101 Dalmatians are cute, but they are only paper and pen. If you turn the channel because you decided that you would rather watch Lassie instead. Their feelings will not be hurt if you change the channel, turn them off, or grow out of love with them.

But Happy pups are flesh and blood, and would shed real tears of heart break and pain if my family suddenly decided to turn me in and exchange me for Benji.Though I were to search my memory banks for a hundred years I would not understand why they rejected me. Though  a million Einsteins explained to me the math behind their choice, I would never be able to comprehend why my family despised my love. To my dying day I would look up with pleading wonder and ask what I had done wrong, what unforgivable rule I had broken that required me to be sent into exile there to die from a broken heart.

As the holiday season approaches, please consider this, if you are looking at a TV puppy and gushing about how you just have to have one of those cute little face waiting for you under the tree this year, make sure that your love is true and your desire is real. Because unlike the pup on the screen who cannot hear your reproaches, the bundle of fur you get from the pound or the pet store can and will feel the bitter sting if your rejection should your love fade to cool disdain. And it is their little life that will be shattered if exiled to the pound you condemn them.

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What do you mean that you do not want me? Don’t you love me anymore? I don’t remember doing anything wrong, but if you change your mind I will not do what ever it is that you hate. I’ll be a good dog. I promise, Please give me a second chance, because I cannot live without you!