Rest In Peace Friend.............

I have often said that in Great Dane Rescue you don’t have to worry so much about the dogs as generally you can make things happen, but your worries come from those who consider you their competitor.  Sometimes the world of Dane rescue can become the most cut throat business around.  There seems to be a constant gaggle of this way is my way and if it isn’t your way it is wrong.  If you don’t agree with my way then automatically I don’t like you and am unwilling to see yours.  It is often said by many other rescue groups they are glad they don’t do Dane rescue for this very reason.  

We should face facts that not everyone will be alike.  There was no manual for rescue.  There were no guidelines with exception to those in which your board put forth.  There are no laws that make rescues stay in one certain line of operation.  At the end of the day it is a group of people who came together because they fell in love with a breed.  The very love that drives us to do this hard work is the same love that turns humans against one another.

We help our younger groups get started in Dane Rescue and we sing their praises as they grow and become a group in which makes us proud.  We stay with them and watch them as they grow, not because we don’t trust them, but because we want to see them soar.  We offer a hand to the rescues in need and yes frankly we stay away from some who are less than reputable--with reasons in which we each develop in our own minds.  Each person’s idea of reputable is different and no one opinion is the right one.  

Although I watch as the people turn against one another in rescue I as well watch amazing things come from their love for the breed.  The Great Dane Rescue Community has lost one of our own, Mr. John Sasser, may he rest in peace.  John was responsible for saving the lives of many Danes over the years and our community will have an empty spot missing that love without him in it.  John took on those dogs that no one else would.  He loved them back to life and found them forever homes in which agreed to keep them until their last breaths.  And though he will be sorely missed, the Rainbow Bridge was rocking as he walked that path.  There were many who waited to see him again.  And many who never knew a kind hand but his own.  I pray their journey was one of joyous peace in which all wagging tails joined John for that walk we all wait upon.

I watched those who had a love for Danes, not just John Sasser come together last night and make the plans for those animals in which needed them.  Last night was not about overblown egos, who was right, who wasn’t, who did it this way or that, no one cared what group they were from…..I watched Dane people come together to honor a man who was loved by many, in his death, for the dogs.  It is exactly as John would have wanted to see things happen i believe.  It was exactly as it should have been.  And it made me proud to be a Dane person as it seems those of us who are in it for the dogs came to the table with our feelings in our pockets and willingness to end the drama in which normally surrounds us all.

When Amy Mumpower and I started Dames for Danes we were $50 in the negative and had a very aggressive biting Fawn Female Dane.  We had no supporters, we had no money, and we had nothing.  We made calls to several rescues for help and were continually turned down.  One last call to John Sasser and he said YES.  He said yes I will help you.  I will never forget his kindness and nor will I forget the success he made out of that nasty biting Fawn Female.  Through his love she perfected.  And today she laid snuggly on the couch turning old and gray in her end, with people who love her completely.  

Rescues are a dying breed.  If you look around you see that rescues come and go on a daily basis.  The work is hard and the bad moments are heartless.   It is a 24/7 job in which never sleeps.  The backyard breeders who could care less, out number rescues 10-1.  It would only make sense for us to take a look deep inside and say to one another…can I help you?  Can I offer my thoughts even if you choose not to use them?  Can I share your application?  Can I send adopters your way?  How can we reach out to one another?  How can we end the madness in which envelopes us at times? 

In honor of the memory of John Sasser, we at Dames will reach out a little farther.  We will hold back a little less in being critical within our thinking.  We will honor the memory of a man who did what most other rescues can’t and won’t do……he took those in which no one else would take.  Who could argue that one?  I ask that since the Olive Branch has been extended and we come together for the sake of the dogs in one night despite all in which is different…..could we try to do this every day?  Could we view this as a joint effort rather than a competition?  It isn’t a competition in this rescue world……..it is about life and watching that life benefit from love of the heart.

My Love to every one of you who do Dane Rescue.  You are my brothers and sisters in this fight.  I realize that means sometimes brothers and sisters argue, they disagree, but overall they come together in unity because like it or not folks…we are a family.  One big family, with one big love for our breed.  We should honor that love.

Again……..Rest in Peace John Sasser.  Please give kisses to those who wait for me. 

