I quit

I quit the rescue. Every Friday but for a handful, I drove 20 miles to clean the shelter and spend time with the dogs for 2 1/2 years. No more.

It wasnt' just Hans although that was the last straw. There were many things I brought up but never got answers on and it was never clear who was in charge of what. If I couldn't come in, I didn't know what to do besides posting for help over and over; if there was a specific problem with a dog, I'd ask what was to be done but rarely did I get an answer leading me to believe they didn't want to be bothered.

I just didn't feel significant. Maybe I wasn't but for 2 1/2 years, I was good enough to spend my Friday's cleaning and looking after the needs of the dogs. When I had an opinion, I was just the "cheap labor". Guess I didn't fit in.

Pepie's dead

Pepie's dead.
I first met her in March of 2005 while walking my dog. I saw this sort of "rabbit hutch" off the ground and didn't quite understand what I was looking at so I went up to take a closer look and there was a dog inside. Pepie. What the hell? I went up to talk to her and she was friendly and quit barking after a few seconds. She looked so sad. So lonely.

The rest is a series of frustrations, tears, and setbacks because try as I might, I couldn't convince the owner or the authorities to get her out of there. It was legal, they said. He was a nice man, they said. They, the good 'ole boys.

Much has been written about her on the internet. Many knew of her plight but were as useless as I in making a difference in her pitiful life. We all tried, we all loved her and now we all feel sad and angry and confused.
Did she ever know love, kindness, comfort? Did she know so many cared? Did it even matter? She will haunt me the rest of my life because she had no life, she just waited to die.

Ooooooh, that little Pongo

Look at that little face, don't you just want to scoop him up and cuddle him to death? He is a cutie at the rescue I volunteer at. I think he was too energetic for the owners and was left tied up outside. I'm so glad he came to the rescue and got out of that awful situation.

He's so squirmy and active and untrained--lots of poo and pee in his kennel and really hard to hang onto. It'll take him some time to learn how to deal with attention and love. You can just tell he craves it; after a few minutes with him, he starts to focus on me and shows me all his cute little tricks. He retrieves all his toys for me and doesn't tire of going after them again and again.

I held him as I talked to a visitor to the rescue, one who seemed to talk with her hands and all the while he followed her hands with his eyes and kept trying to grab them although, she was mostly oblivious to it. (I laughed inside.)
Whoever adopts him is in for a ton of exercise and a lot of entertainment. He's one special pup.