Member-only story

The dog also mattered

I still feel guilty for not doing more to help him

Shefali O'Hara
3 min readFeb 17, 2022
Photo by Nathalie SPEHNER on Unsplash

I recently wrote about how I no longer have a brother. You can read it here:

One thing I mentioned — I was unhappy with how my once brother and his wife treated their dog. But I was more concerned about my mother, who was depressed and suicidal. I wanted to rescue them both but only could manage one. That made me feel guilty.

Dexter was bought from a breeder by my once brother and his wife when he was 8 weeks old. He was adorable. They posted the cutest pictures.

They also kept the puppy in his crate for up to 12 hours a day.

That is not OK. It’s not decent. If you are a good human being — you don’t do that to an innocent puppy.

Mom felt sad for him because she is a compassionate person.

She would hear him crying and it broke her heart. So, after a couple of hours, she’d let him out and play with him and let him have a bit of her lunch as a treat. She would let him go out to use the bathroom, and then put him…

--

--

Shefali O'Hara
Shefali O'Hara

Written by Shefali O'Hara

Cancer survivor, Christian, writer, engineer. BSEE from MIT, MSEE, and MA in history. Love nature, animals, books, art, and interesting discussions.

Responses (2)