Now is this scary, or what?!? I wonder what this boxer dog dreams about…He snores louder than my neighbour

The zookeepers really need to stop playing Barry White in the grassy plains exhibit. Honestly, it’s inappropriate.

Thank you Buddy

“I are Zorro!” His real name is Champ and he’s very very adorable!!! But shhhh, don’t let him know that we found out about his little secret…

The bell from the petshop door rings for the 35th time today. A 7 year old girl, all dressed in pink, with curly hair and ribbons walks in, with her parents. She’s wearing a girly purse, far too big for her arm, but all shiny and with a spoiled child’s attitude, drags her dad’s hand to hurry up. Her mom is a skinny woman, in a a business outfit and her dad holds the keys to a Mercedes Benz. I smile, thinking of a new opportunity for Soul.

“We want a pet for our daughter”, the man said. This is our chance! I walk them politely to the small shelter where the puppies are. Only three left. The girl already spots Soul and tries to pick him up, while the other two puppies joyfully walk to the small hand, waggling their tails. But Soul looks special, with his brown nose and blue eyes…too bad that those baby blue marbles don’t function well…Then I told them that the puppy is blind. The girl immediately puts it down with a “getting rid of” gesture and the mom wrinkles her nose in disgust. Soul tries to find his way back in the corner, sniffing around, taking small insecure steps. He bumps into another puppy, then finally finds the way back. My eyes get wet at the scene, because I saw it too many times…When will I learn my lesson? Rich people want perfect pets. But Soul is perfect…he offers more love and tenderness than any other puppy we had.

The rough voice of the man brings me back to reality, from my deep thoughts: “We’ll take this one!”. Trying to smile, I suggest the best accessories needed for a puppy and charge. I want to see them out as soon as possible. Another disappointment.

All the people walking in this store pick up Soul first, because he is such an adorable puppy, but all put him down after they find out about his blindness…He is so young still, and can already manage fine by using his senses, he’s playful and loyal…And he has a low price, not because he is not worth even more than the other puppies, but because we want a real home for him…

Preparing to close the shop, the door bell rings again. It’s a young boy and a strange looking lady. Trying to look busy and let them know that we are closing, I start cleaning the front desk. The boy picks up Soul, and with a dry voice I just tell him that the puppy is blind. The woman tells the kid to pick the other one then, but the boy is holding Soul tight. I don’t even bother to look, because I am too familiar with the scene. I just want them to leave. But then something drags my attention…

“You think that only because some have small handicaps they don’t deserve to be loved? Or that they can’t offer love? This puppy is just like me, aunty, and I want him!”. The woman tries to say something, but the boy continues, while on his cheeks crystal clear tears roll over…”I know how it is to be abandoned because you’re not perfect. Maybe he doesn’t have parents either, maybe nobody wants him, but I do…” I found myself staring like a fool, with enlarged eyes and my cleaning products spilled on the desk…

They are approaching now to pay for Soul…I must pull myself together. Ok, here comes the smile…Good. “Are you sure you want this puppy, young man?”. Is that my voice? It is…As a response, the boy frowns at me, holding Soul tighter.

I give the sweet puppy a goodbye kiss, knowing that he is going to be loved. Walking out of my petshop, I finally have time to analyse the two strange humans…The boy was dragging a wooden leg, but his face was glowing and Soul was licking it with joy…

Photo by ekeidar

East-european winters are always cold. Every January freezes my blood at the first breath I take outside, in the early foggy mornings when I have to get to work. The cold makes you cover even your nose, to avoid the painful sting of the frost when you breathe in.

It was one of those mornings when I just wanted to call my boss to tell him that I quit, because it was inhuman to walk in 10 centimeters of snow in a time of the day when you could only distinguish everything as shadows, because the sun refused to show up. But the common sense was ringing bells in my head so I kept walking. I was never more anxious to get to the bus station and I started making “warm” wishes to the bank which was delaying my credit for the car ridiculously much.

Swearing in my head and thinking of all the work I had to do at the office, I was fully awake now. But I had a few seconds of doubt about it, when I heard a low faint voice from the corner of the gray building which was waiting to be demolished for over a year now. “Don’t worry”, it said, “we’re gonna survive this one too…”. I stopped. My first thought was to quickly search for some small change to give it to the begger, but turning to see the exact source of the voice, I saw an old woman petting a dog. I couldn’t tell which one of the two looked more awful and skinny. The ground where they stood was without snow, covered in newspapers, and an old smelly blanket, with so many holes in it, that you could barely call it a blanket. The woman didn’t seem to notice me and I was staring like a fool. She took a loaf of bread from a small plastic bag and gave it all to the dog. The poor creature was drooling at it, but only took a bite. Then it waited. But the woman seemed to encourage it, saying “go on, eat it all, it’s your turn this morning”, pushing the loaf towards to dog again.

Without even thinking, I searched my bag, always full of useless stuff, like mirrors and lipsticks and all sorts of bills and found the sandwich I had prepared for my office lunch, as I was usually too busy to take a real lunch break. And I gave it to the woman. Without being able to say a word, seeing my bus I started running, forgetting how slippery my shoes were.

All day I could only hear the woman’s words and her sparkly eyes after I gave my sandwich. That day I had a real break at noon and ate even the desert. When I got back home, the woman was gone…the dog was staring at everyone who passed by, then with a disappointed sad look, started smelling the blanket. The next morning I took with me 3 sandwiches, but again I only saw the dog. I left them there, but the poor animal didn’t even touch them.

After a couple of days, my neighbour paid me a visit and I told him the what happened since that morning. With his black eyebrows raised, he asked me “What? You don’t know the story?”. So he told me that the dog found the begger in that corner one night, almost frozen and it laid cuddled next to her, to keep each other warm. It practically saved her life and they started sharing the bread and the blanket from that day…But after that morning when I first saw them, she died and was taken away…And the dog refused by all means to eat or abandon that corner and the blanket…I gave him food in the first days, but it refused to eat…so I stopped. And after a while I didn’t see it anymore…

That day changed my life and made me wake up more cheerful, enjoy my lunch break and a ride by bus. That day made me see the beauty of my life and be thankful for what I have and for what I can do, every moment.

Don’t we all get frustrated from time to time…?

Somebody help that poor guy there! )

“Something tells me that this might not be my sexiest day…” Well I strongly believe that he is the cutest dog in town…or…uhm…the cutest giraffe around…

“Hey you there, look at me, I’m being cute, look, LOOK, I say, stupid DOG! ”

“Merry Christmas! I miss you a lot!”