So fellow travelers, I was at the rescue one afternoon a few weeks ago when it happened again.

That magical experience of watching a “gotcha” moment unfold.

With several new dogs transferred in from local shelters and the St Patrick’s Parade committee putting the final touches on the float for Saturday’s Parade, Friday afternoon was busy, even though this is not a transport weekend. I went to help with the afternoon feeding walks and chores. While I was there, several dogs went home with their new families, including adorable little pittie Jackson

Jackson is a local pup who came to HHDR  through our transfer program with the city’s shelter. He was found tied up in a garage with his harness embedded in his skin. *sigh*  human beings can be idiots. Jackson is a spunky fellow, fully recovered, just as sweet and loving as can be. I am not surprised he was adopted so quickly.

Jackson is the kind of dog who reminds me to focus on compassion, so willing to forgive and trust us humans again inspite of the cruelty they’ve endured. You cannot be involved in any kind of rescue work for long without a strong set of coping skills or you burn out faster than a match in a snowstorm. This holds true for “rescue” work with humans too as I’ve learned from my job at the local high school. Anger is a draining emotion to hold and it does nothing to stop the cycle of abuse. It’s a challenge to feel compassion for abusers and I admit most of the time the best I can do is a benign shroud of sadness for those who are in so much pain they are driven to inflict it on others. When I hold a trembling, terrified dog I often think if someone, maybe just one person had done the same for an abuser it would have made a difference.

Pretty little Scarlet was one of those frightened souls.  She arrived two weeks ago on a transport from Alabama and she took a while to stop shaking and come out of her shell. Her profile said she had been “found one day at a shelter,” which likely means she had simply been abandoned. Her foster family said she was very shy yet responded to calm quiet interaction. The experience of the long transport trip can set a shy dog back a bit too, so it takes a special adopter to see the potential in these dogs.

Scarlet’s special people came in yesterday afternoon, a soft spoken young couple looking for a quiet dog they could have in their apartment.  The young woman spoke earnestly with me while her husband was finalizing their application at the front desk. She explained, almost apologetically that they had to be careful of the breed mix not from personal preference but because their landlord had a list of prohibited breeds (*sigh again*  BSL : Breed Specific Legislation and its ignorant offspring of breed specific policies is flawed and misguided concept. However, that’s a topic for another post.)

 “We would take a pit mix if we could. We know so many of them need homes,” she told me. I assured her we understood and that was why the staff always speaks with landlords before giving a green light to an application.

As we talked, one of the volunteers walked by with Scarlet in her arms.  The young woman had seen Scarlet in her crate, but said she was curled up on her bed in the back and didn’t come towards the door.  Now, held gently in the arms of a volunteer she knew, Scarlet didn’t cringe when this young woman spoke to her.  In fact, I noticed her adorable ears perked right up.  I held my breath when, after asking for permission the young woman slowly and gradually reached over to gently touch Scarlet.

Scarlet did not shake or turn away. The woman’s husband joined us to happily inform his wife their application had been processed and they could start the process of selecting a dog.

“Oh, honey this is Scarlet.” she told him.  There was no mistaking the longing and love in her voice. She had not stopped gently petting the little dog, still resting in the arms of our volunteer. “She’s very shy but she’s so sweet!”

He leaned in ever so slightly, without reaching for her and spoke calmly “Hello, Scarlet.” Again, our shy girl did not flinch.  In fact she turned her head towards the young man and looked right at him, so he extended his hand, let her sniff.  My heart skipped a beat.

I asked if they would like to take her outside for a little walk. Usually prospective adopters take the dogs outside with some help from a volunteer to get to know the dogs a bit better.

“Wont she be too cold outside?”

It was as if the young woman instinctively knew Scarlet was not a fan of the vast cold outdoors. “Can we hold her for a bit?”  I held my breath again as the volunteer gently bundled our shy girl into the young man’s arms.

Scarlet sighed and settled right in. For a few minutes time stood still, the noise of dogs coming and going faded, the clatter of bowls being washed sounded like chimes marking the moment, that moment when three souls wound themselves together into one family.

Scarlet’s arrival photo on transport day.  Happy life sweet girl.

Walk gently on the path my friends and may adventure find you ready.

Editorial Note: Sunday’s at the Rescue is a series of posts about my experiences working with rescue dogs.  It is named for Sunday, a sweet young dog who came through the rescue where I volunteer, stole a piece of my heart (as so many of them do) and got herself adopted into a great home. If you like this piece, you can search the blog for other posts with that title.

So fellow travelers,  it has been an unusually long stretch for me to be away from my volunteer dog walking.

