Rescue Journal

lines in the sand

Carol  ·  Dec. 28, 2013

as rescuers, we all draw lines in the sand. some have more lines than others, some wipe out their lines and then draw new ones depending on prevailing winds.

my big thing as a rescuer is...you ALWAYS take your animals back in an instant if needed. you do not stall, you do not make excuses, you do not refer to others, you do not refuse to return phone calls...you get off your ass and you get that animal safely back as quick as you possibly can...like in the next 20 minutes to 24 hours.

you never dick and fart around if one of your animals needs you again..you drop everything and BE THERE for them ASAP again.

as soon as I hear a rescue has not taken back one of their animals, I do not bother to even listen to the excuses..short of being dead or currently actively bedridden and dying, or an absolutely atrociously horrible rescue to begin with...there is no freaking excuse. once I hear a rescued animal has been denied an open ticket to return..that rescue ceases to be a rescue..they are just another bullshitter out there pretending to do rescue work.

this line for me in not written in sand,,it is written in rock hard cement.

I have always said that the only way to survive and flourish in rescue is to be able to think outside the box. if we want rescue to move forward and soar to new heights, we are not going to get there by regurgitating everything we hear over and over cuz it HAS to be right.

every moment in rescue is unique..there may be commonalities and similarities that we have based our experience on but if we cannot keep an open mind that many moments in rescue are unique and different unto themselves we fail to use our heads and think about the possibilities out there to help each individual animal.

what works for me might not work for someone else, my way of doing things might be too foreign or difficult for someone else to even consider. maybe someone has already tried it and did not have good results...maybe they feel my way is just stupid.

whatever. because...we are all different, with different strengths and weaknesses too. but I will tell you one thing..if we as rescuers cannot grow, we will never get to where we want to go.

and no one grows in a locked box,,you need to blow the top off to grow.

fine to have lines in the sand that change as we evolve..fine to hang on to the tried and true ones we have forged in cement that always will keep our animals safe from harm. the trick is however we draw our lines and in whatever medium we choose to draw them in..we do not let the lines themselves cage us forever in.

unless it is about taking our animals back...do not screw around with that uncompromising hard drawn line...that one irreversible line is what defines us as rescuers, we forever stand by those that we saved.

that's my deep thought for the day.

only one update...tedZ has a hotspot on his butt...poor little zombie boy.

Comments

Carol

comments relating to outside dogs have been removed as per request. if folks are interested in discussing general version of this topic, i can open up a blog post to comment on..let me know.