Our Oldest Shelter Dog Spent Nine Years Comforting Frightened New Arrivals at Night. We Did Not Understand What Else She Had Been Doing — Until We Cleaned Out the Kennels After She Was Gone.

Synopsis

I want to tell you about the nights, because the nights are where this starts. Cedar Hollow is not staffed overnight. We do not have the budget for it. The building closes at six p.m. and opens at eight a.m., and for those fourteen hours the animals are alone in the building together — twenty-two kennels, two rows, one dark hallway. For most dogs, the…