Please Help – Can Anyone Help Me Find My Momma?
from Maggie Dawg

Hi, my name is Maggie Dawg. I live in Atlanta with my five sisters and four brother’s. I used to be a cute little basset hound puppy but I am three years old now have grown into a beautiful hound dog. I’ve been with my new daddy now since I was only five weeks old when he found me in a scary place – a local pet store called Jungle Pets.

My new daddy has made me a wonderful home and spoils me rotten. I’ve got my own bed now and get to watch all the doggies on Animal Planet all the time. Daddy’s got a whole bunch of doggies now but he still says he loves his Maggie Dawg best. We go everywhere together but I still miss seeing my momma. It seems like ages since I saw my momma last and my memory of her is growing dim. The last I remember, we were all sleeping with momma who was keeping us warm and protecting us……I’ve been looking for momma and was wondering if any of you might have seen her………
Idon’t remember much about those first couple of weeks, only that the place was called a puppy farm and there were doggies everywhere who would bark all the time. The humans never paid attention to us, so my brothers, sisters and I would spend all day playing together….but never out of momma’s sight. Momma watched over us like a hawk, like she sensed something bad would happen if she didn’t protect us.

This place we were staying in, I think it was called the Dew Drop Puppy Mill, was so scary and I could sense momma was real concerned. Momma used to get real mad if we got out of her sight cause she worried so much. I don’t remember too much for I was real little, but one night momma started barking and howling real loud. When I woke up this mean old man had picked me and all my brothers and sisters up and was walking away from our momma. We all started crying cause we were so scared. I could hear momma howl’s getting fainter and fainter as she pleaded to the mean old man “Don’t take my babies….please……”. But this mean old man just walked away and said the truck was there and we had to go. The women who was with this man was awfully mean too and yelled to shut momma up. When momma wouldn’t stop barking she hit momma real hard and told her “Your job is finished now….get back into your cage..”. With that, I heard the door slam…….and that was the last I saw of my momma……..

Anyway, I lost track of my brothers and sisters too cause we all got sent to different places. We were all thrown in a cage and loaded up on this giant truck full of other puppies. I think they might have been missing their momma’s too, cause they were all barking and crying. We huddled together in this little cage for it seemed like forever while the truck bounced and bounced. I was so scared and really missed my momma as we went off into the darkness. It was so dark that we all just cried the whole night long. Every so often the truck would stop and I would look to see if momma had come back…but instead they would come and take one of my brothers or sisters off with a bunch of other little puppies. They would leave them behind and pretty soon it was only me in this cage…that’s when I got REAL scared. I haven’t heard from any of my brothers and sisters since….I don’t know what happened to any of them and hope they are all right……they probably miss momma too…..

By time we arrived at this place called “Jungle Pets,” I was so depressed. I hated this place…because they put us back into these tiny little cages were humans would walk by and point. At first I tried to wag my tail hoping somebody would take me out of my cage and rub my belly but instead nobody did. Some really mean ones would knock on the glass to scare me and then just laugh. I started to think all these humans were monsters and wanted just to go back to my momma. I was so depressed….I decided to just sleep……..and dream about my momma. I kept hoping that this nightmare would end and I would wake up back with momma……..

Then one day this nice man, my daddy, came in and asked the lady why the cute little hound dog looked so depressed. To my surprise he insisted she get me out of that cage cause he wanted to hold me. When he reached into my cage and pulled me out I was so happy to get out of that smelly place that I licked him all over his face. He must off liked this cause he started laughing and told me I was going home with him. I had never been to a home before and wondered if when we got there I would finally find my momma…….

Well, momma wasn’t “home” but I was so happy being out of that cage I forgot all about her for a while. My new daddy named me Maggie Dawg and played with me all day long. One thing was really strange about humans…they don’t sleep in cages, but instead they got these soft things called couches and beds. Hot dog, I thought I had died and gone to heaven. Dad called me his little couch potato….I loved to just sleep there all day long and dream about my momma. But in my dreams momma was always crying….”what did you do with my babies……” I would wake up scared, but dad would let me sleep with him and I would fall back a sleep again. Dad said I hogged the pillow but never yelled at me, he would just laugh. I felt safe with my new daddy especially when he told me how much he loved his Maggie Dawg. Soon I learned that basset hounds were supposed to love humans, not be afraid of them.. I learned all about love…for I loved my daddy too. Sweet Dreams!

