My name is Gordon. I live with my human, a guy called Matt, in Palm Springs. I first met him at a place called “the shelter,” a very scary place with cold hard cement floors to sleep on where those of us without humans live.
At the shelter, they lock us in small, enclosed spaces called kennels. I had been in the shelter for so long I’d forgotten what it was like to live anywhere else. Every once in a while, someone would ask to see me, and the guards would take me out of my kennel to the visiting yard; those were very exciting moments because it meant I might be leaving the shelter with one of the humans, which is all I wanted: my own human – but none of them ever wanted me. It was difficult, but I never gave up hope that one day my very own human would take me home.
I had gone through the ritual many times – a few minutes of sunlight and warmth before they locked me back up in my cage. On Matt’s lap, I was just staring off into space with my tail between my legs because I knew the drill – humans come and they hold you but you can’t let yourself admit how good it feels because the humans always leave you behind saying things like, “oh I don’t know,” or “he’s very shy and timid,” or worse, “can I see the Beagle again?” I was just going through the motions.
If I’m totally honest, I was scared of Matt at first – I mean he was nice and he did have a great lap for me to cuddle up in, but the other humans rolled him around everywhere he went in a chair with wheels; I have since learned to stay far away from that chair (and the other one with the motor) because it really hurts when it runs over your paw.
After about a minute in the visiting yard, Matt said, “okay, c’mon, let’s go,” and I thought ‘great!… I’ll be back in my kennel in time to get some of the evening kibble before that bossy Beagle eats it all.’ But, wait… what’s this? We’re going in a different door. Doesn’t this lady guard know the way back to my kennel? Oh damn!… I’m gonna miss all the good kibble. Then the lady guard, who… ahem… between you and me was one of those lady guards who likes other lady guards more than she likes boy guards, said the words I’d been waiting so long to hear, the words I will never forget: “hey Gordon you’re going home.”
The shelter had been my only “home” after I was abandoned for what seemed like a lifetime. I had a painful hernia that was in need of surgery. The guards had determined I was a lost cause, so they scheduled me to be “put down.” But I got a last-minute reprieve when the Friends of the Palm Springs Animal Shelter rescued me, brought me to the desert, and paid for my surgery.
Meeting Matt – wow! that might never have happened but for an administrative mistake that listed me on the shelter’s website as available for adoption the day of my surgery; I was supposed to have at least ten days to recover first. Matt turned up after reading my story online, and insisted on seeing me when I got out of surgery. He convinced them it would be better for me to recuperate with him at his home, which is my home now too.
I got my own human and a forever home, but there are lots of dogs just like me still suffering and alone on the cold hard floors of shelters waiting for someone to love as much as I love Matt. Won’t you help them out? Head over to Pets and People Together.
I have a wonderful life now, with lots of toys – like Lambchop, my stuffed lamb who must be vanquished – and treats that are yummy in my tummy. I get lots of scritchey-scritches behind my ears and belly rubs (which are my favorite). Matt’s bed is really soft with lots of blankets to crawl under and go to sleep. When I wake up every morning and see Matt, I have only one question for him: “can we spend the day together at home?”