I can’t remember a time in my life when I didn’t feel pain.  It hurts to walk, to shake, to eat, to live.  It’s dark outside now.  I’m being driven somewhere.  It’s been a long time since I’ve been in the car. I love car rides, so I’m thankful.  I wonder where I’m going.  Suddenly, I’m being lifted painfully from my position in the backseat and casually tossed onto a doorstep of a house I’m not familiar with.  There are lots of smells on this doorstep.  Cats…mainly I smell cats.  There are dog and human odors too.  I know immediately this is a place that many animals have visited.  I’m so tired from worry, I decide to lay on the porch.  I’ll just stay a few minutes, until I get my strength back…

Light, bright light!  I awake to the sun streaming on top of me.  It warms me from the inside and I feel better.  I hear the sound of a car door slam and I wonder if my owners have come back for me.  I lift my head to sniff and notice that the human is male.  I’m scared, but I know I can’t run away…the pain.

“Hey, old guy,” he says in a soothing voice.  I start to snarl at him, but notice the way he smells.  He smells warm, like other dogs and cats.  I lick his hand once.  He smiles and strokes my furless back.

“You need to see a vet,” he says in the same soothing voice.  I try to get up and follow him, but can’t.  My paws hurt so badly.

“You poor old guy,” he croons.  Suddenly I’m being lifted off the ground.  I’m not scared anymore.  He puts me in the car.  I sleep in his lap the whole way.

I don’t like the “vet.”  I don’t like him at all.  He stuck something sharp and pointy in my leg until blood came out of my body.  It hurt.  I whined, but felt better because the man stayed with me the whole time telling me it was going to be okay.  Then, the “vet” took out a sharp tool and started digging my claws out of my paws.  He cuts my claws back.  It’s uncomfortable for a time, but still the man stays with me.

In the end I’ve learned to appreciate the “vet.”  He has made me look and feel better than I ever remember!  It’s been 3 years since the nice man found me.  I’m a happy dog now.  With good food and care, my coat grew back and I can walk again!  I live with the man, his wife and their other dogs.  We go for a ride in the car everyday!  I’m an old dog.  I can’t use the dog door to go outside like the other dogs do, and I have to be carried up and down the stairs every night, every morning, and every time I have to go to the bathroom.  Companion animals should always have a happy ending…I got mine!

This is the story of Grizzly.  Heaven Can Wait Society’s mascot.  It’s all true.  He was dropped off at the doorstep of the Heaven Can Wait house 3 years ago.  He had very little fur, his claws had grown so long they were digging into his paws, and a blood test indicated he had a thyroid condition.  Griz has thrived under the constant care and love of all the devoted people at Heaven Can Wait Society.  No one deserves more credit for Griz living beyond his time than Harold and Rachel Vosko.  Although Harold may complain that Griz marks every piece of furniture in the house, barks loudly and endlessly at all hours of the night to be let out, and blatantly ignores commands he doesn’t wish to respond to, we all know that Griz has a very special place in the hearts of all of those living in the Vosko household!

- Lindsay Yates