Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner(s)!

I meant to write about this quite a while ago, but as evidenced by my blog post paucity, time just got away from me. But, better late than never. Here follows a harrowing tale of death, disdain, and heart wrenching pain.

A few weeks ago, as I was walking my dogs downstairs to go for their nightly business, I heard a man talking and his wife crying. I immediately recoiled in a fit of awkwardness, thinking I was about to happen upon a lovers' quarrel. What I in fact encountered was much, much worse.

As I rounded the corner I could make out what the woman was saying: "My baby! She killed my baby!" accompanied by horrible, wracking sobs. She sank down the wall, crying uncontrollably, and I was left floundering, with no idea what was going on or what to do. I turned to her husband and he proceeded to tell me that their tiny, perfect, baby dachshund puppy had been run over in our apartment building parking lot.

This would have been horrifying enough, but after seeing my aghast face and realizing he had a calm albeit horrified ally in me, he elaborated. Apparently the girl driver (who I now refer to only as Puppy Killer) came around the back corner of the parking lot at breakneck speed, never hitting the breaks until she swung into her spot. The hapless couple, walking their dog from their car to the door, never had a chance to react. Their dog was hit by the front tire and died almost instantly. Puppy Killer, getting out of her car, reacted flippantly, saying only "It wasn't my fault" before walking inside and going up to her apartment.

Anyone who knows me will tell you I am an avid dog lover. At hearing this news I was near tears--both in sympathy for the poor couple and their unfortunate dog, but also in rage that someone could kill an animal and feel absolutely no remorse--to the point of not even acknowledging the incident.

I was now faced with walking my dogs out in the yard where the dog lay. We went out into the darkness and the pups immediately wanted to smell the small, broken body. In the process of pulling them away toward less occupied grass, I noticed that it looked like the tiny pup had actually been decapitated by the force of the car. It was horrifying to see such a helpless, defenseless, innocent animal lying limp and shattered there in the half-light. And it made me gather my dogs closer to me and vow never to walk them off the leash again.

I felt horrible for my poor neighbor, having to scoop up his puppy in a trash bag and throw it in the dumpster with the old furniture and rotten vegetables. I would be devastated to have to do that for either of my babies.

Which brings me to the moral of the story. Without being a crazy dog lady, my dogs are my babes. I love them with all my heart. I feed them and care for them. I take them to the park and hope they get along with their peers. I hold them when they are scared and I sit up with them when they are sick. I play with them, and cuddle with them, and when they misbehave I discipline and try to teach them. They run to me when I get home from work at night, and they climb into bed with me on weekend mornings to nap in the sun and the safety of my arms. When they are hurting, I hurt. When they are joyful, my heart is full. And when they accomplish something, I am proud. They might be animals. I might not have carried them inside me. But they are my heart, my comfort, and my pride and joy. And, to my way of thinking, anyone who would thoughtlessly take them away from me are just as culpable, heinous, and perverse as the people who kidnap and murder human children. They are destroying something that lives only to make someone else happy; something that is malleable, innocent, and naive. It is cruel that people treat the lives of animals as if they mean nothing. Just as in the case of deciding to have a child, our species has domesticated and dominated most of the animal kingdom, and this gives us a certain responsibility toward those we control. We can not simply use and discard other life forms at our leisure--we are not yet gods. I have known many more honest, sweet, personable dogs than I have humans, and those dogs deserve to live out their days in love and luxury.

Long story short, don't hurt by darlings. They are my family, and I will protect them like a the matriarch I am.