Shelter Stories: Rudy

I’ve mentioned before I volunteer at a no-kill animal shelter about 20 miles from here.  It serves both as a last resort for local kill shelters (a lot of times we get dogs whose time has run out somewhere else) and as the place where city authorities send strays.

It’s an unfortunate location for such a wonderful place.  The shelter sits at the end of a long dirt road, through a trailer park and in between a waste water treatment plant and the city’s compost dump…there’s some kind of burning or churning going on pretty much all the time.

As a volunteer, my main job is to come in at least three mornings a week and walk as many dogs as I can.  Our dogs get at least one mile twice per day (morning and evening), depending on their size, health and the weather.  Short-haired dogs get shorter walks in winter; dogs with thick coats get shorter walks in the summer heat.

Since I don’t have a job or classes to get to, I also spend some time just hanging out with the dogs.  If they’re very active (maybe a hunting dog or a border collie) we’ll go out into the fenced run and play fetch.  If they’re sick (we have a lab mix recovering from heartworm treatment right now) we cuddle.  If they’re damaged and frightened (which happens too frequently) I’ll just sit with them in their pens, speaking softly and maybe tossing them treats.

Last summer we got a 5-year-old shepherd mix that’d been confiscated from his abusive owner.  We called him Rudy.  He spent the first two weeks completely still in the corner of his pen, curled as tightly as he could be.  It was as though he was deciding if he wanted to live or die.

He didn’t like to be touched but wasn’t aggressive, so we’d brush him and stroke him and spray him with fly ointment (they’re merciless in the summer months) every day.  Eventually he got used to our presence even if he didn’t want it.

Rudy got friendly with another dog at the shelter, a three-year-old yellow lab called Teddy.  Rudy hated to be leashed (every time he was put on a lead he’d immediately crawl into his doggie igloo and refuse to budge) but one of the staff found out he’d stay with Teddy while on a walk.  The first day I saw him out in the world with Teddy, romping and smiling a dog smile, I thought I’d cry.

As the months went by Rudy eventually got more confident.  He’s still very timid, but he actually gets excited to see some of the volunteers.  Yesterday we had a major breakthrough: he walked on a leash, by himself, with his favorite staffer!  The whole shelter was abuzz J

This means he’ll soon be available for a “special” adoption, one where the adopter is informed of the dog’s unique issues and extra care is taken with his placement.  Rudy will need a devoted, patient and gentle owner who will take the time to gain his trust and affection.

But until he meets that owner and heads off to his "furever" family, Rudy will have a loving home with us at the shelter.

It Takes a Village...but What Kind?

I take a hard line on a few things…probation violation, molestation, Welfare reform, drunk driving.  I think rape should be punishable by life in prison (I’ll probably blog about that some other time).  But for the most part, I’m socially liberal.

I also appreciate Christian values.  I was raised Christian (my father is Catholic and my mother is Lutheran) and I have a large number of family members who are Conservative Presbyterians.  So I know that someone can believe absolutely that being gay is a sin.  I don’t believe that, but I know some people gain a lot of comfort from seeing the world in a certain way and as long as they don’t hurt people with said view they should probably just be left alone.

However, there are practicalities to life that need to be addressed, no matter what one’s religious views are.  I think gay men and women should, in every corner of the world, be allowed to adopt children.  According to a recent UNICEF report, there are between 143 million and 210 million orphans worldwide.  That doesn’t count foster kids, who are not technically orphaned but cannot live with their biological parents.  In the United States, Florida and Missouri still have laws banning gay men from adopting.

So anti-gay adoption agencies (oh, they’re out there, people) are basically saying they’d rather kids grow up “in the system” than in loving, if slightly "atypical" homes.  And yet, there are gay couples out there who will do ANYTHING to adopt and are barred at every turn, EVEN WHEN THE CHILD SHARES A BIOLOGICAL LINK WITH ONE OF THE APPLICANTS.  Check out this story to see what I mean:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41800437/ns/world_news-wonderful_world/?GT1=43001

This precious little boy spent two years in limbo because of bureaucratic homophobia.  Madonna adopted a little boy WHO HAS A PARENT and it took her mere months.  Samuel is the biological son of a man who happens to be homosexual and all of a sudden it takes two years and tens of thousands of dollars to get him home?  I think THESE ARE THE PEOPLE WE WANT TO BE PARENTS.  These are the people we want raising our next generation.

Not this guy.  Or the stepmother of this little girl.  Or these two monsters who actually PASSED the adoption application process.

Come on humanity.  You’d rather your youth be tortured by “acceptable” parents than raised by people who’d do anything to bring them home?