things to save an Aussie.
I was on the smaller side, which made lifting me easier. And my eyes were different colors. Yep! One blue eye that looked straight ahead and one brown eye that drifted off to the side.
Still, none of these features would be enough to save me from euthanasia. At best the technician would probably say something like, “Too bad we couldn’t save this one. She sure has pretty eyes.”
But then I got lucky. I didn’t die at the shelter. I began a new life at Asherpark. It was a wild and wonderful ride and truly a tale to be told.