Give 'Em Homes - Why Wait?

It's time to get back to basics. There are a lot of dogs in the world. In this country. Everywhere: fliers, ads, posters, events, pages of sad statistics. Much of the population problem is the fault of careless and/or thoughtless, greedy humans. These LIVING dogs could die and will die unless responsible humans step in and give them warm and loving homes. If you can, go to the shelter and adopt. Save someone.   http://www.benldadoptapet.org/ , http://www.apl-shelter.org/ are some of our close-by locations, crammed with hopeful dogs. Don't spew out that "I want them all..." "It breaks my heart to go there so I don't..." BUCK UP.

Our local newspaper ran an article which listed the annual cost of a dog to be $695. It's a bit more for a large dog, say, another $100. Round it off to $800. You cannot put a price on love. Still, to more people than I can imagine, this is a lot of money to spend. Take the pet insurance out of the equation and the costs go down over $200. Work instead to keep your dog healthy by feeding decent food, not overdoing treats, going to an obedience class, exercising your pet, and keeping him or her groomed. Sorry, if it turns out you cannot keep your pet then good care, socialization, and health are important in re-homing, or adopting your dog to someone else.

Maybe a better choice at first is to help out by donating to your favorite shelter and help pets find homes before you adopt one yourself and have to return it. That's no fun for the dog either. It will break your heart to give up your friend but you have other friends. The dog knows only you and has only you and depends upon only you. Talk about broken hearts.

But maybe you only need ways to make having a pet affordable.

Other tips: Get a used crate from a garage sale. Buy bedding at a Goodwill or Salvation Army. Make your own dog treats. Use old tee shirts, cut into 2" strips, braided and knotted at each end, to make toys. Make your own meals for your dogs - be aware: no raisins, chocolate, grapes, cooked bones (they are brittle), onions, garlic, almonds, and check for other toxic foods - you can get recipes on line; you're connected.

It's not just what you spend though. You are apt to not spend money elsewhere.Your dog can save you hundreds of dollars on exercise equipment or club membership and you won't need special outfits to get in shape. Your dog keeps you out of the psychiatrist's office (a bit longer) because you have a therapist with you at home; one who not only will listen to you but will love you. Your dog will entertain you - hours of joyful activity can keep you away from passive time spent watching TV or videos, or other forgettable timewasters. Have your youngest friends read to your dog. Have a family night and include the dog. Cuddle up with Bowser and turn down the thermostat. There are so many ways dogs are good for you.

It's time for us to be good for dogs.

Grrrrrrieving

Elisabeth Kubler Ross wrote about DEATH AND DYING and her book included the steps associated with grieving. That was 1969. I read it in college during a psychology course or maybe sociology.

I'm entering step 2 today. ANGER: anger over Frieda having to die, more anger at the people who mistreated her so badly she feared her own shadow, even guilty anger at myself for not being able to fix it.

Expect me to write about it on this blog. Look at the title if you doubt for a moment that I wouldn't open up and try to rip those unknown individuals (I hesitate to call them humans)"a new one".

We had six dogs. Some people would say that's too many. But there are two of us and we are retired and we love dogs. All the dogs were adopted/rescued - call it what you will, they all have pasts, usually sad, some bad. Frieda's was both.

You might not think going from six to five would mean much. But it does. Each of them is bonded to the others and to us in lots of ways. One of our dogs had been tied to a tree in the country, her dead puppies and 17 other adult dogs nearby. The property owner lived an hour and a half away and drove by once or twice a week to toss out food. If the chain went far enough to get some of it then a dog was lucky. That's Sally's story. Needless to say she has issues.

We started out fostering Sally. She was adopted by friends but ran away, in the country, and that led to 9 days of searching for her, thru mucky fields. It was Frieda Joy who truly brought her back to safety, walking with me thru mud on that ninth day, making a "scent path" back to the live trap set for her. The next morning there was Sally, waiting. We brought her home. She and Frieda found solace in the life they shared here. Sally sits in Frieda's spots and went to Frieda's feeding spot when Frieda wasn't there Monday night.

I'm angry that Sally had already had much taken from her and now she has lost her best friend. Don't we all know how that feels?

For Sally and the others Frieda Joy was the alpha dog. Just her presence made it clear, even when she was frightened. She was first to the door with a greeting, first to a lap when thunder and lightning started, first to leap into the car when a field trip was in order. She got treats and then everyone else got them. We tried not to over-pamper her, tough as it was, because all the books say it's not good for them. But we spoiled her and protected her.

