As many are already aware, we’re dog people. Donna and I have had dogs almost from the day we were married, and both of us had dogs in our families growing up. We’re big fans of rescue dogs, having adopted all of our dogs from Humane Societies or similar organizations and most recently working with a German Shepherd rescue for Scarlette’s adoption. It seems there is a constant stream of stray and unwanted dogs and it’s never made sense to us to go to a breeder since we haven’t ever been after a pedigreed pooch. In addition to caring for our own dogs we also help stray dogs whenever we see them.
We are the type of people that will stop in traffic to rescue a dog that is obviously in the wrong place, so that it does not get hurt. Just this week as I left Harris Teeter on Monday night, I saw a dog in the middle of Sea Island Road and winced (and probably made verbal exclamations) as traffic swerved at the last minute to avoid a black dog, on a black roadway at night. As I waited to turn, I watched two trucks come very close to hitting the dog.
I hopped out of the car to go get the dog, but as I got to the center line, it ran into the palmetto/weed patch along the road and disappeared. I hopped back in my car and made an illegal left hand turn by the stables property to see if I could track the dog down. As I did a small pickup that had just made a similar maneuver pulled up to do the same. I learned that the pickup had just hit the dog as it ran out in traffic and turned around further up the road, which explained why the dog seemed to be lazily lying around in the middle of a road. Having just been hit, it was dazed and no doubt scared.
Within minutes a woman arrived who was a relative of the dog’s owner and joined the search. The pickup guy and I both had flashlights in our cars and we started wading through the brush in search of the dog. I tried not to think of how many snakes and ticks were in those bushes. Eventually more and more folks joined the search, mostly family members, but after an hour (with my ice cream melting in the car) we hadn’t found the dog. The dog had slipped away in the darkness, probably before we even got out of the cars to look. I promised to keep an eye out, searched the surrounding area in my car again and then headed home. The good news is that I saw a post just this morning that the dog had been found and escaped major injury.
I like the happy endings, but grieve for families that don’t find their dogs quickly, like the family of Mango, the dog whose missing posters have been updated several times in recent months. In most cases, every dog we’ve rescued (and I’ve lost count) has had a home. Either because of tags or because of Facebook, we’ve been able to find the owner. Once in seminary we found a stray puppy running in terror from the 4th of July Fireworks. We fostered the dog for a while and seriously considered adding a third dog to the family, but in the end, we thought better of it and found her a home with a classmate who spoiled her as an only dog for the dog’s long life. And of course there is the dog in our garage at the moment.
Two weeks ago, as we came back from our Parents’ Night Out, (Thank you Kathleen Turner and those who watched all the kids in the parish house!), we saw a little dog running in and out of traffic on Frederica Road, nearly getting hit several times in under a minute. A car ahead of us stopped traffic and got the dog, taking him to the shoulder twice. Both times he ran back in traffic so the car drove off. We stopped and got the dog, a friendly little youngster and tried to figure out where he belonged. We saw neighbors in their driveway but they had never seen the dog. He’s been posted on the lost dog Facebook page since I posted him there within 15 minutes of finding him, but no luck. He has no tags, no microchip, no one has put up posters for him, and based on the smell, fleas, and visible ribs when we found him, is likely a stray.
He is the sweetest dog, and while he’s young, he’s not a puppy either. He’s small – some kind of dachshund mix and maybe 10 pounds or so. He loves to play with the girls and our other two dogs, but we know that we really can’t take in another dog. We haven’t given him a name and we haven’t let him in the house (he needs some training), out of fear that the girls (ok, and Donna and I) will get too attached. But, if you, or someone you know could use a sweet canine companion, let me know. We’re not opposed to taking him to the Humane Society, but hoped to find him a good home if we can. The Society already has a lot of dogs to care for and we can certainly feed this one for a while. Someone we know, who would let the girls visit from time to time would be ideal! You’d have built-in dog sitters!
Not everyone can or should pick up stray animals. And of course there are homeless people who need help too, not to mention hungry children and a host of other human needs. In fact, there are a lot of folks who need help in different ways. Jesus never said anything about taking in dogs, but he did talk about people, and even once championed the Samaritan who cared for the discarded person on the side of the road. So don’t feel as though you have to rescue every animal or person you meet, but be sure that you are doing some rescuing nonetheless, in whatever ways you can. It’s what all of us do – we’re those kind of people, because Jesus was that kind of person.
Tom+
PS – see you at the animal blessing, Sunday October 2, 5:30 pm!
O God, source of life and power, Who feedeth the birds of the heavens, increase our tenderness towards all the creatures of Thy hand. Help us to refrain from petty acts of cruelty, or thoughtless deeds of harm to any living animal. May we care for them at all times, especially during hard weather, and protect them from injury so that they learn to trust us as friends. Let our sympathy grow with knowledge, so that the whole creation may rejoice in Thy presence. Amen.