HT Wins Essay Contest and $1,500 for the Animals!
Homeward Trails is the grand prize winner in the Northern Virginia Clean Water Partners’ essay contest!
Our essay entitled “A View From 4 Legs” was chosen as the winner and HT will get a $1,500 reward for our animals!
Read the essay by clicking the MORE button………..
The chain that keeps me from leaving. The chain that keeps me from living. The chain that keeps me from loving. Fixed to my neck. Fixed to a wooden box. My world is 8 feet long.
The heat. The cold. The rain. I endure each with only a worn wooden house to cover my head. I pant. I shiver. The seasons come and go. And come and go. I need a better place.
Walks. Cuddles. Companionship. I don’t have them. But I know them. I had them once. I had that better place. I had a person. A person who “got” me.
I have been discarded. I have been forgotten. Yet I still have love to give. I still have dreams of walks and hugs and green fields through which I might someday run.
Responsibility. I am a responsibility. I am a forgotten responsibility. I am a chained dog.
Responsible pet ownership is love. It is caring. It is a warm bed. It is walks under falling leaves. It is romps in the snow with a towel to wipe my cold feet. It is poop bags attached to my leash, on which I sniff the messages my friends have left for me on fire hydrants. It is medication when I feel lousy. It is hugs. It is a warm home. It is holding me and talking quietly to me when my days are over. It is a lifetime commitment.
Make me your responsibility. I will keep my end of the bargain. I won’t judge you. I will greet you happily each and every day. I will love you unconditionally. Forever.
Responsible pet ownership is forever. And ever.