A Brand New World

Hello, my name is Lazarus and yesterday I began a brand new journey, I am living in a brand new world.
I previously lived my life on a chain with a metal barrel as my only shelter often though my chain was so twisted that I could reach my metal barrel. My life was so lonely, void of parental affection or attention. I had very nice neighbor ladies who took as good care of me as they could. They tried for years to get me removed from my terrible, lonely life. Only after I was confiscated by the police and animal control did I get out of there. But, my hopes were dashed when I ended up in a noisy, scary place they called the county shelter. There were nice volunteers there who were nice to me but this one time another dog got mad at me and we got into a little tussle that landed me in an even worse place. They called it quarantine, but I wasn't contagious so I don't know why I was put here. It was very, very scary and sooo loud. The nice volunteer ladies couldn't spend time with me any more. I was here for months, I was loosing hope, I was so scared and frightened. I don't know what I did wrong to deserve any of this stuff. I am just a dog, just a dog who wanted to be loved.
My foster mom says there were a lot of folks pulling for me, trying desperately to get me out of there so I thank them from the tip of my tail to the tip of nose and with all my heart. My foster mom was even approached a couple times asking her to foster me - and she said no (sniffle, sniffle, tear drop, tear drop). She had just lost her boy dog and was heartbroken. If only she knew that I would help mend it for her I bet she would have brought me home sooner.
But anyway, my story is long and tragic so let's move to the good part! Two days ago this lady and a guy came to meet me. I was terrified, my ears were pinned back, my tail was tucked, my eyes were wide. I hadn't seen many folks since I'd been in lockup...I mean solitary...I mean quarantine so I didn't know what these people wanted from me. They gave me chicken, which was yummy and then I heard them say something about fostering me - whatever that meant. A nice lady I did know was there named Maryanne and she said something about getting me tutored the next day. Things were looking up for me, I like to learn and getting tutored may just get me out of quarantine if I could prove how smart I am. Soon the strangers left and I was back in my cell, I was scared, sad, alone...
Well, I DID NOT get tutored! They did something else to me that was not fun but I was really mellow afterward and feeling no pain. The stranger lady came to see me again. She said I was coming home to live with her as a foster doggy. She stuffed me into a tiny crate in the back of her car and off we went. We pulled into a garage and the strange man was there to greet me. He seemed really happy to see me, said hi and asked how I was doing.The rest of the night was a blur, I was woozy from surgery and went into my crate and slept until this morning.

Chris here, Lazarus' foster mommy. He is making huge strides in just this one day. His story is so sad but we plan on making all his tomorrow's loving and safe and fun.  And, yes I did say no to fostering him at least twice. Do I feel bad about this - Yes! I was not in a place where I could give any dog what they needed as I was still very much grieving the loss of my boy, Patch. But now that we are finally together, we will make our days together count. Future blogs won't be so long, I promise.