I am not 100% sure of the life that Sally had before she joined me. I know that as a puppy she had an owner who couldn’t cope with her once she grew up and didn’t want her. They wanted rid of her. My brother took her in to save her going to a shelter and risk being put to sleep. This was the only good thing he has ever done. You see my brother is a loser of the worse type. He has no respect for anybody or himself. He treats his girlfriend like dirt and my mother too. He is twenty-three years old and has never worked in his life, been arrested numerous times and is always begging my mother for money. If she refuses she just gets hassle off him and she gives in. In fact he is just a pathetic excuse for a human being. I don’t know what type of life Sally had at his place and I didn’t really care. I had never been to his flat and I had never met Sally. I just didn’t think about him and his existence.
I get a phone call from my mother informing me that he had been sent to prison for 7 months mainly because of his previous offences had built up and he had never learnt his lesson. Serves him right I thought. My mother was going on about Sally and I could tell that she was hinting at me having her. My mother had cats and my sister had a baby so it was not really an option for her to go to either of their places. I couldn’t keep her either as at the time I was living in a rented property and was not allowed animals. I explained this to my mother and she said she would have to sort something out. At this point in time I was a little pissed off. As a family we have never been really close, I am very independent and like to keep my life to myself most of the time. The reason I was pissed off that the only time I get a call from my mother is if she wants something but she made it out like she was just telling me about my brother and slipped Sally into the conversation.
Over the following 2 weeks I was in the process of moving into a house I had bought. I was also aware that my mother had lost her job and was struggling financially. She had booked a holiday months previous and was due to go. It was all paid for but because of her job situation she really did wish she could cancel. She came round to look at my new house and told me that her car was being repossessed. If she had told me earlier it may have been possible for me to help her out and stop this happening but it was too late. I then get a text message out of the blue asking if I could help her out with Sally while she is on holiday! She hadn’t sorted anything out for the poor dog because of my brother putting pressure on her from prison! He wanted to keep the dog and told her not to put it into a shelter. For gods sake he was in prison and still controlling her! For the past month Sally had been locked in his flat with my mother going round 3 times a day to let her out and feed her, this was while she was still working! she had mentioned nothing of this to me as I thought she would have been re-homed by now. I told my mother to bring her to my house while she went on holiday. I did have concerns though. I had bought a new build house with cream carpets. I work full-time hours and I don’t have pets because I never really have time for them. Was my house going to get destroyed?
Sally came round with my mother. I say it this way round because she literally dragged my mother into the house. she was very excitable running around, jumping up and generally causing chaos. My mother left and the chaos continued for about an hour. Sally then seemed to settle down a little in her new enviroment.
The first night was not too bad. I had taped cardboard down on the dining room floor in case of accidents and she was free to roam the kitchen and sleep in the dining room. I woke up the next morning and yes she had left me a present! It was huge!!! Bang in the middle of the dining room. I scooped it up and had to remove some of the cardboard. This left me in a dilemma. What do I do when I go to work? Is she just going to crap all over? I came up with a plan. My house has a downstairs toilet which is quite a large room. It was designed to be a full bathroom for any disabled occupants but it had no shower or bath as I am not disabled. It was perfect. A tiled floor which she could crap on all she wanted. I put her bed in there and this became Sally’s room. When I go to work she goes in with her toys and not once as she made a mess in there. I decided that because she had been good I would try leaving her out in the house one day. When I came home there was a present on the doormat!!!
My mother returned from her holiday and contacted me about taking Sally back up to my brothers flat. I told her that she was fine at my place until my brother got home. For another 2 months all was fine. I enjoyed Sally’s company and spent a lot of time with her. About a week before my brother came home I got a text message from my mother just confirming his release date and that she was picking him up. I told her that Ill keep the dog for a few days after he was home to get himself sorted then I could drop her off. Fine she replied.
At this point I didn’t believe my mother. Something was wrong. Then it hit me. I bet he doesn’t want the dog back! No way am I letting this happen.
So a few days after he is released my mother texts me. She had a new job but because she had no car I would on occasion pick her up form various locations where she worked. She had asked for a lift. I picked her up and got onto the subject of the dog. ” I don’t think he wants the dog back” she said. Finally an admission! Apparently, in my mothers words, he had told my sister this as he knew my mother would go mad if he told her. I smelled a rat immediately. this is a guy who doesn’t care a crap about my mother, why would he bother about telling her this. I quickly realised that this was my mother’s way of trying to show me she was in control. I went mad, not at her but she knew I was fuming. I told her that I would sort the dog out and that I never want to speak to my brother ever again. He can go and mess up his own life as much as he wants but when he complicates my life when I was just trying to help he can whistle.
I got home that night and I was fuming. I calmed down quite a bit then searched the internet for places to re-home Sally. I was in the living room on the laptop looking at various schemes which could give her a better life than she had previously had. I glanced up and Sally was sat there looking at me. She didn’t have sad eyes she was just looking at me like she knew what I was doing. she then went and sat in her room. This was unusual as whenever I was home she never went in there. I walked in and she was lay on her bed ignoring me.
I am not a guy who shows emotion at all. I feel happy, sad and upset at times but I have never really shown it. The last time I cried I was about 14 years old. But this hit me like a brick. All of her life she had probably been loyal to her current owners and throughout her life she had never been wanted. Her original owner didn’t want her, my brother didn’t want her, my mother and sister didn’t want her and now I didn’t want her. what had she done wrong to deserve this? Was she a bad dog? No in fact she was a superb dog. She was so friendly and affectionate, playful and loyal she deserved to be with an owner who really wanted her. I burst into tears on the spot when this went through my head. I went back into the living room, shut down the internet and cried real tears. The door opened and Sally walked in, climbed onto the couch and cuddled me. I just held her and held her. From this point I knew that nobody else was going to have her. She is mine!
Do I have time in my life to really look after a dog? No. Can I make the time? For this dog 100% yes. Any person who says they don’t have time to look after a dog are completely wrong. Changing your lifestyle to incorporate a dog anybody can do. Yes I am more limited now in what I can and cannot do. For example if I want to stay over at my girlfriends, Sally has to come with me. This has caused a little friction because my girlfriend says I think more of the dog than her. In a small way I do because my girlfriend doesn’t depend on me and Sally does. I have a responsibility to keep Sally happy for the rest of her life and make her feel wanted. Whilst I love my girlfriend very much I don’t have that same responsibility. Sally could not fend for herself in any way but my girlfriend could.
Anyway that’s how Sally came to be a big part of my life and I love her to bits!!!!!!!!
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