My name is Trevor. I used to be Binger, and before that I was something else that I can only half remember. But right now, I’m Trevor.

I remember a time when I was stuck on a chain, and the chain got stuck into my neck. It bothered me a lot, but I felt happy inside whenever my human came out to pat me and give me something to eat.

One day, a man with gentle hands came and got me off the chain. He brought me to a concrete place that smelled of death. I stayed there for a while, and they helped my neck feel better.

Then I got taken to a fun place full of barking dogs. Different people used to take me for walks there, and I got to rampage every day in a big yard with lots of other dogs. People talked to me kindly and brought me bowls of food.

Then a man came and said he was going to take me home. I didn’t know him, but he seemed nice enough, so I went with him. I was happy at first, but I couldn’t understand what he wanted from me, and he started getting angry with me a lot. I thought he wanted me to guard his stuff, but he got really angry when I tried to do that. I hung my head down because I was confused, but he didn’t understand. He took me back to the concrete place that smells of death. That’s where I am now.

- - -

Is this real? Of course not. Trevor can’t speak. He’ll be euthanized at the pound on Wednesday, and we’ll never get to hear his side of the story.

We humans have to do our best to try to understand and anticipate our pet’s needs. No animal comes ‘show-ready‘ from anywhere, from a breeder or a rescue shelter. Dogs require consistent handling, compassionate care and training so they can understand what we want from them and behave the way we want them to. When we screw this up, it’s the dogs that pay the greatest price.

A dog isn’t like a used car, that you can take to the junkyard when it fails to meet your expectations (then demand your money back from the dealer). Unlike that faulty car, a dog will learn, if we communicate with him clearly and teach him how we want him to behave. We can’t expect him to know what we want from the start.

Goodbye, Trevor. Your happiness was so short-lived. I’m so sorry we let you down.

Rachel Westfall
Whitehorse

(This letter was published in the Whitehorse Star and the Yukon News on Friday, July 24.)

For more information:

http://humanesocietyyukon.blogspot.com/

http://whitehorsestar.com/archive/story/dogs-fate-may-land-in-the-courts/