PERSPECTIVE – From Emergency to Comfort & Joy

On December 23, I received an emergency email from the Volunteer & Foster Coordinator at the Ark-Valley Humane Society (AVHS) to their dog fosterers, of which I am one.

“Today, we are doing a special ask for help as we are in great need to get 7 puppies into foster homes that recently arrived at AVHS.” These puppies were being sold by an individual from a box in the local Walmart parking lot when an AVHS volunteer became aware of the situation, that the puppies were not in good condition, and offered to bring them to the shelter, which they did.

The rest of the AVHS emergency email: “Our estimation is that they are about 6.5/7 weeks-old, and that they are Australian Cattle Dog/Australian Shepherd/Border Collie mixes. Because they are so young, we are really trying to get them out of the kennels and into foster homes. This will support their health as they are very susceptible to illnesses in the shelter. Being in foster will also support their socialization and mental well-being as they grow. The puppies are a couple weeks out from their spay/neuter date, but even a few days out of the shelter would be very beneficial for them. It will also help alleviate the stress of staff and other dogs in the shelter….If you are able to foster, we ask that, if possible, you foster at least 2 puppies. It is beneficial for the puppies to have young siblings to learn appropriate play and boundaries. It also helps that they have a sibling to keep them company when it’s bedtime!”

I immediately responded: “We’ll take 2!”

Later, I learned from AVHS that when received they were flea-ridden and needed deworming. They were cleaned up and given their first vaccination before being released into foster care. There were 8 puppies in total, but one was spoken for immediately.

Then I told my husband, who had his own response: a list of all the problems with young puppies, which, frankly, I did already know. But I had an ulterior motive, therein comes the ‘Comfort and Joy,’ which will be explained after a brief amateur sociological comment. He quickly came around and enjoyed the playing and petting them, too.

There are many ways to categorize groups of people. One is ‘dog people,’ ‘cat people,’ ‘all animals people,’ ‘no animals people.’ My husband and I are ‘dog people.’ Anytime I’ve been in a hospital and some wonderful person peeks in the door and asks: “Would you like a visit from a therapy dog?” Of course, I say, “Yes, please!” Petting an animal, especially a dog for me, really is therapeutic and brings great comfort and joy. What more could you ask for on Christmas Eve then two adorable fluffball puppies to be delivered with all their paraphernalia including food with directions, a gated pen (of sorts), plus an assortment of blankets and towels?  We already had lots of toys and treats. The treats, it turns out, they couldn’t have, being on a specific puppy diet.

The boy is named Tinsel, but renamed by me to Freckles, which he has in profusion, but whoever adopts him will, no doubt, rename him, I’m sad to say. He has blue eyes, not uncommon in an Australian Shepherd, which is part of his breed(s) identity, and, to which he identifies more closely. As his personality developed and we got to know him well, it was obvious that he was particularly smart and very observant. Outside, he would take a minute to check out the environment before dashing off to puppy play. Like his obvious physical connection to Australian Shepherds, he was high energy, one of their descriptors, plus loyalty, exceptionally intelligent, trainable, and, as to be expected, with an instinctive herding behavior, which he didn’t try on us. It probably takes a while to devleop.  Check out my SNIPPETS post about Australian Shepherds, which are misnamed as they were developed’ in the U.S. Southwest. It’s interesting how they parallel the development of the economies and sheep breeds in both the U.S. and Australia. Who knew (or cared, you might think, but it is interesting) that Navajo-Churro sheep and Australian Shepherds had a linked history that took place here in Colorado and the surrounding area, Australia, and Spain. It’s all explained in SNIPPETS – Sheep & Shepherds: the People & the Dogs; to be posted for possible escapism on 1/20.

Freckles eating (one of his favorite activities) and showing off his freckles on his nose.

His sister is named Solstice, which we reframed as Soly (long ō, ‘y’ like long  ē). She is the fluffy one with a longer coat like her anticipated DNA would give her. At first, she was bigger and the dominant one, but Freckles took over that role after the first week.

Soly taking a break from wild and crazy puppy play.

 

Tug of war, one example of their wild and crazy puppy play. There’s not a moment of stillness in this!

 

Freckles found this empty birdbath outside to recover in from the tug of war. Just the right size for a little puppy, but not much room for growing.

 

 

“Here we are, being patient, but isn’t it time for us to eat again?”

We were to house them, train and socialize them as possible, love them, and return them when they were ready to be spayed and neutered, receive more of their vaccinations, and then be adopted into permanent homes. We knew our time with them would be  limited; it ended up being  just 2 weeks. That, however, was enough for the “Comfort & Joy” for me.

Without going into a medical thesaurus for pain, somewhat briefly I have spinal and cervical stenosis. Medically, stenosis is a narrowing of a body’s tubular structure. In this specific condition, the interior of my spine is narrowed, thus constricting the nerves. A nod toward WORD WISE: Stenosis is directly from Modern Latin, meaning what it does today, a narrowing of a body’s tubular structure. It arrived there via Ancient Greek, stenos, meaning narrow. The pain it causes is somewhat random, somewhat based on specific types of movement. It ranges from minor to excruciating. There are times when I want to scream at that person slicing my feet and ankles with a razor blade. How did he get in here anyway? Why didn’t the puppies bark, or maybe this was before they learned to bark in week 2? Neuropathy is one of the side effects of stenosis. My sister decribed it as walking on broken glass; I go for the razor blade slicing.

Comfort is petting a puppy; joy is his smiling up at you in anticipation after bringing the ball back to you and wagging his tail (and his whole body because he’s so small that moving one part, moves the whole thing) waiting for you to throw it again. It’s also lifting him outside so he can pee or poop there, and he knows he’s done the right thing. OK, so he doesn’t always make it, but that’s what mops and rags and all those towels that came with him are for. Many tasks didn’t get done while Soly and Freckles lived with us, like our year-end letter, thank yous, posts to my blog, getting the dishes in the dishwasher shortly after use, cleaning what is usually a picked up, somewhat clean home. Yikes! What a mess!

Comfort and joy in the form of Soly and Freckles took over. They both provided it in abundance. That was more than enough.

This is actually one of my back exercises.

Check out the AVHS website to learn more about volunteering, to donate, to look at animals ready for adoption, and much more about this helpful, necessary organization that serves Chaffee County. You can walk dogs on the nearby mesa, play with the cats inside, throw balls for a dog outside in a fenced yard, foster a dog or cat old enough and ready for fostering before they’re adopted (hopefully), do laundry, or a myriad of other tasks for the dedicated and usually overworked staff.

Here’s a link to their website: https://www.ark-valley.org/

AVHS is a non-euthanizing facility dedicated to the following:

• “Maintaining a compassionate animal shelter for all homeless, lost and unwanted pets without regard for time or space.
• Reducing the number of unwanted pets through spay/neuter programs.
• Connecting homeless pets and adoptive homes.
• Offering support services for the prevention of cruelty to animals.
• Presenting public education for responsible pet ownership.”

What a wonderful way to start out a new year that appears to be one of probable chaos, divisiveness, disinformation with not only a sense of doing good, but of comfort and joy for oneself. FYI: all the puppies (except Pinecone who is recuperating from a broken leg with a staff member) were immediately adopted, two by their foster families. (Not us, we’ll remain fosterers.)

Carrying Soly out to the car to return the puppies to the shelter and waiting for a staff person to come take Soly in a Meet & Greet room at the shelter.