We recently received a letter in the mail. It was addressed to one of the dogs here.
Most of you know him.
Our Cam.
If you don’t know the story of Cam you can read my blogs about him here:
1st blog:  http://network.bestfriends.org/blogs/kerryclair11159/archive/2007/05/05/90226.aspx
2nd blog:  http://network.bestfriends.org/blogs/kerryclair11159/archive/2007/06/01/90211.aspx
3rd blog:   http://network.bestfriends.org/blogs/kerryclair11159/archive/2007/09/08/90218.aspx
We talk about him a lot and he is really special to the staff here and to the volunteers. He has been a catalyst for many changes here and many policies and he is just an all around great guy. I love him. If he hadn’t bitten my husband, he’d be living at my house now. Sigh. Oh well. 🙂
Anyway, as you know Cam is definitely one of our favorites. Staff love to dress him up for …well…I was going to say for Halloween, but then, that’s not true. They dress him up for any occasion, or any non occasion and they paint his toenails, and he gets boxes in the mail specifically for him (he LOVES to play with basketballs and they will show up now and again in the mail for him). So it wasn’t really a surprise to see a letter come in addressed to him…but ah…the contents. The contents were. I was going to summarize it but I think it might be best to let you read it yourself.
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Dear Cam,
Woof! |
My name is Jake.
I’m a 1½ year old border collie.
You don’t know me, but you helped save my life, and I want to tell you about how you did that and send you something to say thank you.
After my forever family adopted me in April they quickly realized that I was really, really scared of like, everything. Somebody in my past did bad things to me and I was especially terrified of strangers and people I didn’t trust… but instead of running away I would try to protect myself… humans call it fear aggression, I called it self defense in a world that hurt me too many times.
One night my family was crying so hard because they had been given the option to bring me back to the shelter, where I would have been put to sleep. They loved me so much but people said that keeping me meant lots of scary risks and no guarantees. That night, one of my humans found your profile on the Pets Alive website. She started crying again when she read about you, because you were just like me and your story really touched her. Knowing that your friends at Pets Alive were able to save you and win over your trust made her believe that maybe I could be saved too. She told the rest of our family about you, and Cam, you were a glimmer of hope on the darkest night of our lives.
You made them believe in me!! I guess it’s kind of obvious what they decided to do, since you know, I am typing this… well, sort of… I’m helping.  They promised me that success was the only solution and that they were going to learn how to help me become unbroken, no matter what.
My family says that I have completely changed their lives- that I’ve taught them how to love more than they ever thought was possible… that I’ve made them stronger and taught them so many things about life and love and never giving up. It’s been a lot of hard work for all of us, and we still have lots of work left to do, but I have learned how to trust my family completely and I’ve made so many new friends. And oh my goodness I LOVE life! I’m so happy now and I let my friends pet me and hug me and play with me and I’m so full of love that sometimes I give kisses! I even let them dress me up (shhhh don’t tell anybody, but I totally love it- I hear you like dressing up too! ). And I LOVE playing with basketballs, just like you! Basketballs are THE BEST TOYS EVER! The best.
Cam, you helped save my life and now I get to experience all of these wonderful things! I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for being so brave and not giving up. You are one of my heroes. I’m so glad that you have such wonderful friends in your life and I hope that one day you’ll find the perfect forever home! Dogs like us are really special and have so much love to give to the people who understand us, and we have so many things to teach the world. We help make the world a better place through the lives we touch and ultimately change. You changed my life from miles and miles away without even knowing it- that’s pretty special!
You and your family at Pets Alive inspired my family to never give up on me and I hope you all have a very merry Christmas/ happy holiday. I wanted to send you some treats but I didn’t know if they’d make it over the border (I hear there’s dogs with good noses that work there), and I was gonna send you a Kong, but they’re kinda hard to mail. So instead I’m sending you a Petsmart gift card, and the next time one of your friends is at Petsmart, they can use it to buy you a Kong (or something else super fun) and some of your favourite treats as a Christmas and a thank you present from me and my family- because you totally deserve it!!
Sending you happy tail wags and kisses!
And my family sends you lots of love!
Your friend,
Jakey