DAY SEVEN - SUNDAY, JULY 19, 2009

I went to church, and Claudia went to the shelter and arrived right after it opened. She fed Buddy and spent some time with him. She noticed the shelter was very quiet and didn’t see a single soul the whole time she was there, which she estimated to be a couple hours.

We returned later that evening, and we found Buddy in his outside kennel. We fed him his usual--hotdogs, chicken breast, liverwurst, and dog food. The dog food seemed to be his least favorite, of course. Talk about spoiled! Already! However, we coaxed him to eat some, and he did. We both noticed that his mouth had started healing and looked much better. He was getting more and more used to us, as he now ate and then laid next to the doors of his kennel so we could pet him. He seemed to be getting more responsive to the human touch as his eyes would close whenever we scratched him behind the ear. There was no licking or tail-wagging yet, but we knew, in time, they would come.

We sat with him until it was closing time and then we said goodbye. However, this time we told him, “Just one more night, boy. We’ll be back to get you out of here tomorrow morning. Just hang in there for one more night.”