I will see you all again one day……just not quite yet.

Special Dogs..............

It is a sad day in rescue when one rescue continually makes up detrimental lies about another to find self benefit in their own actions in which are less than stellar.  My heart hurts when the very ones speaking of high egos cannot let go of their own to see their true flaws.  When thinking of a special dog, one must know that there are experts in which have advised on a proper course of living for that special dog and an inexpert opinion wasn’t an option. Although thankful for the offer of a hand, it wasn’t needed as a game plan was in action as directed by the expert advising. The saddest part of all is that all in which have such an opinion, hope, thought etc, of the special dog, not one of them was jumping at a chance to give this dog a forever home or even to foster for an extended period of time. That would have been an option. 

Each rescue has opinions, policies, and experts whom deal with their issues and whom they go to for their advice.  And although each individual rescue feels they could do a better job, at the end of the day it all comes out the same color in the wash.  Good work stands in the records with the veterinarians who service these rescues.  Good work stands in the numbers.  You must have numbers to first take a look at what you are doing. 

It is as well a sad day in rescue when others buy into lies in which they could know the answer to if they simply asked.  And to allow continual battering of the character of a group who has been owned by Danes their entire life, rehomed hundreds, without asking is a bigger shame.  As well to buy into these lies in which could be discounted, by simply asking, makes one just as bad as the other.

Just the other night it was brought to someone’s attention for the millionth time about a group who was labeled as ‘dog killers’ for the death of a 12 week old puppy.  It was a horrific rumor which held no truth, no credit, and came from the mouth of someone who knew the truth but despite that truth could not go back on what she told.  The person who heard this rumor and was a part of spreading it met the 12 week old puppy who is no longer 12 weeks but closer to 12 months of age now.  Living, breathing, and happy. And knowing this sent an email to apologize for being part of that kind of ugliness.  It was so nice to see that someone sees a little clearer that the rumor was vicious and more than untrue.  It was as well good to see that the truth always comes to light.

Take Dames for Danes, although not perfect by any means we have an extremely low euthanasia rate.  Dogs are not put down for being old, heartworm positive, or for even making a mistake such as a nip on a child. Dames have had dogs who have stayed in foster care for as long as two years time, despite the outcry from those in which thought they took too much funding. 

We could take Blue for instance.  Blue bit a child in his forever home.  He was truly misplaced there as a senior with a large number of children, but a board member felt so strongly he should be moved it was rushed and the board allowed it to go through. (Total mistake by the Board to not have outvoted this)  Blue being a senior was not enamored with a child playing in his food bowl and bit the child terribly.  Policy generally dictates the bite of a child, the dog goes down.  That is a fairly common policy among rescues.  However one board member knew this dog and when he came back she looked into his eyes, watched his demeanor with the older children and could not put him down for his mistake.  It was truly a fight among the board that this dog should be put to sleep and we should not place him into foster care.  The board was upheld by this issue and one in particular fought terribly hard for this boy.  However a foster was located with no children, and there he was placed.  The board member felt strongly enough she would have taken him into her own home if she had too.  For almost two years his vet bills were paid via the rescue.  And at two years and two months, he was adopted to the perfect home.  Although a bitter subject among board members, it worked out and Blue is happy in his surroundings.

Or we could take Rosie.  Rosie seemed to always do well with children but received her forever home only to rush across a room many weeks later and bite a three year old on Christmas Eve.  It was a bite which did require some medical attention.  Rather than euthanize this dog, we found a suitable home for her in which did not have small children or access to them and today she is happy.

Another special boy named Andy who was bounced from home to home because he was extremely misunderstood.  There was a board member who felt he could not make it in a home life.  There were two who felt differently.  The end vote which included the silent voters of the board, won out and he was granted a chance at life yet again simply a matter of finding the right place.  And although I don’t think his foster parent intended on having him forever, the foster failed and this boy is so much loved and happy.  It didn’t come without a price for Andy……..he was bounced far more times than he should have been before he got there. However in the end ….. he got his perfect forever with the perfect person to love him.

