- Thread starter
- #1,131
savingdogs
Queen Filksinger
- Joined
- Dec 2, 2009
- Messages
- 5,478
- Reaction score
- 5
- Points
- 221
ThisOldCabin, thank you for your thoughtful post. I'm flattered you read the whole long old thingy.
We somehow have always ended up with dogs. They appear in front of our car. Our doorstep. Our path. Perhaps it is a little like that for you, too. This started a long time ago, when we had never even knew there were people who rescued dogs. We had gotten a thing for strays and had placed them with our friends when our house was full. Then we decided we wanted to do this more purposefully. But we always did this. Even as a small child I bottle fed kittens and such.
But I have joked that there is a sign on my forehead identifying to the dogs who is a sucker for them. Later, I hoped it was a sign that guided them to me, because I would know what to do for them. What I have probably not mentioned in this forum is how many strays I have helped get back to their homes. I never even kept count like I have the fosters. Up here in the country so many people let their dogs run free, I have had to restrain myself though and don't pick up strays anymore. I used to pick up dogs from busy highways and such. Now I like to recieve dogs from official rescue sources because I can help more that way, faster, with less effort on my part and without being able to hear or even function every day, I need their support.
I used to think I had a very interesting life, but now I'm mostly writing about what I USED to do when I tell you my rescue stories. My husband and I feel priveledged to be able to do this fostering still. We are not rich, but we are rich in dogs. We get to have a PACK of our favorite breed live here currently, and food, medical expenses and whatever they need is provided. It is temporary, but we get to enjoy them and become an important cog in the wheel of their life, love them, train them, learn from them. It has been an incredibly useful tool with my children as well. It has given my family focus, purpose and a feeling of being a part of the community. I think anyone who has done extensive volunteer work can say that the more you give the more you get. We have been incredibly blessed because of animal rescue. Yes, we gave up years of our private life. But I'd give anything to have those years back, to be living them again. I'd do it again. And again.
Guess you guys know what I would build here if I won the lotto.....if you guessed build an animal shelter you are right.
We try to apply what we have learned to the new "job" of our farm, with varying degrees of success! This has been a great group of people for helping to make me feel that our current goals are not so strange and that the people here can also understand the drive and ....addiction....really, that I have to saving dogs. We have given up a lot of small luxuries and made a lot of choices in order to be able to do this, but we are not one bit sorry. The whole reason we moved up here was because of them. The rest of this has just unfolded from there. I truly feel God shaped and created me as a dog rescuer and my early life and experiences created a person who thinks this is very important and has the tools to accomplish it. Not many people are so lucky as to know their purpose, and I know mine. Of course, I have more than one. But I mean beyond being a wife, mother, sister, daughter, friend, etc. I'm not a dog trainer, or a dog whisperer or even an animal rights advocate. I just take em from a bad place and give them to a good place. I cannot tell you what knowing this tremendous group of dogs has been like, they are all so awesome, and we loved them all so much. I would never have missed it for the world.
We somehow have always ended up with dogs. They appear in front of our car. Our doorstep. Our path. Perhaps it is a little like that for you, too. This started a long time ago, when we had never even knew there were people who rescued dogs. We had gotten a thing for strays and had placed them with our friends when our house was full. Then we decided we wanted to do this more purposefully. But we always did this. Even as a small child I bottle fed kittens and such.
But I have joked that there is a sign on my forehead identifying to the dogs who is a sucker for them. Later, I hoped it was a sign that guided them to me, because I would know what to do for them. What I have probably not mentioned in this forum is how many strays I have helped get back to their homes. I never even kept count like I have the fosters. Up here in the country so many people let their dogs run free, I have had to restrain myself though and don't pick up strays anymore. I used to pick up dogs from busy highways and such. Now I like to recieve dogs from official rescue sources because I can help more that way, faster, with less effort on my part and without being able to hear or even function every day, I need their support.
I used to think I had a very interesting life, but now I'm mostly writing about what I USED to do when I tell you my rescue stories. My husband and I feel priveledged to be able to do this fostering still. We are not rich, but we are rich in dogs. We get to have a PACK of our favorite breed live here currently, and food, medical expenses and whatever they need is provided. It is temporary, but we get to enjoy them and become an important cog in the wheel of their life, love them, train them, learn from them. It has been an incredibly useful tool with my children as well. It has given my family focus, purpose and a feeling of being a part of the community. I think anyone who has done extensive volunteer work can say that the more you give the more you get. We have been incredibly blessed because of animal rescue. Yes, we gave up years of our private life. But I'd give anything to have those years back, to be living them again. I'd do it again. And again.
Guess you guys know what I would build here if I won the lotto.....if you guessed build an animal shelter you are right.
We try to apply what we have learned to the new "job" of our farm, with varying degrees of success! This has been a great group of people for helping to make me feel that our current goals are not so strange and that the people here can also understand the drive and ....addiction....really, that I have to saving dogs. We have given up a lot of small luxuries and made a lot of choices in order to be able to do this, but we are not one bit sorry. The whole reason we moved up here was because of them. The rest of this has just unfolded from there. I truly feel God shaped and created me as a dog rescuer and my early life and experiences created a person who thinks this is very important and has the tools to accomplish it. Not many people are so lucky as to know their purpose, and I know mine. Of course, I have more than one. But I mean beyond being a wife, mother, sister, daughter, friend, etc. I'm not a dog trainer, or a dog whisperer or even an animal rights advocate. I just take em from a bad place and give them to a good place. I cannot tell you what knowing this tremendous group of dogs has been like, they are all so awesome, and we loved them all so much. I would never have missed it for the world.
But not in a downpour. This is the kind of rain where you cannot do anything if you wanted to. I feel like I'm living in a mud sea. I am really itching to start doing some gardening projects, both with my veggies and just to work on my yard.
