please take care of your furry, four-legged family member for the duration of its lifespan.
I’m the type of person who cringes whenever I hear about fish and turtles dying because, oops my friends forgot to feed them. Or dogs who live outside in the backyard with no shelter during rainy days and cats who are left home alone for days while the owners go on vacation. Humans are a queer species. We breed dogs until the size of walnut-brained chihuahuas who have lost all survival instincts, and then we decide, oh shoot, I can’t raise this animal.
Two days ago, a chihuahua wandered into our backyard while the gardeners were here, so my mom brought him into the garage while she was teaching kids art. I had thought he belonged to our neighbor, because who else would he have belonged to?
For the next two days, our own dog moped with jealousy while this little intruder demanded salmon and rice (since he wouldn’t eat dog food) and slept on beds (because he wouldn’t sleep on the ground in the little bed we made him). My mom took him around the neighborhood to see if he would recognize his own house, and after no success, we assumed his brain wasn’t capable of image and smell recognition. I listed a lost & found Craigslisting and received no response. My sister called the Fremont animal shelter, who said no one has filed a lost report yet. So today, my dad and I drove around the extended neighborhood looking for signs on doors and light poles before we finally took him to the animal shelter to be scanned for a microchip.
It turns out, he was recently neutered and adopted only a month ago from the same animal shelter, from a family who’s phone line is now disconnected. The household lives far away near American High, where the demographics are a bit different (not to stereotype). “A lot of families adopt dogs during the holiday season…he was probably a Christmas gift.” WELL THIS IS A CHRISTMAS GIFT YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO KEEP FOR THE NEXT TEN YEARS.
“…and a lot of cats and dogs get dumped on Canyon Heights.”
That pissed me off the most. Just because our neighborhood looks nice doesn’t mean that we’re capable of taking care of your unwanted pets. A lot of Asian and Indian parents work long hours while the kids go to after-school curriculars and SAT prep classes—no one’s home for most of the day.
Hopefully, this was all a huge mistake (and I’ve misinterpreted the circumstances) and the owner claims the puppy within the next 14 days, otherwise he goes up for adoption again. Here’s a sadface to make you feel guilty:
I need a loving home and I’m sooo cute and well-behaved.
