How can you do that?

     As a foster, I get the question over and over, "How can you do what you do?" Interpretation: "How can you bring these loveable pups into your home, care for, get attached to, sometimes watch them morph from scared, frightened, little creatures into happy, bouncy, outgoing critters, and then let them go?"

     Every foster pup is different, so to answer in whole, for every foster pup who has graced my home, I would have to share their story. Too many to do that. From the 4-week-old, abandoned, emancipated, dehydrated, little guy who I fed with an eye dropper and who sat on the fence of life and death for 4 weeks, to the healthy, bouncy, happy 12-week-old who is in my home now, the experiences all do have one thing in common... life.

     Life? Yes, life. I would say love, but that is so obvious. I wouldn't be in rescue if I didn't love animals. Joy? Yes, there's joy in the care of these creatures. Satisfaction? Yes, that too. Satisfaction of a job well done when the outcome is good. But what about the times when the outcome is not so good? The pup doesn't get well? The aggression gets worse instead of better? And what about all the times the perfectly healthy, friendly, loving pup doesn't get even one application for adoption?

     Yes, life in animal rescue is full of all these things. the good, the bad, the sad, the unexplainable... That's why my answer is simply, "Life." We take it as it is, we improve it when we can, we accept it when it takes us in a direction we had not fathomed - or fight it with tooth and toenail!

     Life. My newest foster is little Boomer. Boomer is a 12-week-old puppy who was surrendered to West Memphis Animal Shelter. I don't know why the owner couldn't or wouldn't keep him. I can say that he has been well cared for. He's happy, healthy, unafraid and secure. He greets life with enthusiasm. Waking up in the morning - It's time to eat! Out for potty - It's time to play! Back inside - It's time to tug on human's housecoat! In walks BIG foster sister - It's time to make friends! After all this - It's nap time in his warm, comfy, safe place. He sleeps with abandonment and sweet dreams.

     I am in love with little Boomer, and Brycie, and Charlie, and Rio, and the list goes on and on. Each foster pup, and each Sanctuary pup, has brought to my life a new element... An element of love, and element of joy, and element of happiness, an element of satisfaction, and sometimes an element of mystery. And the hard parts... an element of sadness, an element of frustration, an element of anger, an element of grief.

     Is it worth all this? YES!

     FOSTER ~ RESCUE - ADOPT!



Boomer's Freedom Ride - out of the Shelter!