You will ask me why there is a difference for some and not others.  There are some dogs out there that are simply not meant to be rehomed.  There are some dogs who will be a great risk to the general public and should not be trusted in any capacity.  There are many different levels of aggression or issues in which sometimes sadly cannot be fixed no matter how hard you try.  Aggression is not growling, pinning, snarling, or barking.  Although some will say it is aggressive behavior it isn’t.  So many humanize these dogs to a point where they feel aggression is a common term and should fit the above actions.  So many forget at the end of the day, dogs cannot talk like you or I, but depend on these actions to let another know they are unhappy.  Biting, tearing, unpredictable behaviors, blood, vet visits, hospital visits can be among those things in which can lead a rescue to find a dog is not safe. 

Most recently a dog came into a local shelter that injured a six year old child.  This wasn’t a nip.  It wasn’t one stitch.  It wasn’t a bruise.  This dog nearly mutilated this child.  The child had wounds in which were so horrific that he will live with them for a lifetime.  Many plastic surgeries, much pain, and no relief for many years to come of skin grafts, this child suffered.  He suffered for being across the street from a home he had never visited playing football with a friend.  The dog escaped the fencing and went directly for the child he had never met and dragged him while tearing into him, while an older child being injured too tried to save the six year old.  Funny enough someone at the shelter found he was a good dog and thought he should be saved.  They contacted Dames for this boy and we declined immediately.  The attack was brutal and was meant to kill the child.  Some place now this dog is out there because someone didn’t have the good sense to stop this dog from doing so.  I will say in my personal opinion this should have never happened.

Another female who appeared sweet in many moments would suddenly lunge and attack someone across the room that she lived with and loved.  Periodically she would charge and try to attack the children in the home. She brutally killed and ripped the throat out of the dog she snuggled with the night before.  In all appearances and a chance meeting this dog was sweet.  But the aftermath of the years of being nothing more than feral, she could not be trusted.  The rescue in which had her euthanized her for not only the safety of those around her but for her own. 

Another was a female who was deaf, blind for the most part, and had a separation anxiety in which could not be controlled.  She would dive through plate glass windows on a regular basis and one day started to attack the other dogs in her home brutally.  She killed a neighboring dog in one of the most brutal ways imaginable.  After medications, vet visits, and regular training on the part of a dedicated foster parent who loved her, it was decided by the rescue and the vet treating this dog that she would not be a candidate to be rehomed as she could not make it in a safe manner. 

So for the critics out there it is up to each one of us to deem what is and is not safe out there.  However when you are a non-profit rescue you have responsibilities to those around you, the dogs in your care, and to the public in general.  There are many things in which could be said and many opinions out there.  My opinion is that dangerous unpredictable dogs should not be on the streets.  I would not want them next door to my child, my dogs, or my person. 

All in all…..if you want to know you must ask.  It would be requested that if you have a proper alternative to please by all means share it.  It doesn’t mean your thoughts will go without proper thought and investigation, it simply might mean that’s not what our experts on the subject have suggested.  We have to trust in those we have spent many years working with and achieved good results.  Most of all if you want to quash an ugly rumor you can be part of doing just that.  And if you think it, speak it, and don’t know the truths then you are simply just as guilty, as the person who created that rumor. I find those who start rumors are usually those who themselves have a guilty conscience.  And this physical year to date....there have been no Danes euthanized with Dames for Danes GDR.

 

My Opinion

All week long I have tormented myself inside.  I kept reading over and over again the story about the Campbell County Animal Shelter.  I am so bothered inside myself about this situation.  And because I am bothered I keep trying to make sense of the whole horrific ordeal.  I can’t.  I am a rescuer and I work every day of my life in some way or another saving the lives of the animals that need me.  And to think that walking among those like me would be a woman who will forever now be dubbed “Bloody Betty”.

When working the shelter floors for those who are employees, and the rescuers who walk among those floors, beside them, though on somewhat different levels, we are all there because some place inside us there is a love for God’s innocent creatures.  There are those who are paid to walk those floors providing dignity and compassion to those animals, who many of are living their last days.  The rescuers are there trying with all of their strength to save those who are there because someone thought they couldn’t be saved.  The differing sides have different emotions on different subjects….but the bottom line is that those who are paid to walk those floors have a job in which can in no way be easy on their hearts.  As a rescuer it is a luxury to not have to live our days watching them die, but sending them home when they are ready.

