Love Your Critters Day

Most would say that part of what makes a house a home are all those loved ones that live within. I agree. This house just wouldn't be a home without my longtime childhood friend and husband (who still treats me like a princess after all these years and I don't know why), my beautiful three daughters, and my sweetheart dogs, Penelope and Cara Bella. Yes, I'm very emotional and reflective this week but I thought I would use this to my advantage and just go ahead and pen my thoughts.

Last weekend, while perusing Craigslist for inexpensive finds, I ran across an ad in the "free" section. Someone needed to find a home for their five year old dog because they just found out they were pregnant with twins and didn't think they could handle the added responsibility. That in itself didn't upset me so much, but it did bother me that they touted the dog as being great with kids, easy going, that it would be happy lying at your feet. HOWEVER...if they didn't find it a home by the end of the month, they would send it to a kill shelter. ARGH!!!!!!! The real kicker? This poor dog had been rescued from a no-kill shelter by them...it had been there for a couple of years before he was finally adopted. They mentioned in their ad that he had had a rough life. Yah, tell me about it!

I'm really soft hearted when it comes to animals and this just broke my heart. I did email the person asking them to reconsider sending the dog to kill shelter and told them that I would gladly help place the dog. I have very minor experience quickly placing dogs...Back last spring, I found a pregnant (dumped) dog weaving in and out of heavy traffic and picked her up and brought her home. I decided to keep her until after her babies were born and old enough to go to new homes. When the time came, I created a webpage for them and then placed an ad in the Sunday paper. The puppies were placed within a day and the mother had a new home within two days. We got so many phone calls from people interested in the mother, too, which really happily surprised me. Anyway, I offered to the Craigslist person to help create a page for their dog and they kindly told me that they would consider it if no one replied to their ad by the end of the month. Apparently, several people *did* reply because I got an email from them letting me know that they had found the dog a nice home with a big yard - and they thanked everyone for their concern. Makes me wonder if other people were saddened by this ad as much as I was...I'm glad it all worked out, though.

I should mention that the people we placed the mama dog with last year ended up calling us a month later to ask us if we could take the dog back for a while. They loved the dog but were having a difficult financial time and needed to get back on their feet. I told all the families that adopted our dogs that if they changed their minds or if something came up, to please bring the dogs back. I'm glad this family wasn't too proud to do just that. They told us they would call us back within a month or so, but we never heard from them again.

If you're interested reading about the mama dog I rescued last year and/or seeing the webpage I created for her and her babies, I will gladly share the link. In case you're wondering, that sweet mama dog was placed with another family that wouldn't give her up now for anything in the world... She is now our very own precious and irreplaceable Penelope Brown. Thanks, Penelope, for helping to make our house a real "home".



Puppy Page
Penelope's Story

***Because I'm feeling mushy, I thought about declaring this a "Love Your Critters Day"...but then again...shouldn't that be everyday?:)***