I always look forward to receiving The Citizen on Wednesdays as I enjoy keeping up with local issues, reading the letters to the editor, Free Speech, and information about local businesses.

But when I get to the “Furry Friends” column, my heart just breaks. It was particularly sad today to read about a “portly senior female black lab” waiting for adoption. The write-up said that “her age is often considered a pitfall, but her sweetness and jolly character is second to none.”

According to statistics, she is a prime candidate for euthanasia due to her age and her color as there is a disproportionate number of black dogs in animal shelters. How nice it would be if she could be adopted into a caring home to live out her life on a comfortable dog bed.

There are people like myself who would take in a dog such as this but already have a maximum number of animals. We get frustrated because we can’t save them all. But there must be someone out there who can.

She had a home at one time and I assume was abandoned somewhere or turned in by her owner. More than likely, she just doesn’t understand what’s happened to her and wants nothing more than to just go “home.” Perhaps yours.

Older dogs are wonderful to adopt. They usually are house-trained, no longer chew, and are calmer than young dogs. I speak from experience as one of my past dogs was a stray beagle that I picked up on Valentine’s Day (Yes, I named her Valentine). She was approximately 9 years old and lived another 4 and a half years quite happily.

I’m so glad I took her in. The shorter time you end up having with a dog such as this is more than made up by the feeling you get knowing you helped out an older dog that was basically discarded in the sunset of its life.

Linda Conley
Tyrone, Ga.

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