What's The Story?

Lots of shelter dogs don’t have a backstory. Picked up as strays, their health issues, age and especially, personal history, is pretty much a blank slate. It’s left to the vets to fill in the first two categories and they tend to get it more or less right. But the dog's life, or at least life as we imagine it to have been, is filled in by the ones who adopt the little guys or gals.

   Sakura



Adopters can weave compelling narratives for this new creature in their midst. Most commonly it features abuse–their new friend was kicked, hit, teased. The abuser was a man—always a man—who wore a hat, or was Latino or blonde or bearded. The new dog’s reaction to any of the above forms the basis for the saga. I have done this myself, since my beloved Oliver still flinches–eight years after he was adopted– whenever I pick my foot up too quickly and too close to his face. Obviously, I tell myself and others, someone kicked him around. Then again, perhaps I just enjoy a drama that casts me as hero.




Which leads to the latest shelter sleepover guest, Sakura. A well-mannered six-year-old, Sakura looked like any other Chihuahua-mix until I looked under her winter jacket. Several ugly pink scars ran down her side and onto her hind leg. A raccoon? Hit by a car? This one may remain a mystery. If you'd like a perfect little companion, complete with emblazened tribal initiation rites, check her out here.