Today Was a Good Day

Today was a good day. I found out that my former foster puppies, Sassy and Hank, were adopted.  I met the cutest little mama dog and  her roly poly puppies. And my friend and I went to the home of a family who needed help doing the right thing for a dog they took in as a favor to someone but can't keep, and they are not having any luck finding him a new home.

When someone comes to you asking for help, especially if they are family, it's hard to say no. That's what happened to these people.  Their sister's family has a dog they got when he was a puppy, they had to move, and the only place they could afford doesn't allow pit bull type dogs.  They're understandably devastated.  So, the people I visited today agreed to take Bootsie in for two weeks, while his owners come up with a plan for where he will go.

Unfortunately, this dog's owners are not actively looking for a new home for Bootsie. It's a case of "out of sight, out of mind" for them.  Meanwhile, the good samaritans are scrambling, trying to find a rescue or a home for a dog they owe nothing to, but have grown attached to in a short amount of time. They know they can't keep him; they have two dogs of their own, and they can't afford to properly care for a third dog.

Bootsie is a sweet dog, but he has some fear issues.  He's afraid of most other dogs.  There's a story about an attack by another dog when he was a puppy, but that came to me third hand, so I don't know how accurate it is.  It's evident that he was not socialized very well after that happened, and now he's five years old, which makes him a special needs dog that will be hard and take time to place. It's sad and my friend and I really liked him a lot.  We both felt bad that we couldn't do more than offer some advice and educate these people about the shelter system.

The bad news for this family is that most rescues will not take in owner surrenders.  They save their space for dogs that linger in shelters, need one on one attention, have special needs, or are in danger of being put to sleep.  It's hard for any organization to turn away people who need help, but foster homes and money to care for the animals are not unlimited, and rescues have to make solid decisions based on the resources they have.

The good news for this family is that most shelters in this area have good working relationships with dozens of rescues, they have lots of volunteers to provide attention and enrichment, and animals that are surrendered have a really high likelihood of getting adopted. It's especially good for this particular dog that there are multiple pit bull rescues with large networks that can come in and work with the shelter to find him a new home.

My friend and I were able to give this family peace of mind.  We were able to assure them that if they surrender him to the shelter, if the decision is made to put him to sleep, it will not be made lightly. We were able to take the pressure off of them to do right by a dog they got stuck with.  Is it ideal to have to surrender him?  No.  But it's not an automatic death sentence either, and it's better for him to be in the hands of experienced shelter staff and rescue volunteers.

I am confident that this dog will be OK.  If he is taken to the shelter, I'm certain that staff, volunteers, trainers, and rescue volunteers will see the same thing my friend and I saw. I really do see a happy ending for him, even if I can't personally work on making it happen. Sometimes the most you can do is steer people in the right direction and hope that they follow through. I'm pretty sure these people will, and Bootsie is on his way to a bright future.