We just couldn't keep her from the demons she brought with her, the past sewn into her soul, carved on her heart. She covered them bravely with all the love she could muster up but sometimes those bad guys eeked out.

We helped her through those times but this time they beat us. But they didn't get the best of her. That's ours, all ours.

Grandpa, How Did You Know?

Long ago and not so far away, my grandparents lived and farmed. Grandpa, whom I never knew, participated in a plan offered by Modern Woodsmen of America. Today is my grandfather's birthday, a fact I didn't know for decades until one day I told my mother that July 9th is my favorite day of the year - something good always happens on July 9th. Along the way he was given a certificate and what appears to have been a huge calendar or print.
Regardless of what this last item started out to be it is dated 1898 and was framed at some point so it now is mounted above our fireplace, with the certifcate affixed to the back of it, keeping like items together, not a common practice in this household!

Today one of our foster dogs, Serena, who lived here from January thru March 2008, came to stay for a few days and it was like "old home week" for her and her then-foster mate, Sally. Sally is ours now. Upon her arrival we made small talk with her owner. I congratulated him on being appointed head basketball coach at one of the private religious high schools nearby - a very competitive rival for other schools. It had to be a plum of an appointment. I indicated I'd read about him in the newspaper and am just now am saying congrats...but I just said "job", nothing specific.

He looked puzzled and asked which job.

I replied "...head coach..."

He announced he'd just taken a new job, two weeks ago and was wondering how it made the paper already! Obviously it had not.

He is involved in opening up an office for Modern Woodsmen of America, back in this area, as they have been gone for a long time.

The world is small in so many ways. In just a few minutes we spanned over 100 years and matched up one person's family history with another person's family future. All this, of course, came about because of a dog.



Happy Birthday, Grandpa. I wish I had known you.

Harmony's Way to Happiness

Pretty "zen" sounding if I do say so myself. The pooch is outside bringing the big stick to the door as a gift, perhaps a peace offering of some sort, or pre-payment for some mischievous deed she'll perform later in the day.

















There are times when she lives up to her full name - Harmony Victoria. She delights us with occasional sweetness shown to her playmates; certainly when she is serving as "Donation Dog" for APL she fools everyone into thinking she's a stellar ambassador, always on her best behavior. The Victoria is because she is part pit bulldog and is my own nose-thumbing gesture towards vicious Michael Vick, whose own experience with the law took place around the time Harmony arrived at our home.





But today, her name takes on new applications! The State of Illinois has a victory in the governmental systems and a new governor because the systems worked. No doubt there is cheering up and down and across the State. Once again there will be an opportunity for harmonious living and working.


And, that's nothing to shake a stick at.

Precious Dog Hein, June 1993 - December 2008

We know God watches over us but this week we underwent yet another loss, that of Precious Dog Hein. Yes, she was 15 1/2 years old and we knew full and well she felt the loss of Scout a couple months back. They were inseparable from the time they met, day and night, together either in their pen or in the house. They were like an old couple, only dogs. One saw. One heard. They yammered at each other if one was too close to the others bowl. They leaned against each other. They snuggled together all day long in their dog-loo, ignoring the birds, cats, people traffic and younger dogs coming and going in the other fenced in area.

She awoke on the 17th and told us it was time. If you have had a pet you've had to help you know what how they communicate it through their looks. Her head stayed down, her eyes solemnly surrendered. She had no energy, no substantiation to continue.

I like to believe that she gave us these additional two months in our post-Scout world, because she knew us well. It would have been her wish to go with Scout and she was as surprised as we to find she was here and Scout was gone. But she pulled herself together and joined the younger dogs in a frenzy of remembered behaviors that found her going up and down the two stairs on the patio, running a step or two, getting excited when she didn't know what the excitement was all about, and finally just signaling everyone to go ahead without her, she was sleeping this one out.

We did what we could to keep her comfy. No baths, good food, a special place in the kitchen, all fluffed out and right in the midst of foot traffic so she got lots of petting and hugs and acknowledgment. She got kisses from everyone, 2 or 4-legged, who went past her as she rested.

The morning each dog came by and said goodbye to her. I wish they'd been able to do that with Scout, who went in the night, quietly without prelude. But perhaps they were sending their greetings on with Precious. Don't tell me they don't know; they know only too well. They probably know better than we for their lives are less complicated. I suspect their relationship with God is the same - they know, they don't question. They understand death leads to new freedom, new life.

