When I was younger I started volunteering at a local animal shelter. I went twice during the week to walk the dogs and then spent Saturdays there mucking up the kennels and feeding/grooming the dogs. They had two dogs that were considered high risk animals. One was being prosecuted for an attack and the other was extremely aggressive. Both were large Rottweilers. The one going to court a male and the aggressive one a female. So we weren’t allowed in the kennels when the dogs were in. We had to get them inside, then lock the gate and clean the outside kennel. Then let them outside, lock the gate and clean the inside kennel.

I was working on the outside of the male’s kennel, when for whatever reason I don’t know, someone on the inside opened the gates and I had a very pissed off 150lbs dog wondering what I was doing in his cage. He quickly got me cornered and was ready to lunge when the female next door let out this sound. It wasn’t a growl or a snarl. She didn’t bark or grumble. It was just this noise. I don’t know how to describe it. But the male backed off and scurried back inside.

The female’s name was Tequila and I adopted her the same day. She was my first of many dogs.