Surrendered. According to the ASPCA 3.3 million dogs are admitted to animal shelters nationwide every year. About 620,000 dogs enter as strays or lost and are returned to their rightful owners while 670,000 of these dogs will be faced with euthanization due to overcrowding and lack in funds in many animal shelters in the US. Sure these are just facts on a piece of paper but the trauma that some of these dogs experience are tremendous.
Dallas on his first day home.Michael Hagan
Meet Dallas, he is a three-year-old pit bull terrier mix who has had a first-hand experience of how traumatic a shelter experience can be for a dog. Dallas received the best of care while at the Bangor Humane Society but sometimes no matter how much care a dog is given being in a small kennel surrounded by other dogs barking at all hours of the day things can get stressful. What makes Dallas's story relatable to many dogs across the world is he was abused by his previous owners resulting in legal action.
"The U-Haul dogs" is the nickname given to Dallas along with the several other pit bulls that were found huddled into a tiny area about the size of a walk-in closet with numerous cats left to fend for themselves. The dogs lived in their own excrements for god only knows how long until authorities seized them. Dallas and his sister Lily were sent to the Bangor Humane Society on (2/10/18) to stay while all their legal troubles were being settled out.
Eventually, the legal system decided that these dogs should be put up for adoption and given homes.
Luckily for Lily, a family came right along and fell in love with her. Dallas, on the other hand, had a big ole' underbite and did not look as friendly as Lily did. Lily left that day with a new family as Dallas walked what was left of his walk out the door. Dallas became a favorite around the shelter as the staff fell in love with him but each family in the door just did not feel the same.
On the morning of June 4, 2018, I thought it would be a fun idea to head over to the Bangor Humane Society to participate in their "Doggy's Day Out". What this is is if you show up at noon at the shelter you could fill out a form to take a dog out for a day. After completing the form my girlfriend and I waited for what felt like an eternity for what dog they selected for us to take out for the day I saw Dallas's big melon head come round the corner.
It was love at first sight.
We ended up finding ourselves having the conversation of adopting. I always grew up with the mentality of if you adopt a shelter dog you're not just adding them to your family but you are saving their life and that's when I knew I had to save Dallas. We scurried back to the Humane Society for the 5 p.m. drop-off and declared that we would wish to give Dallas a forever home. What happened next was very bittersweet for we filled out all the necessary paperwork for adoption but were told we could not pick Dallas up until the following day. Leaving him there that day was one of the hardest things I had to do but I knew that he'd be coming home with us the following day.
After a long morning of waiting, we were at the humane society for 12:00 p.m. sharp waiting for them to open the doors. We filled out any remaining paperwork and picked out a leash and collar for him. As the shelter worker went to retrieve Dallas for the final time I took a moment to ponder upon everything this dog has been through. From being severely abused, to months of shelter stay he finally had a home and I was ready to give him the best life possible.
It's been two months of having Dallas in my life and I learn more and more about his goofiness each day.
Dallas lived the life that millions of dogs live across the nation live but what I want you to take out of this is there are dogs that don't have the happy ending that Dallas has. Many wait out their final days until they're either euthanized or pass away from old age. Next time you are looking for the next edition of your family I want you to think about this; how would you like to be abandoned?
Save a life. Visit your local animal shelter.
