It was a rainy morning and I was searching for a place to lick myself dry. I was wet, itchy and hungry – all at the same time.
Well, this is not uncommon for us – street dogs.
What was worse, the eateries, restaurants and meat shops were closed all of a sudden, and there was no one visible in the streets. Where are you humans? I miss those tidbits and leftovers.
Now the dustbins were empty for most of the time. Even if I wanted to peep in, I was surrounded by other hungry dogs baring their teeth at me. I was too tiny and weak to put up even a woof, leave alone a fight.
I hunted for a morsel the entire day, but got nothing except rotten paper and plastic. I ate some paper during the day and drank water from the puddles.
That evening I got lucky – a muddy half-eaten pretzel lying near the school playground. I gulped it down breathlessly.
Now my stomach was not making those funny sounds, but as it got dark, my body ached with the cold breeze. I had to look for a place soon before my bones freeze to become popsicles.
The school was closed too with no one to be seen around. I made myself cosy and safe under the staircase for the night. That night’s sleep was a peaceful one after a really long time.
The school staircase had become my hiding place and I felt safe there. But with no food I was becoming weaker each day. Soon the day had come when I tuned all skin and bones. I could not even move anymore.
My body was sore with the tick bites and weakness was gradually killing me.
One night, a group of people found out my hiding place, gave me some food, and took me with them.
The next morning, I woke up in a place full of dogs. I could hear too many of them, but from a distance.
A sweet little human voice approached me, while I was too weak to lift my head to see her.
She gently bathed me, gave me some food, and cared for me day and night.
In a few days, I was free from those pestering ticks, and had regained my energy.
In the all-dog home I met my other dog-friends, some of them skin and bones like the old me, resting to get well soon, and others playing around.
The humans here made a unique sound to call each one of us, like when they called out to me, they made a sound – Good Boy Larry!
Another brown dog who had told me how he was saved from a flooding canal, was called – Bruno! Bruno! Bruno!
In this dog-home, there were human friends looking after all of us – some young like me and others old.
Here, we had everything we needed – food, love and care. But there were too many dogs, increasing day by day. I had to share my bed with Bruno and Julia.
We needed a home. My special human who visited us every day used to tell me – “You will all find your forever home soon, Larry!”
While she spoke these words, a kind lady walked-in to meet her. She was holding a box of some mouth-watering food. The smell was killing me.
Good boy Larry could not keep up. I jumped the pen, sprung towards that box and nudged it down with my snout, all in 5 seconds. That’s my personal best!😁
Lying on the floor were some lip-smackingly-good triangle pieces of meaty breads.
My special human grabbed those pieces and yelled – “Enough pizzas Larry, slow down.”
The kind pizza-lady laughed and kissed me, and now I was naughty boy Larry.
I was promoted.😎
That lady took a picture of me while I swallowed those pizza-triangles from heaven.
The next week, the kind pizza-lady came again, but this time I saw my picture on the pizza box. I instantly knew that box was for me.
Well, I didn’t get any pizza that day, but the next morning I was in my forever-home.
I got adopted!!!
So, that wasn’t just a pizza-box, it was a magic box that gave me wings to fly to my forever family.
Thank you! – Just Pizza & Wings Co.
So, Just Pizza & Wings Co. is a pizza restaurant in Amherst, New York. They put flyers of adoptable dogs like me on their pizza boxes.
Mary Alloy (the kind pizza-lady) who owns this pizza franchise began volunteering with the Niagara Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA).
Alloy worked with Kimberly LaRussa (my special human), an SPCA event coordinator, to figure out ways to help more shelter animals find their forever homes.
I was just a 6-months-old puppy when I was adopted after just a single day of putting the flyers on the pizza boxes.
In this way, my doggo friends from the shelter find a home, the pizza company is blessed with more orders after the unique idea, and the yummiest part – anyone who adopts a dog featured on a pizza box flyer receives a $50 gift voucher from Just Pizza & Wings Co.
Dogs and Pizzas! Best combo ever!
Also read – An autobiography of a stray dog (Selfie)
Also read – The Story Of A lost dog who saves a life
Also read – Brownie – The Lucky Dog Who Was Rescued Twice
Share this story with all the dog lovers out there 😊