Jaime and Wolffie
During a conversation this week with Heidi Snyder, president of the RCHS, she mentioned that over the past month two dogs that had been adopted had been returned to the shelter. When asked why their pets were being returned, the adopters said it was because “they just don’t have time for them.” To say I was stunned by their reasoning is an understatement. I don’t know whether people just don’t understand what a commitment having a pet will be or if they truly believe they don’t have an hour per day to share with their new family members, but before you bring a new family member into your home please, PLEASE, make sure you are ready for this commitment. These poor dogs are suffering from depression because they don’t understand why they are back at the shelter. They were so happy to go to their forever home only to find out it was an “only while it is convenient for me” home. Although being in the shelter is preferable to the alternative, pets are happiest when they are with their families, even if it is only for one hour per day. You don’t even have to pay attention to them, they’re happy to just lay by the door while you get dressed in the morning, to be there to see you off for the day. When you get home from work, they will be there, doing their job of being available to offer love and companionship if you want it, and if you don’t have time they are satisfied to just be in your presence. No one ever promised life and love would be easy, and if you are under the mistaken impression that engaging in the greatest, unconditional, loving relationship you’ll have in life comes without work and suffering, then you have a misguided view of real life and you are destined to suffer more than just denying yourself the love and companionship of a pet.
Most of my pets have been shelter dogs and strays, but my husband wanted a white German Shepherd so we purchased one from a breeder. The breeder didn’t have the papers available when Wolffie picked us out (it was a pack of 11 of the cutest white fluff balls I’ve ever seen in my life) so we didn’t know until weeks later he was only 5 weeks old when we brought him home. We had decided on a different puppy but Wolffie was persistent so we brought him home instead, a decision we never regretted. If anyone knows anything about shepherds (I didn’t) you know they not only shed incessantly but twice a year they “blow” their coats, so you vacuum garbage bags of fur daily, and as soon as you’re done you turn around and you can’t tell you ever vacuumed. It was a lesson in humility for me because my home always looks like a disaster. Before Wolffie was one year old there were times I thought he would have to go to the pound, but I’d made a commitment and I stuck by it. I had raised three boys and on more than one occasion I would find them with their bicycles apart and grease all over my living room carpet, so as soon as they were grown and out of the house I purchased a white (yes white) couch and loveseat to revel in my newfound clean home. One night upon my return home from a hard day at work I found Wolffie had chewed the upholstery off the arms and down the sides, ruining my newly purchased and highly cherished furniture. I bought a 3’ tall artificial Christmas tree that I loving added my grandma’s glass ornaments to after putting the tree up on a table, far out of his reach, only to find that while I was at work Wolffie had jumped up and shattered every ornament on the tree, popping them with his teeth. I walked into the house to find the broken glass of my grandma’s ornaments everywhere. All that was left were the little tin holders hanging on the branches, a glistening reminder of what could not be replaced. He was a Houdini that got out of every room we banished him to and a terrorist that destroyed everything I thought was important to me. From the day we first brought him home I could hear a gurgle in his chest that the vet was never able to diagnose, but after his death we found his esophagus had a defect that created a pocket where food would lodge, causing him to vomit anywhere between five and ten times daily. Every day of his life he threw up, but we had to keep feeding him because he was a 108 lb. “king” shepherd and when standing would look my husband in the eyes. Wolffie never understood he was a dog. He was only five weeks old when we picked him up, far too young to be taken away from his mom but eating solid food,. We had to buy a king size bed because he slept with us. When the alarm went off in the morning Wolffie roll over on his back and stretch, and you knew it was time to get up when you heard his toenails clicking on the headboard. When we sat at the table to eat, Wolffie would put his haunches on the floor and sit with his front legs on the table, as if to say “where is my plate and why do you keep putting my food in that bowl.” He had to be right there with us, this huge snow white love monkey that wasn’t happy unless he was giving you a full body hug. He stopped being a terrorist when we brought Girlie Sue (a white German Shepherd shelter dog) home. Although they were spayed and neutered, once his girl was there he was happy. There were days when I was cleaning up dog vomit that I would become overwhelmed that I had to clean up this mess, but I would remind myself that every day I had with this angel of God was a gift, and I knew it wouldn’t last nearly as long as I would like. Not long after he turned 7 he could barely get up, and when he didn’t eat I knew something was seriously wrong. We took him to the vet, and found that he had cancer of the spleen (a common problem with shepherds due to all the inbreeding to create their sought after characteristics). His spleen had ruptured, in effect causing him to bleed to death internally. I held him in my arms while the vet helped him across the rainbow bridge. My dad had passed two years before, and he was as much grandpa to my pets as he was to my kids, so I knew he would be there to take Wolffie from my arms into his. Soon the life was gone from the most loving spirit I had ever known in all my days, and my family and I were left to grieve our loss. I would gladly take whatever horrible things life threw my way to have him back, but I have to be satisfied in the knowledge that when I make my way to the other side Wolffie will be there to greet me, and that brings me comfort. Their lives are too short for most of us, but if you open your heart and allow them in, no matter what grief you have to go through to get there, you will be rewarded with a love that mere words are inadequate to describe.
Don’t make the decision to adopt a new pet lightly, but remember when you do it is a life time commitment. And in return you will be rewarded with heaven on this earth.
August is a new month for the FidoFinder.com most popular shelter contest, so vote for the Randolph County Humane Society and help them win the $1,000 monthly donation. Your vote will help the two dogs returned to the shelter find their way to a new, and this time for real, forever home. We can’t do it without you.
