How Could You

This came to our inbox yesterday. Like me, you may have read this before. It's worth passing on. This is the story of entirely too many dogs. They deserve so much more than they sometimes get. Like it says at the end, dogs love unconditionally. They want to make us happy, they will learn to do what we ask if we teach them, they are always happy to see us.

How Could You? By Jim Willis 201
When I was a puppy, I entertained you with my antics and made you laugh. You called me your child, and despite a number of chewed shoes and a couple of murdered throw pillows, I became your best friend. Whenever I was "bad", you'd shake your finger at me and ask "How could you?" -- but then you'd relent and roll me over for a belly rub.

My housebreaking took a little longer than expected, because you were terribly busy, but we worked on that together. I remember those nights of nuzzling in your bed and listening to your confidences and secret dreams, and I believed that life could not be any more perfect. We went for long walks and runs in the park, car rides, stops for ice cream (I only got the cone because, "ice cream is bad for dogs" you said), and I took long naps in the sun waiting for you to come home at the end of the day.

Gradually you began spending more and more time at work, on your career and searching for a human mate. I waited for you patiently, comforted you through heartbreaks and disappointments, never chided you about bad decisions, and romped with glee at your homecomings, and when you fell in love. She, now your wife, is not a "dog person" -- still I welcomed her into our home, tried to show her affection, and obeyed her. I was happy because you were happy. Then the human babies came along and I shared your excitement. I was fascinated by their pinkness, how they smelled, and I wanted to mother them too. Only she and you worried that I might hurt them, and I spent most of my time banished to another room, or to a dog crate.

Oh, how I wanted to love them, but I became a "prisoner of love". As they began to grow, I became their friend. They clung to my fur and pulled themselves up on wobbly legs, poked fingers in my eyes, investigated my ears and gave me kisses on my nose. I loved everything about them and their touch -- because your touch was now so infrequent -- and I would have defended them with my life if need be. I would sneak into their beds and listen to their worries and secret dreams, and together we waited for the sound of your car in the driveway.

There had been a time when others asked if you had a dog that you produced a photo of me from your walled and told them stories about me. These past few years, you just answered "yes" and changed the subject. I had gone from being "your dog" to "Just a dog" and you resented every expenditure on my behalf. Now, you have a career opportunity in another city and you and they will be moving to an apartment that does not allow pets. You've made the right decision for your "family" but there was a time when I was your only family.

I was excited about the car ride until we arrived at the animal shelter, it smelled of dogs and cats, of fear, of hopelessness. You filled out the paperwork and said "I know you will find a good home for her". They shrugged and gave you a pained look. They understand the realities facing a middle-aged dog, even one with "papers". You had to pry your son's fingers loose from my collar as he screamed "No, Daddy! Please don't let them take my dog!" And I worried for him and what lessons you had just taught him about friendship and loyalty, about love and responsibility, and about respect for all life. You gave me a good-bye pat on the head, avoided my eyes, and politely refused to take my collar and leash with you. You had a deadline to meet and now I have one too. After you left the two nice ladies said you probably knew about your upcoming move months ago and made no attempt to find me another good home. They shook their heads and asked, "How could you?"

They are as attentive to us here in the shelter as their busy schedules allow. They feed us, of course, but I lost my appetite days ago. At first, whenever anyone passed my pen, I rushed to the front hoping it was you that you had changed your mind -- that this was all a bad dream...or I hoped it would at least be someone who cared, anyone who might save me.

When I realized I could not compete with the frolicking for attention of happy puppies, oblivious to their own fate, I retreated to a far corner and waited. I heard her footsteps as she came for me at the end of the day, and I padded along the aisle after her to a seperate room. A blissfully quiet room. She placed me on the table and rubbed my ears, and told me not to worry. My heart pounded in anticipation of what was to come, but there was also a sense of relief. The prisoner of love had run out of days.

As is my nature, I was more concerned about her. The burden which she bears weighs heavily on her, and I know that, the same way I knew your every mood. She gently placed a tourniquet around my foreleg as a tear ran down her cheek. I licked her hand in the same way I used to comfort you so many years ago. She expertly slid the hypodermic needle into my vein. As I felt the sting and the cool liquid coursing through my body, I lay down sleepily, looked into her kind eyes and murmerd "How could you?".

