“This one really pulled on me and made me cry. All the dogs I helped, I haven’t cried. This one, I lost it.”
“How can I save her life? She can’t be put down. She’s just…you know. She’s just perfect. And needs a chance.”
“I just couldn’t take it, I had to leave. If they euth him, I’m gonna have to take some time off.”
“I’m trying to save this one that came in from the Corridor of Cruelty. This one is killing me.”
“I’m having a drink. I’m sorry but it really affected me today.”
“I just couldn’t sit by and watch them euth a young healthy sweet dog.”
“I’m out here in a run, crying with her. Giving her some fresh air. Maybe her last.”
“I’m your dog angel.”
These are some real quotes of dog rescuers (AKA heroes). I always think dog rescuers are a little nutty. I mean, they have to be, right? Until I became one. Surely I’m not nutty. Or am I? I wonder?
The bottom line is rescuing dogs tears your heart out. It sucks the goodness right out of your soul. You dog rescuers know what I’m talking about. Just read the quotes from above. Sure, it is wonderful and extremely fulfilling watching adopted dogs walk out of the front door of the shelter with their new family. And it is amazing watching the ugly duckling rescue dog transform over time into a gorgeous loving animal. But for every one we save, hundreds (if not more) end up being called home through no fault of their own. We see this. We feel it. We dream about it. It lingers. There’s no avoiding it.
People often say, “I admire you for what you do. I don’t know how you do that. I could never do what you do.” Maybe not. What keeps us going? What allows us to do what we do, over and over and over…?
I finally realized what it is. We get to the breaking point and can’t take it any more. But there is that one dog that needs a rescue. That one dog that reaches out and touches our very being at just the right moment. Oh, he or she is there. They steal our hearts, for whatever reason. Maybe it’s desperation. Maybe it’s just the straw that broke the camel’s back. Maybe those eyes stopped us dead in our tracks. No, it’s all of that and more. It’s a sign from someone or something more powerful than we are. If I can just save this one, everything will be alright. I can continue rescuing dogs, but only if I save this one. It’s like the runner thinking to himself: If I can just make this last mile, I can finish the race. Sometimes we pin our hopes and our future service on that one dog. We must save him or her to continue on. If not, we have reached our saturation point.
After speaking to a fellow rescuer, she told me she didn’t know if she could continue on if she couldn’t somehow manage to save this one particular wonderful dog named Sampson. For me, it was RJ. For another, it was Flo. For another, it was Sheena. For someone else it was Arwen. For another, it was Zora. And so on, and so on… The shelters are all over capacity. Fosters are stretched to the limit. That’s when it hit me. Sometimes, we need to save that one dog to heal our souls. We just need it and have to have it. It’s almost like a bridge allowing us to cross the raging river that is animal overpopulation. I thought: There are Red Heelers. There are Blue Heelers. Why not Soul Heelers. After all, that’s what they truly are. They heal our souls so we can continue the good fight. If we can just save that one dog, we may not be able to save the world. But it will heal us enough to save the next one, and the next one, and the next one. And who knows, maybe we will save the world.