Freckles asking me “Hey Crazy Dog Lady where have ya been?”

Changes in schedules as well as being down to just one vehicle for the foreseeable future has been challenging. The round trip drive adds almost an hour to the time I am there but I have always felt it is well worth the extra time and gas. When I am away,  I miss my time at the rescue, as much for the human friends I have made as for the wiggling butts and appreciative kisses from the dogs.

It worked out I could drop my daughter off at work and head across town for several hours this afternoon. I knew help would be needed.  A large transport came in on Friday (read about the transport program here) and being a holiday weekend, many volunteers have other plans. In addition, many of the staff and regulars will be walking with some of the dogs in a Memorial Day parade on Monday. Lots of potential adopters come in on transport weekends so in addition to walking dogs, volunteers are needed to show people around and help them visit with dogs they are interested in.

Pretty Ms Julie: her stunning green eyes and sweet nature nabbed her a family less than an hour after we walked.

In the past weeks I have been reflecting a lot on the “revolving door” issue of rescue work.

Volunteers start out bright eyed and full of hope fueled by ambitious energy. They burn out quickly without a healthy balance of practical perspective and compassion. Without compassion for abusers and irresponsible breeders or owners, rescue workers become overwhelmed by anger and frustration.  It’s an essential lesson I learned by personal experience so I know now to step back when I feel a need to regain perspective.

There is a never ending flow of animals, a flow which will not be reduced no matter how many are re-homed by rescues like Helping Hound Dog Rescue until the causal issues of abuse, over-breeding and irresponsible ownership are addressed. I don’t have answers but I know of several organizations which are working hard to find solutions. Their efforts fuel my hope and I am grateful to support them as best I can.

In the meantime I was happy to get back to doing the rounds with the latest residents at HHDR. I walked a dozen dogs, showed several visitors around and washed a stack of food bowls. Then just before heading home I gave myself the luxury of taking out my current favorite resident, an enthusiastic German Shepard mix whose resemblance to previous dogs of ours struck me the minute me met.

Ricky

Ricky has a habit of greeting visitors with a vertical leap that brings his nose just to the top of his six foot pen. It’s a display of energy which guarantees it will take a bit longer for him to find a new family. He is however wicked smart and quite eager to please, so I have no problem getting him to sit while I clip on a leash and open the door to his pen. It might take a few tries, but he is quick to understand “out” isn’t going to happen if he’s jumping. He is developing good leash manners and responds quickly to correction (damn those distracting squirrels).  Oh and his joy of bagging a stick knows no bounds.

“I got one!”

After burning off some energy, he’s quite happy to sit with me and watch the coming and goings around us. I admit having him rest his head on my shoulder as I sat on the curb next to him brought back some very sweet memories of our succession of German Shepard mixes, Tomo, Shadow and Sox.  While our girl Delilah packs a big personality into her little twenty pound body, I do miss having a big dog at home. I usually fill that void with foster dogs but our travel itinerary puts fostering on hold until after summer.  So I count on the ever changing line-up of walking buddies at the rescue to fill that need for now. Of course I am always glad to see them celebrate their “gotcha” day no matter if a heart string or two “twangs” when they go.  I know there will be new buddies to love every time I walk through those doors.

Cyber gives Floyd a back rub while hanging out on the “cuddle couch.”

Walk gently on the path my friends and may adventure find you ready.

Editorial Note:  Sunday’s at the Rescue is a series of posts about my experiences working with rescue dogs.  It is named for Sunday, a sweet young dog who came through the rescue where I volunteer, stole a piece of my heart (as so many of them do) and got herself adopted into a great home.

So fellow travelers, time to pay a visit to the rescue.

I am often asked why the dog rescue where I volunteer brings dogs in on transport when “so many local dogs” need homes. It took a few years for Helping Hounds to establish strong, working relationships with local shelters and other rescues.  The rescue community can at times become polarized. It takes unique leadership to create a functional network; tentative outreach is easily fractured by misunderstanding. Like any young organization, a new rescue will stumble if it tries to run before learning to walk. HHDR had it’s share of setbacks in the early years. The turning point came a little over two years ago, when new leadership and an experienced director took full charge of operations. Once they established functional systems for intake, health care, adoption applications and basic training needs for both volunteers and dogs the staff knew they had the foundation to create a stable outreach program. When space was available they began to regularly take in dogs from local shelters willing to network with them.

