I Know Someone...

I know someone.  A nice someone.   He volunteers at the shelter where I walk dogs.  He’s a normal guy.  You wouldn’t look twice if you passed him on the street.  I met him the first day I walked dogs.  I don’t know that he even really left all that much of a first impression on me.  Middle age, receding hairline, a little on the short side.  Shy, but not awkward.  Friendly, but not outgoing.  Just a guy that walks dogs with us.

I only walk dogs on the day the shelter’s closed.  The rest of the time there are plenty of volunteers and staff and people looking to adopt, so the dogs get plenty of attention and exercise.  On Mondays someone comes in and feeds them in the morning and gives meds to the ones who need them, but if we didn’t come in they’d all be stuck inside their pens until Tuesday.  I like the people I walk dogs with, I love the dogs, and I get a few miles on my tennis shoes, so it’s something I look forward to. 

I don’t know his story.   We talk about the dogs.  If you get him, I’ll walk her.  Make sure you keep those two separated.  Isn’t she looking so much better?  What do you say we fill up the swimming pool and let the labs play in the yard?  That kind of thing.  He knows all the ins and outs as he’s there much more than I am, so he gives me the background on the new dogs, describes the people that adopted dogs during the week.  He never fails to ask about my three.  He has six dogs and three cats of his own.  He scoops poop, shovels mulch, digs French drains, installs fence.  He does whatever needs to be done.

He has a way with the animals.  Even the most fearsome and wild creatures are babies in his presence.  Feral cats let him hold them.  Mama pit bulls let him hold their puppies.  It’s like they KNOW that they can trust him.  I’ve seen him sitting in a corner of a dog pen with a fearful little sheltie in his lap for hours.   The only time she didn’t shake and shiver was while he was holding her, so he held her.  For hours.  He was still sitting there when we locked up and went home.  Sitting on the cold ground in a dog pen giving that little dog some peace.  I don’t know how late he stayed.

There are good people in this world.  Sometimes it’s hard to remember that when there seems to be an abundance of negativity and cruelty.  But I know someone.  A nice someone.