Our Story, Our Anniversary

Our story began eleven years ago in May 2002 in Washington D.C.  I had decided that I wanted to get a dog, and started looking at rescue sites online.  I had read an article about the Washington Animal Rescue League (WARL) in the Washington Post and had been encouraged to look there by my former roommate, Monica.  She had just moved out and I was now alone in a two bedroom apartment in northwest Washington.  I was having nightmares again, a symptom of post-traumatic stress disorder, which I had been diagnosed with many years before. I didn't feel safe in the apartment alone.

I first saw Pongo on WARL's website.  The picture must have been taken when he first arrived.  He was skinny, with a big head and all this fluffy fur around his face. 

The description with his picture read:  "Pongo is a 5-month old Collie/Lab mix.  Happy-go-lucky and playful, Pongo will light up your life with his affection and playful antics.  Pongo loves doggie friends and kids, so please come and visit Pongo today."

I have always loved big dogs and love Labs.  I was looking for a dog that could go running with me, and thought a Lab would be a good match for me.  But when I went to visit Pongo, and took him outside to the play area, he ran around sniffing and ignored me.  He didn't seem happy-go-lucky at all, and when I tried to throw a ball for him, he ignored that too.  After a while, I took him back inside and looked at other dogs.

At that time, WARL housed their dogs in cages.  There were typically two or three dogs in a cage,  and then there was a pass-through between two cages so the dogs could visit each other.  I learned that Pongo had been there nearly six months, and spent much of his time flipping himself off the walls of the cage. 

I left that day without making a decision.  I took choosing a dog seriously, and I didn't want to be impulsive.  Of course, you already know what decision I made or this blog wouldn't be titled, "Rescuing Pongo." I went back to visit him a second time and talked to WARL staff about him.  I spent more time outside with him and found he had a bond with one of the workers.  When I asked why no one had adopted him, why he had been at WARL so long, the woman at the desk said, "no one wants crazy Pongo, he has too much energy."  Maybe that's what sealed it for me.  He was the one no one wanted.  Here was this beautiful dog who couldn't show how wonderful he was because being inside of a cage was making him crazy. People looked at him flipping around inside the cage and passed him by.

I also learned that Pongo had been found on the streets of Baltimore as a puppy and escaped being euthanized by being transferred to WARL with 12 other dogs.  WARL, being a no-kill shelter, would keep dogs as long as it would take to find them a home. 

I finally decided to fill out adoption papers, and on May 19, 2002, I took Pongo home.  I now believe he was at WARL so long because he was waiting for me.

Happy Anniversary, Pongo!  You are, indeed, the light of my life.