HHDR placed over 1,200 dogs into new homes in 2014, an impressive number for a small, independent, donation driven, volunteer fueled rescue. While a growing number of local dogs are in that number, transport dogs make up the majority of adoptions.  Every dog pulled from high kill shelters and transported to our area saves two lives.  The dogs brought to HHDR immediately make room for other dogs in a shelter somewhere else.

Dogs selected for transport are breeds in high demand ie: small to medium size dogs or popular breeds of larger dogs like labs and retrievers.  Those are the types of dogs first chosen to be adopted out of local shelters.  HHDR rarely transports in adult “bully breed” dogs, since they know there are plenty they can bring in from local shelters.

When the network pulls together, which I am proud to say happens with increasing frequency, it makes an impact. Listen to this statement from Helping Hounds Director Kathy Gilmour:

“We know the hard work being done by those on the front lines of animal rescue and they have our respect and support. We know the heartbreak of saving a life from abuse and neglect, taking a dog off the streets and saving him from starvation and the risks of injury or death only to have to hold them and tell them you are sorry your best wasn’t good enough, no one came for you but we need the kennel for the next one we just saved.

Our partnerships offer an alternative. Transferring them leaves that empty kennel standing ready and we could not be more proud to work side by side with our partners and take just a little bit of the burden off their shoulders and bring a little bit of hope to those who can’t find their way out of the system fast enough.”

It accompanies this post on HHDR’s Facebook page:

These are the faces of the latest local intakes from the hometown network connection.  Nine local dogs who came to HHDR  from the facility which takes dogs brought in by city dog control.  Eight of them clearly appear to be what are known as “bully” breeds and regardless of whether they are in fact “pit bull” mixes ( “Pit bull” is not an actual breed, it is a term which refers to several terrier breeds including American, Staffordshire and Bull Terriers) the misconceptions about their breeds will weigh against them in the adoption market.

 “Oh we’re not picky about the kind of dog as long as its not a pit bull,” is one of the most common things potential adopters will say to staff and volunteers. I am tempted to tell them about the many “pitties” we have in our family, but I have learned my words are unlikely to breech their mindset. People can meet the sweetest dog, gentle with their children, playful with other dogs and still ask repeatedly if the staff is “sure this dog is not a pit mix.”  Folks, when it comes to rescue dogs, there is nothing “sure” about breed, no matter what appearances indicate.  You want certainty please find yourselves a reputable breeder.  What we do know for sure is the dogs we have on hand are going to make wonderful companions and deserve to be loved as they are.

Andre, a local sweetheart, who has already found a great new home.

The average time for most dogs as an HHDR resident is less than two weeks.  Notice I said most.  Certain dogs will take longer to find their new families. This is because the staff works on a “best match”  rather than “first pick” model.  Young puppies will not be adopted out to a home where no one is home all day long,  large high energy dogs or nervous small dogs will not go to homes with small children. The staff is particularly careful when adopting out special needs dogs like April pictured in the top right corner of the poster above.

April was found with a collar so deeply embedded it had to be surgically removed. Although the wound around her neck has healed, she can never wear a collar of any kind again.  I’ve had the pleasure of walking April in her jazzy red harness.  She’s a happy, playful girl; you’d never know she was so severely mistreated.

Pearl, the beautiful blue-grey girl in the middle on the left was found living outside, with an untreated eye condition and a misshapen leg which had clearly been broken and left to heal on its own. She has also obviously been very heavily bred. Pearl is not as outgoing as April, but she has responded well to the tender care and kindness of staff and volunteers. While still cautious, she gratefully accepts gentle attention. I sat in her pen the other night as she quietly licked a little peanut butter off my fingers.  Slowly, I moved my other hand to gently rub her head and back.  Eventually she leaned into me, sighing as she let her head rest on my leg. Moments like that are worth ten times the hours I give as a volunteer.

April and Pearl are lucky dogs who have been given a chance at a new life; most city shelters euthanize dogs found in such poor condition, regardless of their temperament.  Those facilities simply do not have access to the resources needed to save those lives.  The transport dogs are lucky too as most of them make it onto the truck just days before their time was up.  Helping Hounds is proud to be a way home for every one of them and I am blessed to have the chance to be a friend along the way.

Local girl Sweet Pearl meeting a new transport friend. Update Sunday May 3rd  Pearl has found herself a big loving family who promise she will be cherished for the rest of her days.

Walk softly on the path my friends and may adventure find you ready.

Editorial Note:  Sunday’s at the Rescue is a series of posts about my experiences working with rescue dogs.  It is named for Sunday, a sweet young dog who came through the rescue where I volunteer, stole a piece of my heart (as so many of them do) and got herself adopted into a great home.