This letter is for the person who dumped a dog on Highland Springs Road during the holidays.

Dear Dog Owner,

The dog you dumped on the side of the road waited for you for weeks. I think you left him on the 5000 block of Highland Springs Road, and he stayed at the very spot he lost sight of you.

The week you left him there it was 27 degrees at night. Your dog looked like a pit mix. His coat is very thin as such dogs' coats are.

You left him out there because you didn't want him anymore. The thing is he didn't know that. He thought you were coming back to get him. The other thing is, he was undersocialized. He was afraid of people. You didn't raise him right at all. You didn't raise him well, and then you dumped him on the side of a road.

There were many of us who tried to get him to safety. People who drive that road to and from work stopped daily, offered food, treats, comfort. He would have none of it. He was certain you would come back. He didn't need us.

Animal control came during the day. Traps were attempted. Food was left. People stopped by. Nights were frigid.

Officer Morgan Hermann from Lake County Animal Care and Control told me the rest of the story. I noticed one day the dog wasn't there. When I went to work the next day I still did not see him. I waited a few days to call because I was afraid. I really didn't want to know.

Eventually I had to call Morgan.

I would like to say here that I believe that the puppy is better off euthanized than to live a marginal existence for a year or two with a person like you and then die a terrible death.

Seriously. Weigh the choices. A marginal existence and then to die, lonely, hungry, afraid and confused. What kind of life could this dog have had with a person like you? He knew what loyalty is, why don't you?

How can a person think that this death is better than being warm, fed and possibly adopted at animal control? If he had been euthanized at animal control it would have been because of people just like you who keep breeding pit mixes and in spite of the fact there are not enough homes for them all. If he had been euthanized at animal control, he would have died quietly, held by someone who cares, gently led to death.

Instead, one day your dog heard a car that must have sounded like yours. He followed that car for miles. After not leaving his spot for weeks, he followed that car all the way down Highland Springs Road to Ackley Road. There he was struck and killed by another car.

Your dog was killed by hope. Your dog was killed by loyalty. Your dog was killed by stupidity.

Karen Schaver runs Lake County Animal Services, www.LakeCountyAnimalServices.org, an award-winning Lake County, Calif., animal rescue organization.