Real-Life Sawtelle Dogs

Casey

I adopted Casey from the Humane Society in 2002 when she was six months old. From the moment I brought her home she became my shadow. At this point in my life I was on the verge of divorce and the last thing I needed was another mouth to feed, but I needed to have dogs in my life to fill an empty void. 

The other dogs I had were out of control and acted like savages, much like I did. Casey was always calm and sympathetic to my needs. She constantly put her paws on me or sat quietly against the wall and stared at everything I did. Because she was the quiet dog of the bunch I neglected her attention and rarely played with her; I thought of her as just part of the pack. 

After six months of having Casey I was forced to leave my husband and the family home. The hardest part was leaving the dogs, but I had to do it. He told me he would take care of them, a promise he did not keep. On the day I left the home, Casey was the only dog that ran behind my truck down the dirt road; she knewI was leaving for good. I had to stop and put her in the truck and take her back to the house. I fell in love with her that day. I will never forget the sad expression and the look of goodbye in her eyes. 

After I was able to live on my own again I wanted to see her, I was then told the truth, Casey had been living in the wild and would not come to anyone. My parents would take food to her at my old house and she would obviously eat it, but they could not catch her to take her to a new home. I went to the house to see if I could find her and this scrawny little white dog bolted out of the woods and into my arms. I still have her and she has a great life now, as do I. She has an angelic presence with eyes that look right through you. I will never understand her unconditional love for me and the understanding that she has for my emotions. 

— Cody