Pawprints on Our Hearts

You are all well aware, I'm a dog worshipper. Not just a mere admirer or lover, but a worshipper. Where else are you going to find someone who loves you 24/7, follows you everywhere (RR included), knows to lay on your feet when you're cold and on your chest when you are sad, and asks only to be loved in return? That's right - your dog. Such a modest name, but I sometimes read it backwards. 

My dad loved dogs. I got all the feels from him and it started a lifelong adoration. My first orphan pup came to me in college. Mitzi. She wandered onto my porch one summer night, and she cried until I let her in. And she stayed, until I had to give her up to my parents in order to get an apartment at ESU. Then she went to live with my grandpa when his Missy passed away, where she stayed until he passed away. Since she was at my folks, she lived out her life there. 

Many years later, a little Brownie Scout was crying, and when I inquired why, she told me she had been hiding a litter of stray puppies in their camper and her dad said they had to go. Would I please take one? I did, but Max had parvo and we lost him in just a few short weeks. 

There have been more, Sugar, Scout, and Sophie - all purchased and so loved. Our rescue life began with Savy, a Queensland blue heeler that arrived at the farm skinny and covered in ticks. She was just ten weeks old, and my mom texted me a picture 🠊. LOVE!! Now our grand dame rules the roost from a comfy sofa. 

Be warned - I can't watch ASPCA commercials or read The Dodo articles on Facebook. I can't watch videos of very sick animals being rescued. But, I swear, I have never understood how someone could abandon a dog or a puppy! You just turn them lose at the dump? You put them in a dumpster? You chain them for bait? I want those people in jail - I want them to be branded, with an AA on their forehead - Animal Abuser. 

Whew...I'm calmer now... I knew I had to be part of the solution for dogs who were victims of human cruelty. 

Enter Leo ... the true love of my life. A shih-tzu that someone abandoned when he was 12 weeks old. It was unfathomable to me that someone would abandon an eight pound baby in December, left to wander the streets. He was lucky. Leo was found by the right people, and I saw a post on Facebook about a puppy that needed a foster. The journey began in earnest.

We were to be Leo's fosters. He went to two
meet and greets, and two rejections. We  couldn't live with his disappointment. In less than a week, we adopted him - a Foster Fail! I was struggling with my own problems, and he was really depressed. We spent a great deal of time together, curled up in an overstuffed chair feeling low together. Leo laid on my chest, like he was trying to heal my heart. In just a couple of days, I quit thinking about my problems, and focused on the sweet boy that now needed us. 

We foster, just one at a time. We have loved each one, and made sure its adopter really wanted to be a dog owner. Zach and Zoey, Pita, Shenandoah, and Ranger. Our current foster is a great big beautiful girl named Maya. We don't have more room in our pack, but we won't give her up until we find the perfect family. 

Our last personal rescue is Lyndy. Now, brace yourselves. We picked him out of his litter at 8 weeks, under the impression that he was a shih tzu/pug cross. When he came home at 12 weeks, we were already sure he was not much of a shih tzu, and his DNA test proved him to be a super mutt, 14 breeds! We think he has one defining characteristic of each breed! LOL. He has been the jester our pack needed. Sometimes we "accidentally" call him Lucifer! 

I wrote another blog about dogs, and I'm going to end with a thought I shared in that post. "Honestly, I'm not sure I can completely explain or understand the deep admiration I have for dogs. Maybe it is because they have an endless supply of hope for the human race. Regardless of what they have suffered, they give the next human a chance." 

We can see this journey changing as we grow older. Until then, we will help the dogs that need us, until a family makes them their very own!

P.S. Christmas puppies are forever!! 

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