Ace
Aceface
My heart was breaking. I remember the day I first walked into Hi-Tor, a high-kill animal shelter located in Pomona, New York. Cold, besmirched, and diminutive are only a few of the words I would use to describe such a place. The ceiling was covered with water stains that were encrusted with a greenish, yellow substance to a degree where I didn’t even want to know what the substance itself was. Nothing was organized, and in the front room there were various small animals stacked on rickety shelving units. I felt like I had entered a zoo of hell, but nothing was as bad as the vicinity where the dogs were kept.
A man who was full of toothy smiles led me into a hallway of metal linked cages, and I remember wondering how someone could be so happy in a place like this. Every cage I passed contained a different dog doing a different thing. Some were sitting, some were eating, some were jumping up and down, but every single one was barking so loud that I thought my head was going to explode. Their barks were piercing, and I couldn’t help but correlate them to cries for help. At that moment, I would’ve taken all of the poor creatures in that shelter home with me if I had, had a house big enough for them. I felt a sense of misery knowing that I would only be able to save one life that day. I walked slowly, glancing around my surroundings taking everything in, and wondering when I’d find the animal that was meant to be part of my family. The cages were full of mostly strong bodied, fierce looking, pit bulls; a breed that countless people fear, and almost always end up in shelters. However I didn’t fear their muscles, loud barks, or growling, and as I gazed upon all of them I realized that even though these feared animals appeared to have tough exteriors, underneath it all there were loving, loyal souls that just wanted to be loved. Right as that realization hit was when I saw him.
Big, brown eyes gazed up at me. They met mine with an intensity that shocked me to the core. I couldn’t look away from those eyes; they were full of a sorrow, so despondent that I felt myself succumbing to their sadness. I stopped dead in my tracks, and gazed at the name, which was scribbled messily on the clipboard. It read, “Ace, Male, Pit bull mix, 6-10 months old, housebroken, good with cats.”
He was a beautiful fawn color, full of muscles with a huge head that didn’t fit his body, and he had a bark that was worse than his bite. He was bowlegged as well. Ace was jumping so high; I thought he was going to jump out of his kennel, and barking as if to say, “Let me out!” It was clear that he didn’t want to be kept in his metal-linked fortress any longer.
I watched him for a moment, turned to the toothy smiled man and said, “Can I take him out?” The man obliged my wishes, and motioned for me to follow him. I did what I was told, and walked out of the kennels to wait in the room with the rickety shelving. As we were walking, I asked if there was any background information on Ace. The man told me that Ace was found in a bad neighborhood in the county, and that he was probably bred as bait for fighting dogs. I was stunned to find out that the dog I was captivated by could have been used for such a thing. The man let the words sink in, turned around, grabbed a leash, walked back into the hallway, and freed Ace of his confinement. I couldn’t help but laugh as the man was dragged down the hallway; Ace was clearly a big ball of energy. Even though the possibility of his past alarmed me, I couldn’t help but feel that he was meant to be in my life.
When Ace finally reached me, the smile on my face must have been equivalent to the face of a child’s on Christmas morning; I was exultant. The man handed me the leash, and told me to take him outside on a walk to get to know him. I accepted with as much as exhilaration as Ace must have had walking out to me. I led him outside, and his excitement was beyond adorable. He trotted along, sniffing everything, glancing back at me, and leaving little footprints in the snowy landscape behind us. Every time I stopped, he stopped. I even tried seeing if he knew any basic commands. It turned out that he was quite the intelligent one, because he was able to sit, stay, and lay down on command. Ace was amazing! As we walked back towards the shelter, I found a dry spot on the black, concrete, and decided to sit down. To my surprise Ace plopped himself down in my lap, and started licking my face; a 50-pound pit bull who believed he was a lap dog. At that moment, I knew that he was mine. I was hooked.
I walked back into to the building, found the toothy smiled man, and told him I wanted to adopt Ace. The paperwork was given to me, and I filled it out with a happiness that could only be provided from saving a life. Ace was going to be mine; officially part of my family, and I couldn’t wait to get him home!