Perhaps she understood my dog speak, she said "I'm so sorry". She hugged me, and hurridly explained it was her job to make sure I went to a better place where I wouldn't be ignored or abused or abandoned or have to fend for myself -- a place of love and light so very different from this earthly place. And with my last bit of energy, I tried to convey to her with a thump of my tail that my "How could you?" was not directed at her. It was directed at you, My Beloved Master, I was thinking of you. I will think of you and wait for you forever. May everyone in your life continue to show you so much loyalty.

A Note from the Author: If "How Could You?" brought tears to your eyes as you read it, as it did to mine as I wrote it, it is because it is the composite story of the millions of formerly "owned" pets who die each year in American & Canadian animal shelters. Please use this to help educate, on your websites, in newsletters, on animal shetler and vet office bulletin boards. Tell the public that the decison to add a pet to the family is an important one for life, that animals deserve our love and sensible care, that finding another appropriate home for your animal is your responsibility and any local humane society or animal welfare league can offer you good advice, and that all life is precious. Please do your part to stop the killing and encourage spay and neuter campaigns in order to prevent unwanted animals.

Please pass this on to everyone, not to hurt them or make them sad, but it could save maybe, even one, unwanted pet.

Remember...They love UNCONDITIONALLY...

I would add that not all dogs go peacefully to the put down room. They often know what's coming or have a sense of foreboding - probably from sensing the trepidation from the person bringing them there. They are often terrified, sometimes they struggle and fight to not enter the room. Some have to be restrained by multiple people so that they can get the needle in for the final injection. Not all people performing the task are kind and soothing. Not all dogs die by lethal injection - many places still use the gas chamber which is a whole different kind of horror.

Dewey, the dog in the photo at the top of this blog, represents the dog in this story. He was picked up stray and brought to the shelter. The first time he was one of the lucky few, he was cute and charismatic and he found a home. A few years later his family decided they didn't want him anymore. They turned him back in to the shelter. This time Dewey was not so fortunate. His time ran out. There were other dogs arriving at the shelter, there was no space, out of time and chances he lost his life so that they might take their chance to find a home.

This piece is a good reminder to anyone considering adopting a dog to consider the decision carefully to be sure it is a lifetime one! For those who can and will give a dog a lifetime home and will consider him or her a furry family member, please save a life! Adopt a rescue dog or cat.

Transport Trials & Tribulations

We've been working pretty much non-stop since last Thursday to coordinate another massive transport of dogs from uncertainty and peril at the shelter to safety and new homes in Minnesota. Transports are never easy to coordinate. There are entirely too many pieces of the puzzle to fit together and the decisions are never easy.

I don't sleep much during this process. My mind can't seem to shut off, the logistics, the one last person I forgot to contact, the one more thing to add to the to do list, and all the faces in the pictures. There are foster homes to contact, new ones to find, the process needs to be explained. The drivers and vehicles need to be coordinated - times, meeting places, space, potty breaks, feeding schedules. There are crates to worry about - how many are needed, how many do we have, how many does each driver on the trip have and how can we get them what they need? We need to have volunteers to help us with intake when we get back, we need to coordinate with the vet and determine what supplies are needed. We stock up on food and puppy pee pads and make foster care packets. We worry, we look at the pictures, we talk to shelter staff, we try to make good choices in the dogs whose lives this group will save.

We are currently trying to get 56+ dogs here with this next transport. About 20 or so going to Safe Hands, the rest to two other rescues we work with. Many of these are puppies. Puppies will sucumb to disease quickly in the shelter - there only chance to survive is to get to rescue quick. Many of these are adults too though. Some of these dogs we met in January and are so happy to be getting to safety now.

There is a whole other blog that needs to be written with some thoughts on the euthanasia of healthy but homeless animals. Not tonight though, it's late, I'm tired and need to attempt some semblence of sleep. I just wanted to keep this blog up and to let everyone know what we've been up to. Between coordinating this mission and keeping up with the pups currently in our rescue and the daily operations we are stretched mighty thin this week. It's the faces though, like the ones above - part of the 56+, that keep us going.

