My Story

I wish my life had been spent in the lap of luxury and royalty, with fields of grass to run in and servants to play with me whenever I demanded it: a king and queen to love me till the end of my days. How wonderful that would have been!

You see, my name is Dutchess, and although it's spelled a little differently, the name does carry the heir ... ahem ... air of royalty. The Tucson Humane Society, who picked me up from another dog rescue, gave me the name "Dutchess". I had another name once upon a time but no one knows what it was and I will never tell.

I spent a lot of time at the Humane Society and other places waiting to be adopted by a loving family. I'm not sure just how long I waited because human years are different than dog years and my time is much more limited than yours.

You see, in a kennel the older and bigger dogs are usually the last ones to be adopted into a home and I am definitely older and ... um ... bigger. So there I waited hoping that the name Dutchess would appeal to some loving, and hopefully, royal family.

Then one day I was being led into the play yard and I noticed that something was different this time. My caretaker was there, as usual, but there was also a family: two people and a little black dog. Someone was interested in me!

At first I was frightened and shy and I cowered to the ground. The little black dog sniffed me, barked at me once or twice, and then left me alone. I decided I liked this family so I got up, ran around, and played with them in the hopes that they would take me home. I was right! They loved me!

It took a while for me to adjust to and trust my new family. At first I would cower or run and hide whenever they tried to pet me. I spent much of my time hiding in my bed. With three other dogs and a cat in the house I had to quickly learn my place in the family. This was a very scary time for me. But they love me!

It also took a while for my family to adjust to me. They had to nurse me back to health because I was carrying a tick disease and I had sore and dry calluses all over my body. They had to safely contain me when I became frightened by thunder and lightning. At times they became frustrated but, they still love me!

My family seemed to think that I was neglected or abused, kept on concrete and a chain out in the weather but I will never tell. I will never tell what I have been through in my past or what my name once was. The old memories are slowly fading away and being replaced by newer, happier ones. And, they love me!

So although my life hasn't been spent in the lap of luxury and royalty, with fields of grass to run in (more like gravel and dirt) and servants to play with me at my demand, I am one happy dog knowing that I have a king and queen to love me and care for me till the end of my days.

How wonderful it is!