I took Love Bug to an animal shelter for the first time yesterday. Well, I’ve taken her before, but only to drop towels and toys off when they weren’t open. Today I felt strong enough to go when we could visit with the poundies.

An unexpected day together, a beautiful Spring day and inspired by a message from my Little Sister a handful of days into her Camino adventure, we set off. Being mid-week I figured it would be relatively quiet visitor wise {sadly I was right – we were the only ones there other than staff!}.

As I’ve never managed to visit a shelter without crying, I had to prep Love Bug just in case I lost it. I said that she shouldn’t worry if mumma starts to cry, but that seeing these puppies without a home makes me sad. She offered if they needed to go to their homes that we could drive them. Could she be any sweeter.

I told her that some of them probably just went on an adventure and got lost and their families would come for them, but some of the others have already had families and those people decided that they didn’t want them anymore so they bought them to the shelter.

But mumma, that is SO so mean.

Some people are mean Love Bug, yes. But some other people might have had sad things happen to them and that’s why they needed to give their fuzzy loves away.

They should ask their grandma or their Aunty Shannon. {Gotta love how she thinks.}

Swipe {who, if we’re social media pals you’ll remember} had a rescue save yesterday and Jual – another gorgeous fuzzy I was really worried about – had a save just before we arrived, so thankfully there were no PTS from the kennels today.

I was so very proud of Love Bug as we wandered around together. I wasn’t sure how she’d be giving them treats, but she took it all in her stride. There were a couple of dogs who had notes that they were not loving the shelter environment too much so were a little unpredictable. I offered to hand their treats over, but she asked if we could both hold hands and do it.

Even the unpredictable pups seemed very happy to see us. A few were a little more excited than others. One little guy was so timid and scared that he hid in the back of his cage. My heart broke a little at that point, particularly when Love Bug said oh look at that one, it’s alright little buddy, I just bought you a treat. Do you want a biscuit as well?

There were a number of females who had obviously just had pups. Young pups themselves. I nearly cried again when one of them squished herself up against the front of the cage, not for treats, but for loves. I’m convinced that if anyone looking for a new furry family member just took the time to visit a shelter, there would be a LOT less animals in this situation.

One lovely boy almost ended up in our car. Almost. I’ll be keeping a close eye on you Benson, and doing all I can to help if you need a save!

My tears started flowing when I was doing Love Bug’s car seat up. Are you sad mumma? Yes buddy. She gave me a kiss and cuddle.

The puppy dogs were all happy we took them treats mumma. I’ll kiss you and make it better.

Can the puppy dogs all go home to families now?

*sob*

UPDATE: About an hour after I wrote this post, some incredibly sad news came up on my Facebook feed. Jual, who was picked up by rescue early afternoon, was hit by a car and died immediately outside his rescuer’s home late afternoon. Such tragic news for all. Run free over the bridge Jual. I’m glad we got to meet you and have pats today, and I’m glad that your last couple of hours were filled with love and a great big bone.