I just received an e-mail from Karin letting me know that two young bubbly black puppies we’d rescued from a temple and had been adopted by a nice couple this summer were recently dropped back off at the shelter, now all grown up. The owners explained that they had decided to move back home to their country of origin and didn’t want to bring the dogs along with them.

This is a situation we deal with far too often and that pains us deeper than most people can grasp. Most individuals just don’t realize how hard it is for adult dogs to be adopted and that, when they take away puppies only to bring them back grown up, they’re abandoning them to the possibility of a life without a family, without a home, and without the individual love and attention they deserve. Secondarily, the more dogs are brought back to us, the fewer dogs we can rescue and shelter.

I understand that, sometimes, circumstances in our lives change. I just wish we didn’t think a dog’s life and home was something we could compromise with.

It saddens me because the owners never got to see the two dogs standing by the gate in anticipation of their owners coming back for them. They never saw the desolation the dogs felt when their prayers for their owners’ return seemed to go unanswered. And the owners never witnessed their dogs’ hearts break when the door slammed as they left.

We’re here for the dogs. And when these dog hurt, we hurt.