A Dog's Courage

     Once more I am astounded at the great capacity that human being have for cruelty and compassion. I was lead to the Montgomery Alabama Humane Society website for an unrelated story regarding the seizure of 27 pit bulls from a possible fighting ring. The investigation is on going. In the left hand corner was a link with a picture of a truly damaged looking dog with the caption of See How Louie’s Doing. I was unable to resist. I clicked.

     And my heart broke at the pure viciousness of the act of one selfish individual, who through a complete act of delibrate cruelty irrevocably changed the life of a dog, and ruined his own life because of his immaturity.

     Because this individual was ‘denied’ the use of his parent’s vehicle, in retaliation he doused the parent’s dog, Louis Vuitton, with lighter fluid and set the dog on fire.

     Louis was brought to the Montgomery Humane Society with 60% of his body covered in burns, his nose, eyelids and ears sloughing off and his toenails and the pads of his feed completely burned to where he couldn’t stand on his own feet. But he couldn’t lay down either because of the rest of his burns.

     Here’s the kicker in all of this. You would think that Louis would become afraid of people. He would snarl and snap. Bite and lash out from the pain at his care takers. No. He wagged his tail at his care givers at his first examination. He has been a trooper through his treatment. His burn wounds are healing and his temperament has not changed. He proved to be an amazingly resilient example of the extraordinary well of courage & love that a dog has.

     The Montgomery Humane Society staff have been stellar examples of the other end of the spectrum of the perpetrator of the act of cruelty that put Louis in the hospital. The MHS staff have cared and loved this dog and reinforced that the world, while it can be scary, is not a bad place.

     The person who committed this heinous act is in jail awaiting trial. I won’t revel in his capture, because I don’t believe that anyone should celebrate the ruination of a life. His thoughtless selfish act destroyed any trust his parents could ever have in him and destroyed his own life. I can never understand what causes the need to hurt another creature, human or animal.

     If you go out to the site and you see pictures of Louis, some people will say why not let nature take its course and let the animal die. If you are one of those people, I can honestly say that you have never known or acknowledged the unconditional love that a dog can give you. Or the unconditional love that a pet can provide you.

     It is not that we humanize the animals, it is that they make us more human and help us keep the gifts of love and compassion in our lives.