In this day and age it is a sad fact of life that house repossessions are on the rise due to so many different factors. In a lot of cases it is a relief as the millstone has been removed from around family’s necks, in others, a devastating loss. It is no longer a stigma to have been repossessed in fact it can be an economic necessity and everywhere you go it is more noticeable.
But I witnessed something recently that literally made me stop and think.
It was raining heavily and I noticed a dog sitting at the side of a house that had repossessed. It wasn’t moving and wouldn’t respond to my calling it. He was little more than a shadow sitting soaking wet, seemingly oblivious to the weather. Then it struck me.
Wherever its former masters had moved to this dog had returned to the only home it knew and was sitting patiently waiting for the others but they weren’t coming.
It was like something off the Hallmark channel. This poor animal sitting in the pouring rain waiting for people that would never come at the only place it knew of as home, ignoring my calls as if it was saying, “No, they’ll be home soon.”
Fortunately, someone knew the former owners and called them to let them know the dog was there. And it suddenly struck me, that it can be a traumatic event having to leave your home but no one thinks of the pets. They don’t know any difference, only this was the place they were raised, most from pups so to be taken away from what it knew was confusing and dramatic for the poor creature. I don’t know what got me more, this dog sitting alone in the pouring rain waiting obediently for someone to open the door to its home, deathly still like a well trained Cruft’s champion or the fact it must be lost in its mind, not knowing why no one was home and the windows were dark.
And sometimes we can forget a pet is an integral part of the home, as demonstrated by Marley and Me and can be the most sensitive person in the homestead. They are almost the forgotten family member, witness to everything that goes on yet they are washed away in human events and dramas.
Thankfully this little man was returned home. Apparently he had dug his way out of his new home and gone looking for his family even though they were right with him.
I often talk about the world that goes on around us we do’t see or take notice of and this is a prime example. So the next time, you see a repossessed house, just take a minute to check for a dog sitting outside the door; just in case.
The Time Warriors 