I paid the adoption fee as I scribbled the last few things down on the paper. My joy was incomparable to anything I’ve ever felt before. I couldn’t believe that I had actually found such an amazing dog, let alone one that I was saving from possibly death. The man handed me a red leash, and told me I could take my pup home! I looked into Ace’s big, brown eyes, and knew I was finally home.
A man who was full of toothy smiles led me into a hallway of metal linked cages, and I remember wondering how someone could be so happy in a place like this. Every cage I passed contained a different dog doing a different thing. Some were sitting, some were eating, some were jumping up and down, but every single one was barking so loud that I thought my head was going to explode. Their barks were piercing, and I couldn’t help but correlate them to cries for help. At that moment, I would’ve taken all of the poor creatures in that shelter home with me if I had, had a house big enough for them. I felt a sense of misery knowing that I would only be able to save one life that day. I walked slowly, glancing around my surroundings taking everything in, and wondering when I’d find the animal that was meant to be part of my family. The cages were full of mostly strong bodied, fierce looking, pit bulls; a breed that countless people fear, and almost always end up in shelters. However I didn’t fear their muscles, loud barks, or growling, and as I gazed upon all of them I realized that even though these feared animals appeared to have tough exteriors, underneath it all there were loving, loyal souls that just wanted to be loved. Right as that realization hit was when I saw him.
Big, brown eyes gazed up at me. They met mine with an intensity that shocked me to the core. I couldn’t look away from those eyes; they were full of a sorrow, so despondent that I felt myself succumbing to their sadness. I stopped dead in my tracks, and gazed at the name, which was scribbled messily on the clipboard. It read, “Ace, Male, Pit bull mix, 6-10 months old, housebroken, good with cats.”
He was a beautiful fawn color, full of muscles with a huge head that didn’t fit his body, and he had a bark that was worse than his bite. He was bowlegged as well. Ace was jumping so high; I thought he was going to jump out of his kennel, and barking as if to say, “Let me out!” It was clear that he didn’t want to be kept in his metal-linked fortress any longer.
I watched him for a moment, turned to the toothy smiled man and said, “Can I take him out?” The man obliged my wishes, and motioned for me to follow him. I did what I was told, and walked out of the kennels to wait in the room with the rickety shelving. As we were walking, I asked if there was any background information on Ace. The man told me that Ace was found in a bad neighborhood in the county, and that he was probably bred as bait for fighting dogs. I was stunned to find out that the dog I was captivated by could have been used for such a thing. The man let the words sink in, turned around, grabbed a leash, walked back into the hallway, and freed Ace of his confinement. I couldn’t help but laugh as the man was dragged down the hallway; Ace was clearly a big ball of energy. Even though the possibility of his past alarmed me, I couldn’t help but feel that he was meant to be in my life.
When Ace finally reached me, the smile on my face must have been equivalent to the face of a child’s on Christmas morning; I was exultant. The man handed me the leash, and told me to take him outside on a walk to get to know him. I accepted with as much as exhilaration as Ace must have had walking out to me. I led him outside, and his excitement was beyond adorable. He trotted along, sniffing everything, glancing back at me, and leaving little footprints in the snowy landscape behind us. Every time I stopped, he stopped. I even tried seeing if he knew any basic commands. It turned out that he was quite the intelligent one, because he was able to sit, stay, and lay down on command. Ace was amazing! As we walked back towards the shelter, I found a dry spot on the black, concrete, and decided to sit down. To my surprise Ace plopped himself down in my lap, and started licking my face; a 50-pound pit bull who believed he was a lap dog. At that moment, I knew that he was mine. I was hooked.
I walked back into to the building, found the toothy smiled man, and told him I wanted to adopt Ace. The paperwork was given to me, and I filled it out with a happiness that could only be provided from saving a life. Ace was going to be mine; officially part of my family, and I couldn’t wait to get him home!
I paid the adoption fee as I scribbled the last few things down on the paper. My joy was incomparable to anything I’ve ever felt before. I couldn’t believe that I had actually found such an amazing dog, let alone one that I was saving from possibly death. The man handed me a red leash, and told me I could take my pup home! I looked into Ace’s big, brown eyes, and knew I was finally home.