A Dog's Tale

This is Princess, our first foster puppy. Our local shelter, the Central Missouri Humane Society established the foster program in order to reduce the amount of animals that must be euthanized because they are too sick or too young to be adopted, or because of overcrowding at the shelter.

CMHS has an adoption rate of about 20%, which is typical of this area of the country (the Midwest). That means 4 out of every 5 animals that comes to the shelter will be killed because there is no home for them. Please, please, please spay or neuter your pets!! If you can't afford the expense, see if there's a low-cost spay program in your area. Your local animal shelter is a good place to start.

Princess is a MinPin (miniature Pinscher) mix whose owners brought her to the shelter and simply said "We have no use for her". They didn't even bother to tell the shelter her name, if she even had one. When I brought her home, she was horribly thin, had some healing bare spots on her face (we think that a larger dog had bit her), and was starved for love and attention. I could feel every rib in her belly and every vertebrae in her back. She loved to curl up on my lap and place her tiny head in my hand so that I would pet her and cuddle her. It seemed pretty apparent that she never had any love or care in her first home - a pretty sad start in life.

Fortunately, Princess's story has a happy ending. She was adopted by a wonderful family with a little boy and girl. They instantly fell in love with her and adopted her immediately after seeing her at our house.

We miss Princess, but we're happy that there was a loving family looking for a someone warm and furry to share their home with. Grow well and be happy Princess!