Day 266: Unanswerable

Penn came to stay for a while on Tuesday. The Humane Society will have a pet adoption event from 1-4 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 11 at Petsmart in Fayetteville, AR.

Look at that face.

I know that a lot of pet people assign human emotions to animals. What I don't know is how much of that is imagined, and how much of it is real. I can say with confidence I've seen animals display characteristics that would indicate happiness, anger, sadness, shame, love...

Penn was abandoned... dumped on the side of a road. It's a miracle that he survived long enough to make it to the HS folks. If this winter had been like last winter, he probably would not have survived.

Which would be a shame, because he seems like he will be a great dog. He's smart. He's already close to mastering crate training and some basic commands such as "sit" and "stay." He is comfortable in a crate, and almost completely housebroken.

Yet some hellbound jerk ditched him alongside the road like a piece of garbage.

Look at that face. This picture was taken after about 10 hours at home with Penn the penguin. I've seen it a few times since. He has already grown attached to us. He has already found a favorite place on the couch... he wants to get so close to you as to be welded together. I saw that look on his face and thought about how tough his life had been in these few short months. He's had to fend for himself. He's a tiny little guy but growing. He's got some toughness -- he had to or he'd be dead -- but at heart he responds extraordinarily to attention and love. He wants to please.

When I took this picture I felt like his eyes were pleading with me to show him something positive, something good about people. Because most of the people in this guy's life have been unworthy. I don't want to disappoint him.

Someone once said we should aspire to be the person our dog thinks we are. A good goal. I want Penn to know that he's worthy of being loved. That shouldn't be that hard, because he's a sweet little dog.

M said something last night that was spot on: In a way, it's a good thing that Penn was dumped. Because the terrible person that did that has no business owning any animal, much less one as wonderful as this little guy.