I took a ride today !!!!!!!
By Jo Kellar
I took a ride today.   I left my mom and my family.  It was home, I don’t know if it was a good one or a bad one, but it is what I knew.

I don’t like this place, I want to go home.  Back to my mom and my brothers and sisters.  I thought this place would be nice; the people played me for awhile when I got here.  Now, they leave me all day in this box they call a crate.  I’m a baby, what goes in goes out.  These people yell at me all the time for making a mess in my prison they call crate. They want me to be a certain way.  Well, teach me, don’t yell at me.  I can’t learn that way.  They tell me I am bad, I am so afraid.  I react the only way I know how.  Then they are mad at me because I reach out.  I am only a baby; my mother nipped me when she wanted my attention.  I nipped and growled like momma taught me.  They tell me I am bad.

I took a ride today.  I thought I was going to go back to my mom.  This place is worse than the last.  Animals are crying, barking, praying for help all the time.  I don’t like this place.  I want to go home.  There are a few people here that talk to me and tell me I am good.  They tell me I will go home.  This gives me some hope that I didn’t have before. Could I please have a home that loves me?  

I took a ride today.  I was shoved into another one of those prison crates and rode for a long time.  This time the prison wasn’t so bad; I had a blanket to lie on and a toy to keep me company.  It was quiet and peaceful after being in that awful place with all the noise and cold floors.  We stopped and rested, I had something to eat and drink and time to stretch my legs and feel grass under my feet.  When I was put back in the crate and we pulled out of the drive, I fell asleep.  The first good sleep I had had in months.  

I took a ride today.  I left the home of the person who cared for me, cleaned me, made me whole and well.  I will miss her, she cried when I left.  She couldn’t see I cried, too.  I learned so much from her, how to be loved, how to play ball, how to behave like a good dog.  We walked, we talked, we gazed into each other’s eyes.  She told me she would find me a family.

I took a ride today.  That lady that cared for me so many years ago made sure I had a home to love me.  My people and I have grown old together.  We walked, we talked, we gazed into each other’s eyes.  We don’t take long walks, we don’t play ball in the park, we don’t go for long trips anymore.  But, I have known what love and happiness is.  I have done all those things and more with people who have kept me safe and warm.  

I will take my last ride today with no regrets for I will wait for my people to take them home.