Doing rescue for the largest portion of my life at this time I have seen many things come and go.  I started rescue on the shelter floor.  I looked each day at the eyes until I could take no more.  It is a rare occasion you will find me standing among the rows, as my heart no longer lets me look.  I am now a rescuer who has the luxury of not looking and being able to help what I know I can help or what I will die trying to help. I can focus on my small number and live in the satisfaction that yes today I changed a life.

Well this Betty………I expected that she had a responsibility too.  It was expected by me that she would allow the animals no one loved enough the common decency to die with a human telling them she loved them.  How hard would that have been? My God she was getting a paycheck while I at times have to do this shit for free!  How hard could it have been to pet them?  And when she knew she had become numb to it……..she needed to leave.  How do you sleep at night?  And the workers?  Her partners in crime?  How in God’s name did woman become so cruel?  Who are you women?  My God you turn my stomach. 

Rescue at the throat of Rescue.  That too is a change in which I have seen come over the years.  It was once every rescue had a common goal.  We all have thoughts opinions and are many times the strongest of personalities.  However our common goal was once to save lives.  I ask you all…..how many lives are we saving when we don’t work together?  How many lives are we losing over our petty bickering arguments and our self righteous needs to be the one who is right?  Get over ourselves how about it?  It is about the animals!  We have forgotten that.  And it makes me ashamed that we all aren’t seeing that.

I am sick and tired of hearing about overloaded rescuers.  Dogs going without shots?  Adoptions of too many unaltered dogs?  Back yard breeding rescues?  People really need to face it……when you see that ‘some life’ is not sometimes better than ‘no life’ there is something wrong. I know some of you will argue this……but if you can I ask that you provide yourself with ‘some life’ and see if it is really right. Please chain yourself to a tree or to the side of a house…..  If you are sending a dog from a chain to a chain…..that isn’t quality.  When you are sending a dog who has never been to a vet to a home who has no vet reference is it better.  Are you sending them some place you could see your dog?  If not what made your dog better? Why did you stop wanting more for your dogs?

Rarely will you hear me say bad things about another rescue.  Believe me though if you hear me say it and you hear me say another rescue is not good, it is because I believe it.  There are some things you don’t and never do.  You NEVER breed a rescued dog.  You never abuse a rescue dog.  You never put down more rescue dogs than you adopt out.  You never put a dog to sleep because you cannot find a foster home.  If you took that dog…that dog is your responsibility.  And that’s as long as it takes or you have done all in which you can do.  Period.  Those are simple rules.  Those among the most golden rules of rescue.  They are unwritten…unspoken ……but words to live in this rescue world by. 

It is long past time for us to come forth as educators.  It is long past time that our backbones stiffen and we pay a little more attention to our shelters, our shelter floors, and serve as support in the areas we can to make a terrible job some days maybe a bit easier.  It is time for us to quit trying to be politicians and thinking we are good at it…..while someone like Betty gets by with literal murder.  Why didn’t we know that?  Someone did.  And someone kept it quiet because they were afraid they would never get to pull another animal on the shelter floor.  Shut up! It is up to every one of us…..shelter worker or rescuer……to make a difference.  We are sucking wind.

If we spent a little less time worrying about the differences in each other, spend the time to teach one another to make infallible structures for our missions, talk to our older rescues, our younger ones, serve as backup systems, support systems, leaving the personal issues out of it, I think of the lives we could save together.  It is time for us to remember it is about the dogs and get back to work.  When there is a Betty among us we have failed all of the way around.  And the dogs lost lives because of it.  Think about that.  And think about why in some way you might have been a part of it.  And fix it.  Fix it before it is too late for more of the lives you say you care about.  Prove it.

It is about the dogs.  That’s all I want to do…..save dogs.  I don’t have to be the best or the greatest.  I don’t have to do much at all except be as responsible as I can be to what I agreed to take on.  And some days quite frankly it is a lot to take on.  There are mistakes made, things forgotten, people forgotten, missed phone calls, missed emails, people who are turned down, differences of opinions, sick dogs, well dogs, dogs who come back sometimes, heartbreaks, tears, joy, and an overwhelming need to give more than just a piece of yourself. 

