Returns Are No Fun, No Matter What. When someone returns a dog, it can make you feel defeated. Most of the dogs we take in are chosen by me. That in itself is a huge undertaking: imagine walking through rows and rows of kennels of homeless dogs, all in need of help, and being able to choose only 1 or 2 to rescue. -It's hard! Being objective helps tremendously, but more often than not, empathy is a grand part of the choosing-equation. My background in shelter work makes it impossible to not look for key kennel card details like: arrival date and income-type (stray, return, surrender). For instance, if I see that you've been sitting in a cage for 6 weeks, and the doggy next to you has been sitting in his cage for a few days, I'll instinctively want to help you - the long-timer. Although, oftentimes this is impossible; the long-timers can have traits that make them harder to adopt out, things like their energy level, dog-compatibility, or even their
The Wednesday morning before Memorial Day Weekend I opened my eyes to everything spinning. "No, no no!" I gasped as I covered my face with a pillow. I knew it was vertigo, or as in Portuguese, l abarintite, or labarinto en Español for any language-lovers out there. Never had I experienced vertigo, but I knew what it was, as my mother and grandmothers have had it. And I'll never forget the day I awoke with this condition since it coincided with a holiday, and several upcoming scheduled meet and greets for dogs in our care at that moment. -As of that 'Vertigo Wednesday,' our 6 foster puppies were 8 weeks old and ready to find their forever homes! -Mommy dog was still with us of course (although she had an adopter lined up thankfully). -And I had 3 or 4 other adult dogs in foster care with awesome fosters, so I was in the process of: photographing and listing pets for adoption on Petfinder.com, talking with and screening potential adopters, scheduli