Rescue Journal

rescue is about coming to terms....

Carol  ·  Jun. 5, 2008

it would be nice if it was always happy, it would be nice if it always was clean, it would be nice if it was always honest and respectful but rescue is like the rest of life, it is what it is.

but i am coming to terms with the past couple of weeks....i am ok with cuddles, i am getting to be ok with clyde, i am glad that the drama and angst will soon be settling down.

jewel went all thru the fields with a tennis ball in her mouth. phoebe has been a good little girl for the past few days, jed is putting on weight and gaining strength every day, maude climbed up and had a cuddle with me and squirt shared a 30 minute nap. ellie beat the crap out of the barn doors tonight which she hasn't done much of lately, boots has decided that chewing on all the leashes hanging from the door is a fun thing to do. those are all the good things today that took little effort except to enjoy.

sparky did not end up with a home of her own. her recent stroke and what that means to her future, made her too big of a question mark. IKY, jesse and cody were contenders with someone else but it was a no go for me....too all over the place and indecisive....these are very great dogs and deserve a home that fits. it is critical that a great deal of thought and planning come first, long before the dog. pugsy has had some inquiries lately, we will see if any pan out, she is such a cutie-pie that i know eventually we'll find the right one. these are the things that are easy to accept because to push for a different outcome just puts them at future risk.

the stuff that you struggle with, and it can be countless things.... sometimes you just have to patiently wait things out while taking care of what needs to be done. so i am finally feeling better, not so beat up and raw. i feel like we are doing what we are meant to, what we said we do and doing it pretty well. it may not always be easy, it may not always be nice but i can come to terms with that....it is not like we always get a choice.
i am going to do my laundry tonight, i am going to watch that ron howard documentary "in the shadow of the moon" (i bought it this week) and share my m&m peanuts. i have decided that i want to have faith that man really walked on the moon. maybe i am wrong, maybe my kids are right, but for my life and my peace of mind and all of the things i believe in..... i want to have faith that we really and truly and honestly did this. i don't want to believe in the worst.

so rescue is like the rest of life, you win, you lose, you come to terms and you believe in, what you want to believe in.

Comments

Deb

I think, Emma, that for many of the best, most animal-centric Rescuers, nothing but "gut felling" will ever be enough. With S.A.I.N.T.S. in particular, Carol "knows" her animals. and understands implicitly whether any given animal wants to leave the safety of the Sanctuary for another home. Carol doesn't refuse adopters because of where they live, their economic status, their pandering to her, she's not about looking for ways to reject adoptive homes. She simply transfers the care and responsiblity of providing the quality of life an animal would get if s(he) was to live out the rest of her/his life at S.A.I.N.T.S

Emma

I'm glad I passed the adoption test and was allowed to take home Jenny and later on Nudge (or McNudge as I call her because she looks like she has had one to many McDonalds!) What do you look for in a potential home for a dog or cat? Gut feeling alone cannot be enough. By the way one of my cat clients gave birth to 4 kittens right after the owner left for Jamaica!! I can now add feline midwife to my resume.

Deb

Max is one of those dogs that I think about on the days when nothing at all seems to be okay, and I want to just kill the next loser who harms a dog. Max is a success story, and proof positive that rescue is real and important and sadly, truly necessary. I got him out of his own personal hell, but S.A.I.N.T.S. showed him that he was safe and lovable (even though he was a huge PITA sometimes)and that he could just be a normal dog (with a "normal" rescued dog's issues) and that was okay.

There were people who said Max was too far gone (people said the same thing about my Kirby) to be adoptable. Too neurotic, too messed up, too frightened, too socially inept. I said he was too beautiful, too full of potential and too intelligent to give up on. Thank God you agreed. And thank God his new family had the foresight and patience (oh how they need the patience) to see the same beautiful dog we did.

There really is magic in the world.

Carol

speaking of magic...i saw max's mom yesterday at the vets deb. he is doing really well. he has a personal trainer that he sees every week and she says he is making good progress. you made magic happen for that dog.