This blog post is so overdue. Shortly after my last post, my grandmother passed away. She read my blog regularly and enjoyed hearing all the stories about our foster dogs. I didn't feel like writing for a while because I felt like no one was listening anymore without her there reading my posts. Of course, that's not true, but it took the wind out of my blogging sails for a bit. Next thing I knew, six months had gone by and I hadn't finished telling Buck's story. It's a wonderful story, a happy tail to top all happy endings, so I can't move forward without sharing it. So here we go, back on the blogging train. This one's for my Tutu, who made sure I was raised with dogs and supported my rescue efforts 100%.
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| Post enucleation |
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| Bob & Buck |
After determining Buck had lost his sight again and that the inflammation in his eye was not improving, we made the difficult decision to remove the right eye. We all agreed that Buck would be much better off without that irritated eye bothering him constantly. Dr. Burling did a fabulous job and Buck recovered from his enucleation beautifully. It was very quickly clear to us that he felt much more comfortable even just a couple days after the eye removal. We knew we'd made the right choice for Buck, even though it felt a bit defeating. With his head held high, Buck moved forward with life as we'd seen him do so many times already.
In this midst of all this, something amazing happened. We received a perfect adoption application for Buck from a wonderful man named Bob in New Mexico. Bob fell in love with Buck while searching for English Setters on Petfinder. He'd rescued a few other English Setters previously and missed their companionship after they passed. We were unsure about sending Buck so far away at first, but didn't write it off as a dealbreaker. After all, we've got dogs all up the Northeastern United States thanks to transport efforts. What's the difference?
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| Livin' the life! |
I had a lengthy, heartwarming, and exciting phone conversation with New Mexico Bob. Next thing we knew, he flew up to San Jose to meet Buck in person. They were a perfect match. Not least of all, Bob wasn't put off by Buck's health uncertainties. Bob met Buck before we knew his eye needed to be removed. We wanted to see him through the rest of his eye situation before adopting him out, which Bob understood. I kept him posted throughout Buck's surgery and recovery. He never wavered in his commitment to Buck. I'll never forget Bob's inspiring answer when I asked him if he'd be put off by Buck losing his eye: "Perhaps when I was younger and vainer I might have felt differently, but age has made me a more compassionate man and I want nothing but his comfort and well-being". I could not have scripted a more perfect response. This guy won me over with his patience, compassion, and dedication to a dog he'd barely met.
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| He's even got 2 Christmas stockings! |
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| He loves his bed |
On August 31, we sent Buck off on the road to forever. Bob flew up to San Jose, rented a car, and drove back to New Mexico with Buck alongside him. I didn't cry over Buck. This adoption was so incredibly happy, inspiring, and perfect. With all the obstacles Buck faced and the logistics Bob hurdled to adopt Buck, we felt nothing but joy and gratitude as we watched them pull out of our driveway. We knew Buck found the life he deserved. I get pupdates from New Mexico Bob every so often. Buck lives the life of a king, which is exactly as it should be. He goes to work with Bob every day, rests in orthopaedic beds cushier than any human mattress, naps in front of the fireplace, enjoys brunch at the club overlooking the golf course, goes for leisurely car rides on the weekends, and never leaves his daddy's side. Buck is comfortable, happy, and well-loved.
I can never thank all of Buck's fans enough for their amazing amounts of support and encouragement. Animal Eye Specialists, Dr. Burling, St. Francis APS, and many friends and neighbors rallied together for this old dog. Thank you. He is so very special and he's safe because of all of you. Most of all, thank you to New Mexico Bob for being an incredible human being and of course, to Buck, for growing our hearts just a couple sizes bigger. We love you, Schmuck! Happy forever, old boy.
