Hello. My name is Lulu. I am a dog.

I live in a house. With a yard. With two humans. They are mommy human and daddy human. They are my family. They love me. They love me more than anyone else in the whole world has ever loved me. I know this because they feed me and they talk to me and they play with me and they let me nibble on their clothes and sit next to them on the sofa, but mostly I know they love me because they save my poop. No one has ever saved my poop before. They collect it in a little bag that smells like purple flowers and carry it home when we’re out walking. I think this is funny because it’s just poop and as far as I know everybody poops, but mine is the only poop they save. That’s how I know they love me more than anyone else in the whole world.

I haven’t always lived in a house. With a yard. With my two humans. I was born on a farm. Back then my mommy was a dog like me. I had a sister too. She was also a dog. The farm was nice. We didn’t wear collars and we ran around a lot. Sometimes we chased the chickens. One day farmer human brought me, my mommy and my sister to the shelter. “I can’t have them around,” he told the human in charge at the shelter. “They’re getting into my chickens.” I miss the chickens.

There were lots of dogs at the shelter. Some were puppies like me and my sister. Some were very old. And some were in between like my mommy. When we needed to poop, we went outside through a hole in the wall. The shelter humans called it a “doggy door,” but to me it was just a hole in the wall. As far as I know, the shelter humans did not collect our poop in bags that smell like purple flowers. I didn’t know it then, but now I know. They did not love us more than anyone in the whole world.

One day I overheard two shelter humans talking. They said my mommy, my sister, me and some other dogs were on the Youth in Asia list. I wondered about this. A wise old dog told me dogs on the Youth in Asia list went to far away places like China or Japan with lots of children and never came back to the shelter. Not knowing what to expect, most of the dogs on the Youth in Asia list were scared. I was a little nervous too, but very soon some humans called Angels Among Us came and took us away from the shelter and I was excited to be starting a new adventure.

The humans called Angels Among Us brought me and my sister to a house. With a yard. With a cat and a dog. And with a human named Jade. Jade human bathed us and gave us toys and food and water and a soft, cozy bed to sleep on. I never had toys before or slept on a bed so it took some getting used to. Then Jade human took us to a place called “The Vet.” The humans at The Vet put us on a table. They looked in our mouths. They looked in our ears. They looked in our eyes. They looked at our paws. They squeezed our bellies and our hips. They looked under our tails. They clipped our toenails. They stuck us with needles and they put things called  “chips” under our skin so we would never get lost and end up in a shelter again or worse, on the Youth in Asia list (which I figured out was a bad thing after all). We fell asleep while we were at The Vet and when we woke up, we both had terrible tummy aches. I decided then and there I do not like The Vet.

Jade human brought me and my sister back to her house. With the yard. And the cat and the dog. She fed us and gave us medicine that made us sleepy. She let us go outside in the yard to poop. Jade human was very kind and took good care of us, but she did not collect our poop in bags that smell like purple flowers. I did not know it then, but I know it now. Jade human did not love us more than anyone in the whole world. It was not part of her job.

I figured out Jade human’s job was to care for us until she could find us a forever home. With a family. One day, after our tummies started feeling better, Jade human arranged for someone to visit. That was the day I met mommy human and daddy human for the first time. They sat on the sofa and we jumped and barked and ran around. I admit, I was showing off a little bit because I wanted them to like me. I didn’t know it then, but now I know that we were meant to be together. Mommy human and daddy human would give me a forever home. They would care for me and love me so much that they would save my poop in little bags that smell like purple flowers. They would be my family and we would love each other more than anyone ever loved anyone in the history of the whole entire universe. Because, now I know, that’s what families do.

Angels Among Us Pet Rescue is a 501(c)(3) non-profit charity dedicated to saving dogs and cats from high-kill shelters in north Georgia. To learn more about this organization or to adopt a pet visit https://www.angelsrescue.org.

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