Tail Talk

I saw an email outlining the animals at the Washington County Animal Control facility, a high-kill shelter, with their euthanization date of August 21, 2008.  In the email list they mentioned a “one year old white german shepherd male,” and my first thought was I know why he’s there.  I lived with a one year old white german shepherd terrorist that later became the love of my life, but during the terrorist years it was difficult at best to live with him.  You know the rest of the story without me going any further but I’ll share it anyway.  Walking into the Randolph County Humane Society, a no-kill shelter, is difficult for those of us that love animals, but those animals are allowed to live without fear of dying. .  We are fortunate that our county is served by a no-kill shelter, and with your continued donations and volunteer support we’ll be able to keep it that way.   Walking into a high-kill shelter is another experience all together.   Those animals know their time is limited, and some accept their fate while others jump and bark, doing anything and everything they can to get your attention, knowing full well their lives depend on it

On Tuesday, August 19, 2008, we brought Happy Jack home to be part of our pack.  His new housemates include my husband, myself, Girlie Sue (11 year old white german shepherd female) and Budward (11 year old husky mix male).  From the moment we left the shelter Happy Jack was a force to be reckoned with, a bundle of energy with no manners.  And the smell was beyond description.  Fortunately, Best Of Show in Sparta had time available to give him the full court treatment and the awful odor of impending death was replaced with the smell of a new beginning.  His introduction to his pack mates went better than expected, but that’s a relative statement.  It feels like we have a 7 year old that’s been sent to live with his great-grandparents (us, not the dogs).  Jack is a 51 pound bag of bones that looks as if he hasn’t eaten in months.  While the only dog bones we were used to seeing were well chewed and out in the yard, Jack’s bones stand an inch above his hips when he’s standing on all fours and his skin hangs in between his ribs.  He doesn’t know a stranger, and he shares his kisses and body hugs with all he comes into contact with.  I have seen a few behaviors that are not the best, but he’s a quick learner and so easy to teach that there isn’t anything he does that would cause a reasonable person to banish him to the pound.  He’s extremely intelligent and eager to please.  He lifted his leg in the house twice after he first got here, but after my scream of dismay and a quick trip outside to finish what he’d started he got the big picture and hasn’t done it again.  Our dogs are mellow and live in the knowledge they will be fed regularly, but Jack is a Starvin’ Marvin that doesn’t trust he’s going to eat again anytime soon.  I left the butter out after I’d made breakfast, but when I looked for it later I couldn’t find it anywhere.  I was sure I’d just gotten a new stick out of the refrigerator but finally I thought I must have been having a senior moment.  It didn’t occur to me that Jack might have eaten it until I noticed the pan of bacon grease left on the stove top to cool was licked half clean.  As soon as I started to look on the floor for the butter I found my answer to the great butter mystery.  There was the butter wrapper, lying in full sight, right in front of the utility room door.  Always in the last place you look.  I walked into the living room and there was a plastic shopping bag in the middle of the floor.  I wasn’t too concerned until I realized it was the bag that contained the catfish stink bait my husband had recently purchased.  Then Jack got sick, right in front of the door.  I was happy to see he hoped to get outside before losing his cookies, but that’s little consolation when you’re the one cleaning up the mess.  In one day Happy Jack has managed to accomplish something years of nagging by my husband had not; I’m becoming a better housekeeper.  Not willingly, not gladly, but I’m doing it.  And if that’s the price I pay for saving another love monkey from certain death, then I’ll have to buck up and do it. 

He went to the vet to have his nuggets removed on the same day he had been destined to die, and I’m pleased to report Happy Jack is still happy.  So for all of you on the fence about neutering your male dogs don’t fret.  They’re the same animals afterwards as they were before, so you have nothing to fear.  Besides removing his nuggets, Happy Jack had to have all his shots and the rest of the tests to insure he wasn’t a health hazard to himself or his housemates.  If anyone thinks the $150 adoption fee from the RCHS is excessive, I would have saved $100 just in vet fees by adopting one of their shelter dogs.  But I wasn’t looking to adopt a dog.  Not until I read about the one year old male white german shepherd that would die unless I intervened.

And that brings me to the uncomfortable part of this story.  There is a video on the Randolph County Humane Society website (randolphcountyhumanesociety.com) titled “In Hope, an animal shelter story” that I hope you will all make a point to view at your earliest convenience.  There is one line in the video that shook me down to my toes, and I’m going to share it with you:

“For every animal that dies in a shelter there is someone, somewhere, responsible for its death.”

I hope that today you will make the decision to have your cats and dogs spayed and neutered because if you don’t and you’re not a registered breeder, then you’ve become the person they speak of.  Does that make you uncomfortable?  It should, because it speaks the truth we prefer not to think of, that we may be the ones responsible for their suffering.  It’s not a pretty truth, but go walk around a high-kill shelter and take in what is happening to these animals.  While they are guaranteed a less painful death than what they might experience otherwise that’s just not good enough.  We must all be part of the solution so one day there will be no need for shelters to exist.  It begins with you, and lest you forget, it will not happen without you. 

