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.