Hello Bonnyville, today I'm going to tug on your heartstrings a little, in a similar way a story I wrote this week tugged on mine. Following letters to the editor and complaints to the Nouvelle about stray and abandoned pets in the area, I wrote a piece on the Bonnyville SPCA, specifically focusing on the number of homeless pets here in town.
I'll be the first to admit, I'm an animal person. More specifically, I'm a dog person, so hearing how so many dogs are abandoned in town each year was heartbreaking. It even compelled my girlfriend and me to consider adopting a dog ourselves.
During my time at the SPCA last week, I was introduced to six of the seven dogs currently housed at the shelter and my initial thought was ‘I want to take them all home!'
Unfortunately, living in a two-bedroom apartment, that isn't exactly feasible, and I'm not sure my many neighbours, or my landlord, would appreciate me turning my humble abode into a glorified doggy home.
Here's where I try to tug on the heartstrings – to those of you out there in town actively looking for dogs, I'd like to appeal to you to think twice about going out and buying a brand new puppy. Sure, it's nice knowing you're the first and only person to own your pet and you can be picky and choosy with what you get. But the feeling you would get from adopting a dog, or puppy, from an animal shelter and giving it a better life than it had can be incredible.
I think it's fair to say that the majority of dogs that end up at the local SPCA haven't had the best of lives. But from my experience there last week, each and every dog is incredibly loving and simply looking for the right person to come by and offer them a permanent caring home – a second chance at life. I assure you the animal will not forget the fact you were the person to save them.
Like I said before, I wasn't necessarily considering getting a dog at this stage of my life, but after visiting the shelter last week and after much deliberation with my significant other, I think rescuing an animal and providing it with a good life is a pretty special thing and something I'd definitely love to do.
