One of the hardest things about volunteering in the shelter is some dogs are there for so long you can't help but get attached and the day comes soon enough when they go home and you'll never see them again.
Maggie was one of these dogs. When she first came in, she wasn't put up for adoption right away. She struggled physically with severe skin issues on her face, especially her nose, and behaviourally with resource guarding and reactivity. Maggie was in the shelter for a long, long while. At one point, she got into a foster home but she was back not too long after. The foster had struggled with managing those resource guarding issues.
At this time, we didn't have many dogs in the shelter and she also had to go pee every hour due to the steroids for her skin. Sundays, the day when I volunteer, are also the slowest so I spent a lot of one-on-one time with Maggie. If I wasn't walking with her, which she used to be really into but once the steroids got heavier was not so enticing, I was sitting with her in her kennel. She would cuddle right up to me and I'd just stay there petting her and petting her. The staff would joke that I was her person. Every time I came in and saw her there looking up at me from her kennel wagging her tail I felt the twang in my heart, wishing I could take her home with me.
She was there for so damn long and had so many failed meets that I was sure that she'd be a forever resident. With her being older, having her health and behaviour problems, and usually being pretty meh about meeting new people I started to think there was no hope. I'm ashamed to say that it really didn't bother me. In my head, she was my dog away from home. One day, I came to the shelter and she was gone. After weeks and weeks, she finally found a home.
Every time I go to the shelter, I miss her.