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<p class=MsoNormal><u><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:13.5pt'>I Want to Quit (This Is What Animal Rescue Is Like) </span></font></u><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><br>
</span></font><font size=4><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>By Joan C. Fremo </span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><br>
</span></font><font size=4><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>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. </span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
13.5pt'>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. </span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><br>
</span></font><font size=4><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>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. </span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><br>
</span></font><font size=4><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>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. </span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><br>
</span></font><font size=4><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>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? <br>
<br>
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? </span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><br>
</span></font><font size=4><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>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... <br>
<br>
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. <br>
<br>
I want to quit! I just got off the phone. "Are you Basset<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
13.5pt'> 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... <br>
<br>
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. </span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><br>
</span></font><font size=4><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>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. <br>
<br>
I want to quit! I have trusted the wrong people--- had faith and heart
broken... </span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><br>
</span></font><font size=4><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>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. <br>
<br>
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. <br>
<br>
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. <br>
<br>
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." <br>
<br>
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..." <br>
<br>
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..." <br>
<br>
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. <br>
<br>
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 <i><span
style='font-style:italic'>your</span></i> 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. <br>
<br>
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. </span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><br>
</span></font><font size=4><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>I want to quit! But
not today. There's another email, another dog needing Rescue. <br>
<br>
This piece is dedicated, with love and gratitude, to all my fellow Rescuers. </span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoAutoSig><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>Helena Poist<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoAutoSig><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>Proplanner<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoAutoSig><st1:Street w:st="on"><st1:address w:st="on"><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>2321 North Loop Drive</span></font></st1:address></st1:Street><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoAutoSig><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on"><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Ames</span></font></st1:City>,
<st1:State w:st="on">IA</st1:State> <st1:PostalCode w:st="on">50010</st1:PostalCode></st1:place><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoAutoSig><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>helena@proplanner.com<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoAutoSig><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>515-296-7526<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoAutoSig><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>fax: 515-296-3229<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:
10.0pt'>http://www.proplanner.com<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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