For those of you that remember, this past month we adopted a one year old “white german shepherd” (and I use that term loosely) from the high-kill Washington County Animal Control.  We named him Happy Jack, but he’s got a new nickname, Action Jackson.  He’s got two speeds, 90 and off.  He is going to be a good dog, and I’m grateful we have him, but he is every bit the terrorist I knew he would be.  But he’s also a big love monkey.  He gives you a body hug by just melting onto your body.  He goes completely limp and lays on you, enveloping you with his love.  But just like his predecessor (a one year old white german shepherd terrorist Wolffie), Jack chewed up my glasses while I was asleep so I can’t see to write.  My new glasses will be in next week, and just like the old days I’ll keep them in a case in the drawer in the night stand.  How quickly we forget the details of having a puppy in the house.  He’s been in the cow pasture, covered in poo, but after two rounds of getting “bit” by the electric fence he’s satisfied to stay in his own fenced in yard where there is no electric to contend with.  I am happy about the little victories, like staying out of the cow pasture, because he was green from head to toe with and extra little surprise stuck to the inside of his collar.  He and I had a good talk after that.  Not that it did much good, but it is surprising how much he listens and minds.  It only takes a couple of times before he knows and understands so I find that promising.  It really is a delight to have him here because he’s so funny and you can’t help but feel the joy.  He’s young and energetic and always has a goofy look on his face.  And he gives fly by kisses.  He’s a real pain also but I expect that out of a dog his age.  That is one of the things I have to accept to have him in the house with me, but I enjoy my time with them so much that it’s worth whatever pain I go through to have them.  I’m not happy that he ate my glasses, but I was just telling my mother-in-law I was going to get a new pair because I couldn’t see out of the ones I’d been wearing for the last six years.  He just motivated me to get them a little faster than I’d anticipated.  You can’t take any of this too seriously because if you concentrate on the problems you’ll miss the joy.  And there are times in our lives when we all need a goofy little terrorist to bring joy to our days.  Just be realistic in your expectations when adopting a new pet, keep the gallon jug of “odor and stain remover” handy, and put anything that’s important to you out of their reach.  And I’ve found the only place that is out of their reach is in a locked room because if it’s anyplace else it will be fair game.

If you’ve visited FidoFinder.com you’ve noticed they changed the way they are running the shelter contest.  Whatever shelter brings the most new people to their sight as registered users will win the monthly $1,000 donation, so I encourage you all to sign up at your earliest convenience.  And once again, remember to ask all of your friends and family to do the same.  I understand why they changed the rules but I hope that once you’re signed up you will continue to check out their website to read about lost dogs in our area.  After all, if it is your dog that is lost you will want as many eyes as possible looking for them and we need to use every tool available to us to keep our pets safe.  And don’t forget, the Randolph County Humane Society needs you donations of time and money, so if you find yourself with a little extra this month there are a lot of deserving dogs out there that need your help.  And never forget, it is only with your help that we are able to save lives, one by one.

For those of you that check on these things you know we came in third again last month for the $1,000 shelter donation from FidoFinder.com after our astounding first place finish the month before last.  If we would have had the same number of votes as we had in July we would have won again but this time around we were down about 200 votes.  Please email everyone in your contact list and ask them to vote for the Randolph County Humane Society on every computer available to them as their favorite shelter.  It only takes a minute and can do so much good, so please, take a moment and vote today because so many lives depend on your generosity.

A couple of months ago I wrote about the problem of foreclosure and the pets that are left behind.  This past week it happened in our collective back yard.  We don’t even know if it was foreclosure or just a move, but the people left their animals to a certain death by leaving them without food and water.  By the time the RCHS became aware of these poor defenseless creatures it was too late to save them.  They were bones with skin draped across, but they still had enough energy left to be thankful to their saviors that rescued them from a slow and painful death to a quick and painless trip across the rainbow bridge.  The look of gratitude for allowing them not to suffer in their final moments is what makes it okay for the rescuers, but this isn’t how it has to be.  If you call the shelter and there is no room for your animals, don’t just leave them behind, tell the RCHS that you can’t take them with you.  The RCHS will not turn their back on your animals.  Somehow, someway, we will find a way.  This is a time when we must all be our brother’s keeper, and if you know your neighbors are suffering financially and their animals are being neglected, step up and call someone.  They may welcome the help, but if they don’t you must remember that it is up to all of us to relieve the suffering in this world, and it begins with the least of them among us, our animals.

My pets are a huge part of our family, always have been and always will be.  There will never be a time when I will be without the company of a dog because in my world they are the personification on this earth of how my God loves me.  They love me unconditionally, they don’t care what I look like or how much money I make, they are just satisfied to be by my side to share in my joys and comfort me through my sorrows.  They are cherished.  I didn’t realize how difficult it would be for me to write Tail Talk every week because I didn’t understand the extent of suffering that thoughtless, uncaring people put animals through every day, in every neighborhood.  It tears at my heart to know of these animals like the ones that were left behind.  I would prefer to put my blinders back on and act like the only world that exists is my world, but I made a commitment to the Randolph County Humane Society to take the time every week to write, and that means learning about the good and the bad among us so I can tell you in the hopes that perhaps, just maybe, you will be moved to act.  We will never completely wipe out cruelty but we can make changes to our little part of the world.  To do that we must be accountable not only to ourselves but to others, and sometimes that requires doing things outside of our comfort zone.  Take a moment today to look around you and see if there are corners of your world where there is suffering, where you might make a difference, then take your blinders off and do something about it.  If you are fortunate enough not to see any suffering in your world, then think about making a financial donation to the shelter in gratitude that there is no suffering in your world, because in our world there is no shortage of suffering to be attended to.  And never forget it is only through you that we are able to continue to save lives, one by one.