Since starting her volunteer job at Willow Animal Center, Touko had seen plenty of disgusting things. Cat vomit, dog vomit, animals that had been hit by cars and were in recovery, abused animals and a plethora of other disturbing events Ā Of all the disgusting things sheād seen she had quickly decided the worst thing at Willow Animal Center were the adoption fairs.
One would think an adoption fair would be a whimsical and fantastic experience, but Touko hated working them. She hated watching younger kids pull tails and jab faces, she hated seeing apathetic teenagers ignoring the pleading eyes of some homeless dog, and she hated watching all the puppies quickly get snatched up while the older, more mature dogs were left to rot.
Oh it just burned her up! To make matters worse, it always seemed that one or two animals ended back up in the Instinct wing after a few weeks once the new owners realize how much work goes into taking care of a dog or cat. Still, she couldnāt refuse; they didnāt have many employees available to work the event and even less volunteers showed up.
The other two wings had booths set up as well to set people up with veterinary appointments or offer training classes. Touko was being released for a 30 minute break and decided to eat her lunch on the go to explore the rest of the adoption fair. Popping a chip in her mouth she watched a younger girl show off some tricks one of the dogs from the Instinct wing had learned to a small audience.
They clapped and dispersed, but no one seemed to show much interest in the dog in question.
āMakes you sad, donāt it? Seeing all these older dogs get picked over in favor of the cute onesā¦ I mean, Iām glad they younger dogs are getting adopted but some of these old guys need some love tooā¦ā
Adoption fairs were one of Sapphireās favourite things in the world. It was a place where people could get together and see all of the wonderful animals at the Willow Animal Center, and be able to appreciate everything that nature has to offer. The actual Center was far enough from the city that people could actually enjoy the fresh air. Honestly, Sapphire would have lived at the Center, if it wasnāt for the fact that she was 15 and didnāt really have a say on where she lived.
Most of the fair was done by the Instinct Wing. After all, they were the ones trying to get the excess of animals adopted. The girl couldnāt help out much with that, knowing that sheād probably mess something up with all of the forms and everything, but she still did whatever she could. Being only a volunteer, there wasnāt much Sapphire had the authority to do.
When the actual day of the fair came, Sapphire felt ecstatic. She had worked hard to do what she could to help the animals get adopted.
āLadies and gents,ā Sapphire yelled out to the small crowd that had gathered around her,Ā āI present to ya, Nancy!ā The dog came out and greeted the crowd, then did whatever tricks Sapphire ordered it to do. She hadĀ āborrowedā the dog from the Instinct Wing, and trained it to do so many cool things! It had been obvious that nobody wanted the dog, as it hadnāt been adopted in over five months, so she Sapphire had taken it upon herself to teach it some tricks. She knew that this time someone would adopt it!
Once the mini show was over, the crowed clapped and quickly went to go look at other things in the fair. A girl from the Instinct Wing - Sapphire vaguely recognized her - came up and spoke to her.
āWhaddya mean? I think itās great that all of the pups get adopted! Itās true that the older dogs arenāt as popular, but thatās onlyĀ ācause people donāt know how great they are. And thatās what Iām here for!ā She scratched Nancy behind the ears, giving the dog a small smile.Ā āJust look at Nancy! Nobody has adopted her in a while. Still, when I showed the crowd what tricks I taught her, they all clapped. I bet there was at least one person in that crowd that thought to themselves,Ā āLook at that dog! Thatās a great dog! Iām going to adopt that dog!ā If I just show people that older dogs also have great potential, Iām sure theyāll get adopted too! After all, who said you canāt teach an old dog new tricks?ā