So now, only a couple of days later we have welcomed Lazlo into our home. He's our latest foster. A collar was embedded in his neck but it's been removed and he's healed from that injury entirely. He is quirky and cute and, for now, all boy. That has everyone trying to figure out what's next! But they know he's here to get ready for his own forever earthly home. And, they know when he leaves it will be different from when Precious left.

You DO meet the nicest people.

Zeke and I went to the nursing home. He was soooo good. Then we drove all the way back and across the city to a big box pet store to get him some canned food and a large box of large treats for everyone to share. He met lots of people and maybe his future owners. They were the nicest people and seem very interested in him as a buddy for Moses, their dog. I think they would have taken him right then and there. We'll see. He's darned good. I really had thought he could move to the White House. Hello Barack? It's about a dog for the girls...On the other hand, he's made friends with all the dogs here and Ed hasn't met him yet. To the people who met Zeke and Mr. President - just try and get this dog!

Speaking of the nicest people, a real surprise occurred yesterday when I took the greens orders for the library staff over to them, from APL. Since I was out at the shelter I offered to pick up and drop off the wreaths and door swags. Well, blow me away. I got inside the library office and the director presented me with a book, SAVED. It's about rescued animals, and their rescued people. I was taken aback. It was from the Library's Friends board, of which I'd been president and/or secretary for a number of years. This was totally unexpected. And, they selected something that focuses on my other passion - taking care of living creatures who've not had it too good so far.

Well, home with the crew last night I managed to cry my way through some 50 pages. It took a long time because the print is pretty blurry thru tears.

It's an amazing book. The group is amazingly thoughtful. I am amazingly fortunate.

And, we really shouldn't have anymore dogs. We help those who are homeless and then that opens a space for someone else who needs it. Yes, we did have 6 dogs. Yes, we will lose Precious soon. Yes, the dogs we have adopted are the "hard to place" ones so that complicates matters.

I keep telling myself those things.

Unbroken Circle

We know Scout is running free, bursting through clouds and chasing bunnies. She'd approve of us taking in this little girl. The shelter calls her Stardust but to us she is Tater Tot because she's a Spuds Mackenzie (or General Patton) dog. At about 5 weeks she's already had her near-death experience and is making a remarkable recovery. She loves her medication which is a good thing as she takes it twice a day. Playing with the other critters is rare and supervised. There's lots of sleeping to do. She's loving the outdoors, follows me around till she needs a break, and now has her first collar on, with a leash being added later today when we visit the vet. She is hard to resist and even harder to put down. But we have to so she gets her strength developed!

Scout O'Rama Hein, 1993-2008

It began as an ordinary Saturday, fall, 1995, for DINKs like us - errands and chores. But then it wasn't. We walked into a local store and looked around. Not for anything special, but then, there she was,special. Sitting huddled and frightened. That day we said hello.

We asked about her. This was her last day before being put down at the dog pound. She was only two.

It was early and we had places to go. We said we'd come back at the end of the day and if she wasn't adopted we'd take her. Don't put her aside. Let others look at her.

People of our word, we went back. She was waiting for us. Home we went. And, with the exception of vet visits and a few, out-of-yard running episodes, including the infamous one two years ago that put Ed in a near-death hospital situation, home is where she stayed. Our vet and family cared for her. Our pet sitter fancied her. We loved her and learned about her.

Turns out she wasn't so frightened. She was an investigator and a commentator. Her feet came off the ground when she barked. She was unbending, just plain awkward, when she ran - more like a rocking horse than a Beagle. She was always a happy clown. She made everyone play and smile. She snored freely, as if it was the greatest pleasure that came with laying down. In recent years she was Precious' eyes and encouragement, a role someone else will take up undoubtedly.

It began as an ordinary Saturday, fall, 2008, for retired folks like us - up early for coffee and chores. But then it wasn;t. Today we said goodbye.

Scout is at peace. God has her in His lap.


_________________________

Today, I am told, is the feast day of St. Francis, the saint who acknowledged kinship with all creation, particularly animals and nature. Around the world there are "Blessings of Animals" ceremonies. Here is John Galsworthy's prayer for gentleness to all creatures:

To all the humble beasts there be,
To all the birds on land and sea,
Great Spirit! sweet protection give,
That free and happy they may live!

And to our hearts the rapture bring
Of love for every living thing;
Make of us all one kin, and bless
Our ways with Christ's own gentleness.

CATS CATS and more CATS - You see 'em here first!

There are cats at APL.
They need homes.
http://www.apl-shelter.org

Here are some which will soon appear on the web site but don't wait.
Go see who is there already and waiting for a home.