I’m an old lady and sometimes I get very lonely sometimes. While watching TV one day I saw an advertisement about rescuing pets. After several days of thinking about it, I decided to go to the local dog pound just to see what kind of animals they had. I still wasn’t sure if I wanted to adopt a pet or not. It would be an additional expense and a lot of trouble, but I went to look anyway. The local pound had dozens of abandoned animals. But I was leaning toward a dog. When I walked into the lobby I met the receptionist sitting at her desk. “Can I help you,â€ she asked. “Yes ma’am,â€ I said. I was wondering if I could look at some of your dogs up for adoption?â€ “Surely,â€ she said. “Follow me and I’ll take you back to the cages.â€ I followed her through a set of swinging doors to where a row of cages were lined on the left-hand side of the outside building.â€ Come back and see me when you finishâ€ she said. “I will,â€ I said. As I walked along the cages looking at the dogs, I wasn’t seeing any I would be interested in. I took my time looking over what was available. I watched as the dogs, some young and some old came to the front of the cage to check me out. In the back of one cage, I noticed one dog who merely set up and looked as I walked by. He didn’t run over to the front of the case and bark like the others. He just sat there looking. His hair was long and matted. Right off I thought it was the ugliest dog in the kennel. But there was something about the way he sat there watching me. It looked as though he was looking right into my eyes. I continued looking thru the rest of the cages, not seeing what I was really looking for. A small dog, with short hair that doesn’t bark a lot. After looking in the last cage, I headed back toward the front. It was pretty noisy with all the dogs barking, but I took a final casual look in the cages as I walk toward the front. When I got to the cage where the dog sat that stared at me,  I stopped and looked at him again. He was still giving me with that deep stare. As I turned to leave I heard a distinctive bark, bark, bark. I looked to see which dog had done it and to my surprise it was that matted long haired mutt with the curious stare. The dog had stood up now and was wagging its still profusely, but still it did not come over to the edge of the cage like the other dogs did. Finally, I turned to go back to the front desk.
“Did you see a dog that you liked,â€ asked the receptionist? “No not really,â€ I said. “But I was curious about one in particular.â€ “Which one.â€ Asked the receptionist, “there are so many,â€ I said I would have to show you. “Sure,â€ said the receptionist. “I be glad to give you some information on it.â€
“That’s the one,â€ I said. “In the very back.â€ “Oh,â€ said the receptionist. “That’s the general.â€ “That’s an odd name.â€ I said. “I remember when this dog came in just recently. An elderly lady had passed away and there was no one to take her dog so it ended up here.â€ “What else do you know about the dog?â€ I asked. “Well, I was here when the dog was brought in.â€ Said the receptionist. I remember the animal control officers talking about how smart the dog was. They said the owner was very poor and couldn’t take the dog to be groomed and that’s why the dog was so ugly looking.â€ “Do you think I could take a look at the dog?â€ I asked. “Sure.â€ said receptionist. “I’ll take you to a visiting room and then I’ll bring the dog to you.â€
 I sat in the visiting room waiting for her to bring the dog. I didn’t have to wait long. The door to the room opened and the receptionist brought in the general as she called him. “I’ll leave you two alone for a while so you can get acquainted.â€ she said. As she sat the general on the floor in front of me.