During the daytime, I would run around and play. I loved to chew things and play with daddy’s toys. He never got mad….although he did get excited when I would have to go to the bathroom on the floor. I didn’t know any different because that was where I would go when we lived in the cage. If a hound has to go….you got to go… But dad didn’t get too mad, he just would walk me outdoors and tell me that was where I was supposed to go. Dad said some humans take their doggies to the shelter for peeing in the house. He promised he would never take me there….it took awhile but after a while I learned to go outside. I have to admit it sure was a lot better not having to sleep where you have to pee.

When I got a little bigger, I started traveling with daddy everywhere he went. Soon I would start to see other doggies in the places he would visit. Dad didn’t know, but I started to ask these doggies if they had seen my momma? But instead of telling me where momma was it seemed they had all lost there momma’s too. One doggie actually told me to “just get over it”…..That’s when I really started to miss my momma…. If only momma could come live with my new daddy instead of those old people who were so mean to her………. So I kept asking everyone I would meet “Has anyone seen my momma?”……..

Dad started to tell me how much he hated these pet stores and places he called puppy mills. We would go visit both but I always had to stay in the truck. I think dad was afraid those evil people would try and put me in a cage again. When dad would come out after visiting these puppy stores he would always be in a bad mood. I would start licking him and he would smile and laugh and tell me how much he loved his Maggie Dawg.

We also started visiting these places called dog shelters. I didn’t go in there either cause I could tell by all the doggies barking that it wasn’t a nice place either. Soon dad started bringing doggies home from these shelters and that’s how I got a whole bunch of brothers and sisters. I would ask each one of them if while they were in these shelters – they had seen anyone who had seen my momma? They would all tell me no and would tell some real scary stories about the humans who left them at these shelters. I don’t know why they call it a shelter cause I heard some tales of doggies taken in the middle of the night that would never come back. Sydney told me the place smelled like death. Abbie said she lost her mommy too when her new family of humans just dropped her off at the shelter and left her cause she ate her two leggers ice cream cone….geez what to these humans expect…..I like ice cream too.. Annie told us stories about how the doggies would be taken back to a gas chamber and never return. Has anyone seen any of these doggies? Seems to me like there’s a whole bunch of doggies missing……

Well, daddy just kept bringing these doggies home out of these shelters and sometimes after leaving he would have tears in his eyes. I guess he wanted another doggie to take home but just couldn’t…..When I see daddy sad like that I just lick him until he laughs…..I don’t like to see daddy so sad……I’m sure glad daddy never dropped me off at one of these shelters cause I would be really scared. Looking for Momma!”

Well, it seems like forever that all of us hounds have been traveling all over the country to visit these nasty puppy stores, going to the doggie shelters and stopping at these real scary places called “puppy mills.” When we visit the puppy mills I got really scared, for I kind of remember that’s where I last saw momma…..but there’s so many of them that I can’t remember which one momma was in. Each time we would stop at these puppy mills I would get all the hounds to bark and howl real loud hoping that momma would hear us but she never did. Do you think I’ll ever find my momma? So, we just keep traveling just about everywhere with daddy. Sometimes I just think he can’t remember how to get home. We’ve been to the mountains…to the oceans and to the land of great big trees. Daddy says this summer were going to visit the heartland to visit all the puppy farms out there. I’m so excited…I can hardly sleep. Maybe this time I’ll find my momma. Well, I got to go now….I’m going to go lick daddy and get a belly rub. Do you think my momma gets any belly rubs? If any of you have seen my momma….please write back……..

Love and kisses,
Maggie Dawg

Randy and my Hounds – Maggie Dawg, Zoe Monster, Cleo P Hound, Toby Dog, Abbie Rose, Sydney Barrett, Gilmour, Agnes and our Beagles Annie and Casey Jones (basset wanna be’s)
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