RPC needs our help

To the Editor:

This is a shelter dog's story from trash to treasure. It was January 2007, that we went to visit the Allen Hill Shelter. It was love at first sight when I saw this old cocker spaniel gazing up at me with expressive, hopeful eyes, tail wagging and pulling on my heartstrings. I knew we would not be leaving without her.

We drove home on that cold January day with the windows open due to the foul stench in the car. Her ears were badly infected with yellow, putrid drainage oozing out.

Once we arrived at home, our four dogs greeted her, sniffing every inch! She stood there, ever so gentle, tail wagging. She let me clean her painful ears and trim her neglected nails. They grew like curled claws, reaching around to the bottom of her paw pads. By then the old girl was ready for a nap.

We soon learned that she was deaf, due to her untreated infection. She was my velcro dog, sticking close by, earning the name Sweet Potato because of her gentle nature.

No way did a deaf 11-year-old cocker spaniel run away from her previous home. It's saddens me when I think about this little lost soul wandering around the streets in the winter, not knowing what to do next.

How could anyone just dump her like a piece of trash? I'm sure this deaf old dog was happy to see the animal control officer, tail wagging.

We enjoyed her company for the next three years and then she died by my side in January 2010. Sweet Potato will always be my special treasure. Oh, how we love and miss you!

We urge readers to seek out their own special trader and adopt a shelter dog or cat. Through no fault of their own, animals are abandoned.

Responsible Pet Care needs our help now to purchase a much bigger building to give these precious animals a second chance while they await their forever homes. We plead with all who love dogs and cats to send a donation to: RPC, P.O. Box 82, Norway, ME 04268.

Phillip and Dianne Waterhouse

West Paris