New addition to the family…
On the left is a picture of OUR new dog, Lady. She is one of a pair of dogs who have been abandoned at the Pet Hostel. Once we made the decision to move her into our “inner circle” and the house, she fit right in!
Last evening, I sewed the dog her own “quilt” which is just a rudimentary small comforter… with her name on it. I’m sure I did this more for myself and for Gary’s amusement, but Lady seems satisfied enough with it, also. The last dog that we treated this way (with lots of freedom around the acreage and house) ended up on the highway KILLED, and we also paid for our friends’ vehicle repairs. I couldn’t speak of “Zak” for months without tears: he had become a fine, fine dog, obedient, handsome and gentle, but one day he decided to visit the cows across the road. I blamed myself. That was two years ago, almost, and we hadn’t found a dog to “take his place”.
We will have Lady spayed very soon. She was abandoned with a male dog who is her half-brother, and I have found a home for him, also. I’ve been reluctant to write about this situation in my weblog, not because the previous owners (the schmucks!) could find it, but because I had some superstitious notion that I would seal the fate of these dogs somehow. Now, with some brilliant deduction, our lawyer’s advice, and the fact that the “owners” have not claimed their dogs for more than 30 days past the date they were to return ( and many, many dodged phonecalls and unanswered messages), we have declared Teddy and Lady abandoned. It has NEVER happened before in 21 years of my boarding business.
What is the MATTER with people anyway? I’ve had dogs that I adored as family members, and I’ve had dogs that I really didn’t bond with, but I’d never have left them with strangers and then simply not come back for them. It’s not as bad as the cases of cruelty and neglect that we hear about almost daily on the news, but it certainly demonstrates an extreme measure of thoughtlessness and lack of responsibility. Take my word for it… after two weeks of having these dogs with no payment (they were supposed to be staying 4 days), I phoned about every other day POLITELY leaving messages (on machine AND to owner’s father) to let me know what the situation was. I would have even negotiated on the boarding FEE, because good people DO run into “hard times”. Someone who dropped off two sweet dogs and insisted that they sleep indoors and claimed that “they are like children to us” didn’t strike me as the type who would move and leave no forwarding address. I have a cell phone number and a relative’s phone number, and I know the city of the land line, but this doesn’t solve this problem. The dogs are ours now, and I have no hope of recovering the almost $900. boarding fee.
The upshot of all this is that I now have a release form! I have the advice of a lawyer. When I phoned another boarding kennel, I had to listen to a harangue about NOT having a release form, and THAT person impolitely refused to discuss details of THEIR form, stating that “it took MEGABUCKS to get that drawn up by a lawyer!”. Some people take themselves too seriously; I remember touring a HUGE pet store and multi-service pet facility in Palm Springs with my Dad in 1989, and THAT owner shared his waiver form with me. I just didn’t put one into effect. The owner of the California pet complex told me that it was like walking around in my underwear to not have a waiver. HMMMMMM… so I’m smarter LATER.
The other photo above is of “Bell” who is a very lovely dog of unknown breed (we can, as usual, speculate!). The owners found her, starving, at the base of Bell Mountain, a couple of years ago. We don’t know her story: it is as likely that she was “dumped” by uncaring owners as that she ran away from anywhere. She is, today, a well adjusted & spayed member of a family with 5 children. In the picture, she is showing her big shiny teeth to our “Lady” who is standing outside the fence showing interest in Bell’s food.
OH, if we could only rescue them all. Because I have a business caring for vaccinated family pets, I am very reluctant to take any kind of stray animal. People who DO care for their animals properly could resent that any pet was here without its shots and worming and other regular maintenance. However, over the years, I’ve been able to find adoptive homes for a number of unwanted pets (sometimes WITHOUT taking them at my place of business), and at times I’ve been able to reunite a dog or cat who has been lost with its rightful, and frantic, owner. The success stories feed my soul, and the sad situations drain me. And, if anyone is wondering, tales of HUMAN suffering are worse, to me and to most.
On THAT cheery note, I must get out to scoop the poop and perform other unglamorous duties associated with grooming and boarding!
Take care, everyone. Thank you for stopping in. ~Ann
