My husband, Eldad, was on his way to a crowded animal shelter to see a dog that he said “had a horrible picture.” Labeled as a terrier mix, and has already stayed over a week. We are full-time dog rescuers, so we are used to the inevitable.
I got a call: “You won’t believe how cute this dog is and he’s already spayed so he’s coming home with me today.” Later that afternoon, I walked into our home to be greeted by our two white rescue terriers and this furry ball of fluff who licked me like I was his best friend. “Oh, you look like a pumpkin,” I told him. And so Pumpkin instantly became part of the family. We’d have to find her a foster home eventually, but she was so soft and potty trained and so perfect/
Two days later, Eldad and I had to go talk to a class of children at an author’s festival about the dogs and other creatures we had raised in our home. We had no idea what we were going to say, so we brought our book and brought Pumpkin as an example of how a rescue dog is a friendly and lovable dog. I just hoped Pumpkin wasn’t too skittish. He had her tied up and planned to have her on my lap the entire time.
The children were in second grade and very polite and caring and I realized that they were too young to really be exposed to the term “euthanasia” and that it would be inappropriate to tell horror stories of abused animals. Eldad presented a power point presentation of photos of many of the dogs and cats and other critters that we had had in the house. The kids went ooh and aah and then suddenly Pumpkin jumped out of my lap. As if possessed, Pumpkin dove into the crowd of children like she was a rock star throwing herself into the crowd.
The mood immediately changed and suddenly everyone went crazy for Pumpkin. She had been abandoned all her life and she had never received so much love and affection from so many people at once. It was as if she instinctively knew “I have to get the message across, the kennel strays are the coolest dogs in the world.” The petting and hugging festival was amazing and instead of a stiff presentation, we now had a really relaxed and exciting dialogue with the students.
Now we’ve learned to let Pumpkin work her magic. She diplomatically walked around the class and let each second grader have equal time to pet her.
These little ones were filled with questions and they did not stop raising their hands with comments and at the end they asked for our autographs.
When Eldad, Pumpkin, and I wrapped up the day and walked off campus, most of the students were outside at tables eating lunch. The moment they saw us, they started yelling, “Pumpkin!”
I had an army of kids chasing me trying to get to superstar Pumpkin. Her teacher informed me that most of these children were first generation born in the United States and were not culturally exposed to animals as “part of the family.”
It is amazing to think that this dog that had had such an impact in a few hours on so many people, just two days before, sitting in a cage, was deemed not worth living.
There are many Pumpkins who face the same fate, and hopefully one day these youngsters will remember that they chose to save an animal over supporting puppy mills and pet stores. Perhaps other Pumpkins will have loving homes instead of being torn apart for pounds. I can only wait.
