There once was a lonely, sad dog named Simba—a huge, strong Cane Corso, which is an Italian Molosser. Until he was six months old, he lived outside on a rusty, old chain. He was kept outside because the big, old house where his owners lived had fleas inside. They didn’t want Simba to get fleas because they would hurt him. And the owners didn’t want that to happen because they loved Simba a lot. Even though they loved him, they were unable to take care of him. Simba had been given to the family as a gift when he was just born, but they did not want a dog or know how to take care of a massive puppy.
One day, a mother and her son drove by the house where Simba lived. They noticed the 70-pound dog out on a chain attached to a cold, rusty pole. A few days later, they drove by the house again. The dog was still there, still outside, still shivering in the cold. Whenever they drove by over the next few weeks, the puppy was outside with a sad, longing look on his face.
One day, the mom decided to ask Simba’s owners why he was outside attached to a chain by himself. She told her son to stay in the car; then she got out, walked up to the porch, and rang the doorbell. A teenager opened the door.
“May I help you?” the teenager asked politely.
“Yes,” the mother answered. “Is your dad home?”
The teen replied, “No, he’ll be home in a few hours.”
“Thank you,” said the mom. She returned to her car.
Her son asked, “What did he say?”
“He was a teenager. His dad will be home in a couple of hours. I will talk to him about the dog then.”
Later that day, the mom and her son came back to the house. This time, they both got out of the car. They walked up the stairs and onto the porch. They rang the doorbell, and this time the teenager’s father answered.
“Hello. Can I help you?”
“Yes.” the mother replied. “We came to ask you about the dog out on the chain. It’s really not good for him. Dogs don’t like being outside by themselves.”
“Yes, I know. He was given to us as a gift. We really never wanted a dog, but we love him very much. We take care of him as best we can,” the man replied in a nice voice. “Oh, by the way, the puppy’s name is Simba. He is six months old,” he said.
“Simba. That’s a nice name for a dog. Well, what I was saying was if you can’t take care of Simba, we could find someone that could,” said the mother.
The man said in a surprised voice, “You really think you could find a good home for Simba?”
“Definitely!” the mother replied.
Then, the son said to his mom, “Why can’t WE keep Simba??” The son said this in a voice that made his mother know that he really, REALLY wanted to keep the dog.
The man said to this boy, “You want to take care of Simba?” The son, much shorter than the man, nodded with his neck stretched upward.
“I . . . I guess we could keep Simba,” the mom said slowly.
Then the man spoke, “If you can take care of Simba . . .” He looked at Simba for a few seconds. “If you can take care of Simba, you can keep ’im.”
After that, the teenager, his father, and the mom lifted heavy Simba into the backseat of the car. Then, the teenager looked at Simba and said simply, but lovingly, “Bye, Simba!”
The mother and her son drove home with Simba. When they first got home, the son’s dad wasn’t too happy that all of the sudden there was a 70-pound, six-month-old puppy in the house, but as you read this story, Simba is in his loving home, where everyone takes good care of him and loves him VERY, VERY, VERY much. Simba’s old family showed great integrity because even though they loved Simba a lot, they knew he would have a better life in a loving house than outside on a cold, rusty chain.
That’s a nice story. Simba is a lucky dog and I know him to be a very nice and big dog, too. Integrity is important.
I think the heart of this story is not that Simba was rescued, but that the mother took action. I think most people would feel sorry for Simba on his chain, but very few would stop and take action – especially one that would last for Simba’s lifetime.