Our neighbor had a dog named Spring. They took him in one day and I wasn't too keen on the idea. Spring was male but I had two female dogs. I didn't want any more puppies so I managed to have one spayed but I digress.
Spring was a particularly feisty dog. The name suited him. I didn't know where they found him but one thing I noticed was that Spring could stand to be around people but didn't want to be touched or held. He would always recoil from outstretched hands. Perhaps he was a stray used to abusive people but I wasn't sure.
Our neighbors are a small group of security guards. Given their line of work, you couldn't tell exactly who was in the house at any given moment. They clearly worked irregular shifts and the house was just an area to bunk before their jobs. I assumed Spring was taken in as a deterrent against thieves. The house they were occupying was by the gate and outer wall.
One thing that was clear was that Spring wasn't well fed. They fed him scraps at first but it wasn't enough. Spring looked for food elsewhere so it led to him always bringing in garbage from the outside. It got so bad at one point that my mother complained to them personally about the mess. To our surprise, the guard who was there at the time denied that the dog belonged to them. It probably belonged to one of the guards but it wasn't clear who. Again, the house was basically a barracks where whoever could just come in and out.
Whoever the owner was, he didn't seem to be around anymore or maybe he stopped caring. I suspect that Spring wasn't being fed anymore because the garbage kept piling up and Spring was getting thinner. I felt sorry for him and decided to feed him a little dog food every now and then. Little did I know that this would cause him to bug me to no end. Whenever I arrived, he would jump around and run circles around me until I gave him something. He ate hungrily; almost desperately. My other dogs didn't like it one bit. If dogs could express emotions, envy and indignation were probably it. "How could I feed a dog that wasn't even mine?" they must have thought.
Spring was annoying but I have to admit he grew on me a little.
One day, Spring didn't come out as usual to beg for food. I found it odd since I was used to it at that point. Then the next day came and still no dog. I thought, somewhat innocently, that they must have taken him somewhere else.
As I came home one night, I asked one of our help about Spring and how I didn't see the dog for days. I didn't think much about the question; it was just small talk. She answered me, rather plainly, that they had Spring killed. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't taken aback by the reply. She tried to tell me the details of how they did it and where they did it and how she couldn't stand to see it but I made it clear I didn't want to hear it. I didn't enjoy my dinner or the rest of the evening.
Why does it bother me so? Spring wasn't my dog after all. A long time ago when our gated area was overrun by stray dogs, we had them taken away. We figured it was a danger to have stray dogs, who were not injected for rabies by the way, running around with all the neighbors having children.I felt a little bad but it had to be done. Did Spring have to die? At worst he was just annoying. The whole affair bothered me a lot. It bothered me so much that I'm writing about this rather insignificant thing when a lot of more important nonsense is happening in our country. After thinking about it a lot, I now know why.
It just wasn't fair.
All that dog was guilty of was being a dog. It's not his fault why he brought a lot of garbage into the driveway. Maybe if they fed the damn thing, he wouldn't have done so. It just wasn't fair. They brought a dog into their house only to neglect it and then kill it because it was way too much of a bother to buy a sack of dog food every once in a while or maybe tie him up next to a tree.
I don't think any ill of the guards. It was their decision to make. As much as I like the company of dogs, I don't put them on a pedestal like some PETA activist. I felt bad when Jackie died of course, but in the end, a dog is still just a dog. The fact that they have shorter lifespans kind of prepares you for the inevitable and the time after that. Still, I don't know why the fate of some animal could stir such negative feelings in me. That dog was just hungry. It was hungry all the time. Even after you gave him a bowl full of dog food, it was still hungry... for something else maybe.
What a terrible existence.
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