16/08/2025
He wasn’t supposed to be there that day… but as soon as he saw me, he recognized me immediately.
He should never have been there… but he recognized me, all the same. 🐾💔
I had sworn I wouldn’t cry. Not today. Not after everything that had already happened. Not with the mud clinging to my boots and the stench of that place turning my stomach.
I had signed the papers months earlier. Given up custody under pressure I don’t even want to talk about now. It was supposed to be final. A clean break. No more contact.
But he was there.
Behind that rusty fence and half-broken gate. Older, thinner… but still him.
Diego.
The same dog I had raised since he was a pup. The one who used to sleep under my workbench and leap into the bed of my truck like he owned it.
The guy at the shelter didn’t believe me at first. I guess a tattooed guy, shaved head, with a record, doesn’t scream “animal lover” to most people.
But when I knelt down by the fence and called him gently, as best I could, “Hey, D… it’s me, buddy,”
his ears perked up — just like when he used to hear the crinkle of a cheese wrapper.
Then he pushed his head through the bars, like he wanted to come back into my life.
I should have walked away. That’s what everyone told me to do.
But I…
(The story continues in the first comment 🗨️ ⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️)