Rescue never sleeps.  There is never a holiday.  There is never a shortage of help needed.  There is never a lack of love or hate.  There is simply a fine balance of doing what you know you can and that is all any of us can do.  Rescuers are not perfect, not angels, not Godly, not politicians, not heroes, not stars, but simply people who have a piece of themselves that can see the eyes and know the life is precious.  It in no way made us perfect…..yet made us exactly who we are inside.  It is your heart which does the saving……and your head just tries to keep up.  And just like the worker walking that shelter floor our jobs hurt too…..but that is no reason to allow your heart to become hard.

Agree with me or not?  It simply is my opinion.  I do stand by my opinion though.  I will not tolerate another Betty…..be that a Betty who could be working the shelter floor or a Betty rescuer walking that floor…..those of us who really came for the dogs will start today trying to make some kind of difference.  We better get to work and make sure these like Betty don’t hurt our dogs anymore.  We need to do the damage control and know who is around us.  We need to make sure those who are living wrong by these dogs don’t do it anymore.  That means even if it is a shelter worker, rescuer, grandfather, sister, child, policeman, doctor……it doesn’t matter…..report them.  Stand up for those who cannot stand up for themselves.  Do what you came here for.  Fix these situations and quit playing politics….they just aren’t worth playing if death is involved.

So that’s simply my opinion. 

 

What does it mean?

I must ask this question.  What does it mean when one saves the life of a dog?  Is it just as simple as making sure that dog has a place to go other than the shelter?  For me personally it means much more than that.  To save the life of a dog is something that cannot be done in a moment’s time or bought through the cash in ones pocket.  To save the life of a dog is more than a feeling of being able to say “I saved that dogs life”.  Saving a life does not mean a flea treatment, heartworm pill, a rabies shot or a pass from dying on the shelter floor.  Saving a dog cannot be done without a heart and a clear understanding of exactly what saving means.

There are very definitive opinions on rescue and what it means to do so.  Many years I spent working shelter floors and knew that it was important to clear those cages ensuring everyone savable in the terms of the cities I worked under got out and didn’t die in those buildings.  However as I aged I found fault in my way of thinking and there are many good reasons why for me this was no longer an avenue I could travel.  It was an avenue for me personally in which ate at my conscience inside and out.

I have received such satisfaction being part of an organized 501c3 rescue group.  I feel that within this realm I personally get to save a life to a standard in which lives well within my heart.  Each day I watch as broken souls enter our program only to regain life, hope, and good health.  I watch them through photos and personal touches grow, flourish, and become the dog that they were always meant to be.  I watch as they sit in the hands of foster parents I trust being held and cherished as they await their forever homes. 

Grant you while this whole first portion of the process is heartwarming, it gets even better.  I get to meet the adopters through photographs, handshakes, email correspondence, home visits, and applicant process.  By the time they receive the dog they have so long awaited many times I have made a friend in the process.  Someone I become somewhat bound too through the love of a dog. And the icing in which tops the cake? Being able to watch that dog go home forever!  A home where this dog will never again be tied, beaten, starved, maimed, or neglected in any form.   A home where love exists, nothing short of their forever.

With each dog having touched it or not I love them.  Every woman running this rescue loves each dog and every woman in this rescue loves that we do really make a difference one dog at a time for them and not for us.  There is satisfaction in knowing we have placed them in the right homes, with the right people, and sent those we cannot immediately help to the right places to help them.  So yes while to the average person our rules are strict, finding our policies are silly, we are so sorry, but to those who do what we do, they understand. 

Quality verses Quantity every day of the week.  Each dog gets to receive what we consider quality.  We are in no races to take on more dogs than another rescue.  We are in a race to do every one we can to the best of our capabilities with little to no mistakes.  Sadly yes there sometimes are mistakes that happen as we are only human.  To most there is little to their day other than their families, their dogs, their homes, and their jobs.  On top of those issues added to our own is generally 1-20 dogs who are waiting our help in one way or another on a daily basis. 

Long story at the bottom line, look hard and dig deep when you ask yourself what it means to save the life of a dog.  What will your answer be?  How will you view it in the morning? What can you do to better what you are doing no to aid this cause?  The series of questions I ask myself on a daily basis.  However I am only one in many who will make a difference this day.  Without an army of those on the ground working together in the proper ways we would never grow and learn.