For those of you who don’t know, I have never owned a dog. Though I am convinced that one of my cats is a dog, I am afraid that is the sad truth. Yet despite never having owned a dog, I do not feel like I have lacked that companionship and love. I feel as if, unlike so many people in the world, I have had thousands of dogs in my lifetime. Granted, they’ve all shared a very short period of time with me, many of them in their final days, but I loved them all. They are the reason that I left graduate school in psychology and pursued a career as a veterinarian. They are the reason I am here and I cannot wait to graduate and return to serve them once again.
Now, some of you may be wondering why I wrote this letter. Weeks ago I received an email from a classmate informing me of a website that was collecting letters from dog lovers to their dogs in the hopes of making some of the letters into a book.
While I immediately went to click the delete button thinking there was no sense in submitting a letter since I never owned a dog, I paused for a moment as I recalled all the faces of my dogs, at the animal shelter, faces I will never forget. It dawned on me that my letter was, perhaps, an incredibly important letter to write.
I know some of you won’t believe me when I say I loved each and every dog that came into the shelter, but I did. And wouldn’t you want the veterinarian at the shelter that your lost dog showed up at to love him or her too, regardless of the circumstances? I would hope so. And that is the message that is most important.
It was an emotional letter to write, no doubt. I spent just about every moment from start to finish working through the tears that were obscuring my vision remembering all of the faces that I loved, the faces that changed my life.
If you have not already done so, please read A Letter To My Dogs, but more importantly, please visit the website and leave a comment below the letter to show your support. I truly appreciate it and hopefully, if there is enough support, my letter will be included in the book, with proceeds to go to the Humane Society of the United States.