I have to share this story because I feel horrible every time I think about it.

My father and I adopted a dog named “Skully” when I was still in high school. We adopted her from the Capital Area Humane Society (CAHS) because it is a no-kill shelter and by adopting from them, you help pay to keep them open. Anyway, I had her for about 4 years. She had problems like potty-training, weak stomach, not listening to my father, running away, rough play, etc. We tried our hardest to fix these problems but there was no outcome.

Since I moved out, my father decided that he was going to try and sell his house. Having a dog around that shed a lot was a problem. Not to mention she didn’t listen to him as well as she listened to me. I really can’t blame my dad. He wanted a small dog that didn’t shed and we got a German Shepherd/Collie mix that had LOTS of hair. I know she was always a pain in the ass for him to take care of, especially when he was alone. She didn’t want to go outside to go to the bathroom, he’d come home after work and she had gone to the bathroom in her cage, she didn’t want to come back in…it was a mess.

My dad finally decided that I needed to do something with her but I couldn’t take her to my apartment because they wouldn’t allow a dog that big. I looked all over and after talking to a woman who worked in a pet shop, my fiancé and I decided that she would be a perfect person to take the dog. They already had 4 other dogs and when we went over and introduced all of the dogs together, there was some confrontation but none violent. Anyone who has been around dogs knows that they have to find out who’s the most dominant. After staying for a couple hours, we decided that it was time to go and we said good-bye to Skully, promising to return and visit.

After a couple weeks, my dad got a letter in the mail from the pound. Apparently the shit heads that we gave her to took her straight to the pound after a week! When we confronted them about this, they said that she was “violent” and she “bit the neighbor” and then “ran away” and some guy at K-Mart found her and brought her in. I tried to talk to the neighbor but they didn’t answer the door (but they were home because their car left shortly after). Again, we went and spoke with the people who took Skully and they finally confessed that they were lying (she didn’t attack anyone), saying something about the “police coming over” and telling them they couldn’t have more than 4 dogs. The fucking husband told me, “we thought about taking her tags off when we took her…”! WTF?! So my dog could get put down?! She’s a good dog! So I went to the pound and got my baby out of there.

I took her in (hiding her from the apartment people) for a while and looked for a new home. It was hard because of the food she was forced to eat at the pound. It gave her major diarrhea. One of my friends said that he would take her so my fiancé and I took her over to him. He said that he was allowed to keep Skully as long as she didn’t do any “business” in the house for a weekend. I guess she couldn’t hold it because she shit in his parents’ room. So I had to take the dog back. The only other option was to take her to the CAHS where we got her from. This was the best bet because if she is adoptable, they wouldn’t kill her, no matter how long she had to stay there. I called back not too long after but she got a “D” on her food bowl test. She wasn’t adoptable. They said that she could go into a program for “special care” dogs. They would let me know. They put their "adoptable animal" pictures up on the website for everyone to look at but I haven’t seen her. I know they killed her. I know dogs can’t process human feelings but all animals react to fear. I wonder if she knew that they were going to kill her. I’ve saved her many times before, rescued her... I wonder if she was waiting for me to step in and save her. She was probably wondering what she did wrong. I abandoned her and it’s all my fault. I feel so guilty.