Other dogs could be survivors too

Occasionally a story comes along that captures everyone's attention and lifts our spirits in ways that the ordinary events of daily life don't always do.

And that's the case with the story of Quentin, now known as the miracle dog.

Quentin was among a half-dozen dogs whose fate, like so many others, has been decided by an animal shelter where unwanted dogs wind up. The dogs were put in a gas chamber to be killed. A few minutes later, the operater opened the gas chamber to remove the dead dogs -- but found one, a basenji mix, standing up with its tail wagging.

The dog was named Quentin after the California prison, San Quentin, and its death row.

As soon as word got out through the news media about the dog's miraculous survival, Quentin was an instant celebrity. Hundreds of telephone calls were made to news outlets and animal shelters from people who wanted to adopt the dog that survived the gas chamber.

As uplifting as this story is, there's a down side too. The fact that so many people wanted to claim an unwanted dog simply because of his unusual survival indicated there are a lot of potential pet owners who could provide good homes to abandoned and unwanted dogs. Animal shelters everywhere would much rather find someone to adopt an animal rather than kill it.

Wouldn't it be nice if some of those folks would volunteer to take some of the other dogs who are headed for the gas chamber? Then they would be survivors too, just like Quentin.