[Dailydrool] to my fellow rescurers

Mon Jul 27 08:19:09 PDT 2009

I Want to Quit (This Is What Animal Rescue Is Like) 

By Joan C. Fremo 

I want to quit! My health is bad. There are days I feel so terrible that
I can barely move. My phone bills are outrageous, and I could have
replaced my van with the funds I have spent these last 3 years---on
animals that were not my own. 

I want to quit! I spend hours and hours emailing about dogs. There may
be 500 messages when I start---and at 4 AM, when I finally shut down the
computer, there are still 500 emails to be read. 

I want to quit! Gosh, I haven't the time left to email my friends. I
can't remember the last book I read, and I gave up my subscription to my
local newspaper---I used to enjoy reading it, cover to cover, but now it
often ends up in the bottom of the squirrel's cage---unread. 

I want to quit! I've spent days emailing what seems like
everyone---trying to find a foster home, help for a dog languishing in a
shelter---but his time has run out, and the shelter has had to euthanize
to make room for the next sad soul. 

I want to quit! I swear, I walk away from my computer to stretch my
legs---let the dogs out---and come back to find another dog in desperate
need. There are times I really dread checking my email. How will I find
the funds, the help, to save yet another dog? 

I want to quit! I save one dog, and two more take its place. Now an
owner who doesn't want his dog---it won't stay in his unfenced yard. An
intact male wanders... This bitch got pregnant by a stray... This
3-month-old pup killed baby chicks... The dog got too big... This
person's moving and needs to give up his pet. I ask you, friends---what
town, what city, what state doesn't allow you to own a pet? 

I want to quit! I just received another picture, another sad soul with
tormented eyes that peer out of a malnourished body. I hear whimpering
in my sleep, have nightmares for days... 

I want to quit! Many of the "Breed People" don't seem to want to hear
about these dogs. Breeders either don't realize, or just don't care, how
many dogs of their breed are dying in shelters. 

I want to quit! I just got off the phone. "Are you Basset

 Rescue? We want to adopt a male to breed to our female." How many times
do I have to explain? I have tried to explain about genetics, about
health and pedigrees. I explain that rescue NEUTERS! I usually end up
sobbing, as I explain about the vast numbers of animals dying in
shelters across the country, as I describe the condition many of these
animals are found in. I wonder if they really heard me... 

I want to quit! It is not like I don't have enough rescues of my own to
worry about---but others have placed dogs improperly and aren't there to
advise the new owners. 

I want to quit! There ARE some unscrupulous rescues out
there---hoarders, collectors, and folks who will short change the care
of the animals to make a dollar. They save them all, regardless of
temperament, putting fellow rescuer's and adopters at risk by not being
truthful. 

I want to quit! I have trusted the wrong people--- had faith and heart
broken... 

I want to quit! AND THEN... My dog, Magnus, lays his head in my lap, he
comforts me with his gentle presence---and the thought of his cousins
suffering stirs my heart. 

I want to quit! AND THEN... One of those 500 emails is from an adopter.
They are thanking me for the most wonderful dog on earth---they cannot
imagine life with out their friend---their life is changed, and they are
so grateful. 

I want to quit! AND THEN... One of my adopted Rescues has visited a
nursing home. A patient that has spent the last few years unable to
communicate, not connecting---Lifts his hand to pat the huge head in his
lap, softly speaks his first words in ages--- to this gentle furchild. 

I want to quit! AND THEN... A Good Samaritan has found and vetted a lost
baby, "I can't keep him, but I'll take care of him until you find his
forever home." 

I want to quit! AND THEN... "Jamie took his first steps holding on to
our Pyr." "Joan, you should see this dog nursing this hurt kitten!" "I
was so sick, Joan, and he never left my side..." 

I want to quit! AND THEN... I get an email from a fellow rescuer,
"Haven't heard from you in a while---you OK? You know I think of you..."

I want to quit! AND THEN... A dozen rescuers step up to help, to
transport, to pull, and to offer encouragement. I have friends I have
never seen, but we share tears, joys, and everything in between. I am
not alone. I am blessed with family of the heart, my fellow Rescuers.
Just days ago it was a friend who shared her wit and wisdom, whose late
night email lifted my heart. Sometimes it is friends who only have time
to forward you a smile. Often, it is my friends who forward me the
notices of dogs in need. 

There are Rescuers who see a flailing transport and do everything they
can do find folks to pull it together for you. Rescuers who'll overnight
or foster your Dog while you seek transport. There are Rescuers not used
to or comfortable with your breed, but who put aside their discomfort to
help. There are Rescuers whose words play the music of our hearts.
Foster homes that love your Rescue, and help to make them whole
again---body and spirit. Foster homes that fit your baby in, though it
may not be their breed. Rescuers whose talents and determination give us
tools to help us. Rescuers we call on for help in a thousand ways, who
answer us, who hear our pleas. Rescuers who are our family, our
strength, our comrades in battle. I know I cannot save every Basset
Hound in need. I know my efforts are a mere drop in a sea. I know that
if I take on just one more---those I have will suffer. 

I want to quit! But I won't. When I feel overwhelmed, I'll stroke my
Magnus's head while reading my fellow Rescuers emails. I'll cry with
them, I'll laugh with them---and they will help me find the strength to
go on. 

I want to quit! But not today. There's another email, another dog
needing Rescue. 

This piece is dedicated, with love and gratitude, to all my fellow
Rescuers. 

Helena Poist

Proplanner

2321 North Loop Drive

Ames, IA 50010

helena at proplanner.com

515-296-7526

fax: 515-296-3229

http://www.proplanner.com

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