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| Happy Tail Photo! |
It's New Year's Day 2015 and all I can do is get super excited to save a whole bunch more lives this year! I had a pretty fantastic time rescuing in 2014. The year started off a bit quiet with our move to California, but by March I was already in deep again. 2014 brought different types of rescue involvement for me: volunteering in our shelter's vet clinic, acting as a foster coordinator for St. Francis APS, evaluating shelter dogs for different groups, and pulling dogs for sponsoring rescue groups. All of these new experiences taught me a ton. I quickly learned that I hated foster coordinating - my heart belongs to the dogs, not people. I work best in the trenches where most people don't even like to go, not fighting customer service fires at all hours of the day and night when foster parents feel like giving up. Having said that, there was something very rewarding about evaluating a dog, networking the dog, pulling the dog, placing the dog in foster care, providing foster parent support for the dog, and then facilitating successful adoption of the dog. Foster coordinating meant that every time I pulled a dog, I was involved in 100% of that dog's journey to furever. This was fun in theory for a minute, until I had 7+ "sub-fosters" as I called them at once, each of which seemed to have an emergency at the same time. Every time I patched one leak, another sprung. My fuse is too short for that. I wouldn't do 2014 any differently; foster coordinating was an invaluable experience. Having said that, I am looking forward to simply being a foster mom again in 2015.
When I go to do an assessment, the first thing I do is read over the behaviorist's notes on the animal, the vet's notes, and the general intake notes to get an idea of what I'm looking at. Then I pay attention to the dog's kennel presence - whether he's friendly and soliciting my attention at the front of the kennel, whether he's cowering in the back corner, whether he's alarm barking, etc. Next I get shelter staff to help me take the dog out into the courtyard, where I can get a better feel for his personality. I spend about 15 minutes with the dog comparing how they do in the courtyard with how they presented in the kennel. Some of the things I note are how long it takes the dog to solicit attention from me, whether their body language is showing signs of fear / stress / aggression / overstim / confidence / etc., leash skills or lack thereof, signs of possible potty training, any training skills or commands they already have, and how they react when other people walk by the courtyard fence. I also note how they do with me touching their paws, looking at their teeth, checking out their ears, feeling their belly, snuggling or even picking up like a child might do, and other general handling patterns. I also usually get the shelter staff to help me do a brief dog-to-dog or at least a walk-by with another dog, so I can get an idea of how the dog does with other dogs. Then I get some decent photos and move on to the next dog. When I get home, I type up little assessments of each dog I evaluated and send on to the interested rescue group with the updated photos.
I enjoy doing evaluations so much because it is something further I can do to help dogs stand a chance at getting out of the shelter. I like challenging myself to recognize different signals dogs give, to better understand how we can communicate with dogs, and to just be quiet and listen for a change. Each dog is different and although they can't speak for themselves, I can do my best to give them voices. It's taking a second look. That's all. It's incredibly rewarding to be able to place dogs I've evaluated and then watch them get the "happy tails" they deserve. When I evaluate a dog, it works out that I'm usually the person who goes back to pull them if they are chosen for rescue. Pulling dogs out of the shelter and delivering them to their foster homes is just such an awesome experience. Although I assessed many more, I had the pleasure of pulling 18 dogs out of the San Jose shelter in 2014. Some of them became our personal foster dogs, but most were simply my "sub-fosters" as a foster coordinator. I want to give them a place in my blog, even if they didn't live with me. Their faces mean so much to my heart - they defined my year. The Chihuahua on the bottom right of the final collage with the questions marks turned out to be Mischa, my last pull of 2014. I pulled her last night, NYE 2014, at 6PM and delivered her to her foster home. One last save of the year! Each dog pictured has a different story. Some are wonderful, some are sad, some are ongoing. Regardless, I will always feel connected to them and I look forward to doing my best to help others like them in 2015. So cheers, 2014, and thank you to everyone out there who played a part in saving these lives. It takes a village! With more rescue adventures, more foster dogs, and vet tech school beginning, I know 2015 is going to be just as meaningful. Enjoy the faces of my 2014 :-)