The Beginning

How do you begin a blog? How do you sum up four months when the last four months have seemed like several lifetimes? Begin at the beginning? And when was that exactly? Was the beginning when Janine & I met during our Hurricane Katrina Animal Rescue experience in Tylertown, MS? Was it when my friend Kim recruited me to volunteer for a local animal rescue group? Was it when we arrived back in town with two vans full of the first 33 Safe Hands dogs, greeted by Stephanie T. and Dr. Charlie and our first volunteers? Was it further back in our childhoods filled with family pets, collecting the baby frogs that lived in the yard to save them from the lawnmower each week and saving the baby rabbits who's hutch was destroyed and momma ran away?

In any case, our paths have led us here. To Safe Hands Animal Rescue. To 116 dogs rescued and rehomed through our group in the last four months and transport arranged for an additional 72 to other rescue groups.

Safe Hands Animal Rescue started with an email. A plea for help. There were dogs in Harlan County, KY that were going to be euthanised - a lot of them. The shelter was completely full. The community adoption rate was very low. There weren't many rescue groups pulling dogs from the shelter. We wanted to help, we wanted to save them. We were particularly struck by the pathos evident in the photo of dog named Goldberg. We didn't want to let him die.

We planned to work within the framework of another organization but their resources were already tapped. We had to come up with foster homes, crates, food, gas and van money and more to pull off the rescue. I sent an email to friends, I included photos of Goldberg, Helena, Buster and Shaycee, four of the dogs that were supposed to come home with us. I asked for help. I asked for foster homes, food donations for the shelter, crates for transport. I hoped to get maybe six or eight homes and maybe some supplies. The email went viral. The pictures struck a chord in the people who saw them and they were forwarded on and on. Over 30 people volunteered to foster dogs. The donations came pouring in. In one night my yard was transformed into a sea of crates, dog and cat food, kitty litter and more. We were on our way.

They say necessity is the mother of invention... Somewhere between here and Kentucky it became apparent that the size and scope of this rescue mission had grown to something that the other group was not entirely comfortable with. Janine and I had talked about forming a rescue group that would focus on one community where we felt we had the potential to make a difference. We wanted to provide assistance in the community with spay and neuter and education and outreach and shelter improvements as well as saving dogs already in danger. We wanted to work on prevention as well as the cure. We had only just talked about this in the abstract, we didn't even have a name. It was time to leap and we had just begun to look. But as the saying goes, the future has a way of arriving unannounced.

One of my favorite quotes has always been this one:
Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe - “The moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings and material assistance which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now.”

Of course I'd always been afraid to really test the theory. However, we were committed to saving Goldberg and the pieces had fallen into place to make this rescue happen. Every time we faced an obstacle we thought would abort our mission the solution appeared. Kismet? Serendipity? It was entirely too much to be coincidence. We were excited by what was happening, by the energy that seemed to be moving us towards the goal of saving these precious lives, by the goodness that came out in people. Thank God for the exuberance of our youthful project, the kindness of strangers who I've come to think of as family I hadn't or haven't yet met, and for faith and hope that we carried with us. We would come to find we really needed all these things before our journey's end.

So it was on this trip, with this rescue mission and the group of people who took time out of their busy lives and schedules to read an email, to care, to let it affect them. to drop everything to get supplies or dig out an old crate and drop them off to a stranger and be part of a life saving effort, that Safe Hands Animal Rescue was born.

We have learned so much and we continue to learn every day and every week. Some lessons come harder than others. There is much work to be done. We hope to use this blog for updates on SHAR (Safe Hands Animal Rescue), to offer our perspective on issues in rescue, the homeless pet problem and animal rights issues in general and hopefully to educate, explain and no doubt be educated in the process. We hope to provide a greater understanding of why we do what we do - both in the broader sense of animal rescue and in the narrower sense of our policies and procedures and why they are what they are.

We don't know everything. We know a fraction of what there is to know. We make no claims to be the be all, end all, expert in the field. We have made mistakes. We will make mistakes. We are babies taking baby steps. But we are learning to walk so that we might run.

So I leave you tonight with these two quotes.

I am only one,
But still I am one.
I cannot do everything,
But still I can do something.
And because I cannot do everything
I will not refuse to do
The something that I can do.

-Edward Everett Hale

A lot of people are waiting for Martin Luther King or Mahatma Gandhi to come back -- but they are gone. We are it. It is up to us. It is up to you. - Marian Wright Edelman

It is up to us, each and every one of us. We can all do something that will make at least a small difference. Together it all adds up to something pretty powerful.

This is Goldberg - now Ely. This is the pup that started it all.

Welcome to our brand new blog.