Where has our compassion gone?

Is it just me or is it the fact that our modern technology has opened a door of information to us that we just see more?  I'm sure that not a week goes by that I don't get an email, call or Facebook about an old dog being turned into a shelter by their owner.  These out of all the "dumped" stories have got to be the saddest.  I just don't get it.  A family has a relationship with a dog for it's entire life and as it draws to the end, when they need support, tlc, compassion and patience it is all taken away.  It breaks my heart each and everytime I read one of these stories.  As you know I have a houseful of old dogs and as I look at them curled up in their favorite spot, warming their body in a beam of sunshine, I can't imagine what it would be like for them to be dumped into a cold concrete cage to live out the rest of their days.  Where has our compassion gone?

"I just can't do this."  Is this the reason?  Is it too much work to care for an aging canine?  Well folks, life with dogs is rarely glamorous.  Oh sure there are the ones you see on t.v. the starletts carrying around their glammed up pocket pooches in their designer bags that live in a fantasy world.  But if you are a regular type person with a dog, it can get messy.  Messy is an understatement sometimes.

All I want for my old dogs is for them to be as comfortable as I can make them.  I want to make sure that they get the best of food, love, care and above all patience and understanding.    Heck, we are all heading in the same direction.  Sadly they will beat us to the finish line but while they are here they give us their all.  Do people love their dog all their young life and then all of a sudden do a 180 and not like their dog anymore?  I think not, I think anyone who surrenders a senior dog to a shelter or rescue for that matter, never had compassion for their animal.  And I say here for all to see, shame on you.  I am appauled that humans do this and think it is thoroughly disgusting. 

It is a sad situation for all involved.  The human surrenderer undertakes a deed that is heartless and cruel.  The facility feels helpless knowing that a senior dog has little chance to leave and find a forever home.  And the dog itself, just imagine the confusion.  Many old dogs have little hearing or sight, a change can be catastrophic to their well being.  The life they have always known, gone in a flash and they are left alone, all alone to face their final days.  I'm sure that many slip away in despair, their last days spent waiting for the return of their family that never comes.  It is a heartless act.

What does it say about our race?  It doesn't look good from where I'm sitting.  We have put so much emphasis on unimportant things that many of us have become caught up in it all and have lost the way, lost any speck of compassion that we may have had.   What sort of example is this for our children?  A horrible lack of respect for life, a compassionaless act.   Life is important, any stage of life, not just the cute young part of it.

With all the people letting down humanity itself, there is hope.  There are those who are stepping up and giving these old dogs the respect that they deserve.  And for many it may be the only love and real care that they have ever known.   I applaud anyone who takes in an old dog, those who restore an old dogs dignity.  It is true, old dogs can be stinky and a lot more work than when they were in their prime.  But the care given to an old dog should come from the heart, it is not a duty but a gift we are given when we live with a dog all of our life, the gift of giving.  A time for us to give back.