Learning To Love Again

Three years ago I started fostering dogs and have had five wonderful pets live at my house. Some stayed for a night or two and others stayed for a couple of months. I even adopted my first foster, a sweet "brindle" dog named Lucky.  Last fall I got my latest foster dog named Baby. Baby was the runt of a litter of 12, and thus her name "Baby."

In the early part of her life she was sickly and barely survived. And once rescued from the side of a road she spent four months in a shelter, and had to fight other dogs for a piece of bread. She may have suffered abuse in the early part of her life because she was cautious of humans, although she's doing much better now. It took three weeks before I earned her trust, but once I did she has become very loyal and loving.

When I look into her eyes I see a special soul. Animals are far more intelligent than humans give them credit for, and dogs are especially tuned into humans. Their brains are only half the size of ours and they don't have a language module, but they understand sounds, voice tones, and facial expressions. Baby is particularly intelligent and reads my moods and emotions like a book. She's a brilliant animal.

Baby spent four months in a tent.

The thing is, animals have feelings too. Baby not only needs food, warmth, and shelter, but also love, stability, and a sense of security. She is all alone in this world and depends on me and the others who love her, for her survival. For some reason I can really relate to Baby — I'm all alone too. Together, we get through this crazy life, day-by-day.

Somewhere in the insanity of this world, and my divorce, and in all my heartaches and heartbreaks, I forgot how to love. I am thankful that Baby is teaching me to feel again. See, love is about compassion and empathy. It's about understanding another living being and caring for it. It's not about your needs any more, it's about their needs. 

I know I catch a lot of crap for being a freethinker, and just this week I've been called a "jerk" and a "loser." But that's okay, because I'm at the age where I'm ready to take hits for stating what I believe. And I will say this: The harm we've done to the animals in this world is unethical and immoral. We've burnt enough carbon to alter the Earth's atmosphere, causing droughts and wildfires that now kill animals by the billions. We have no right.

Throughout her early life, Baby was always
at the bottom of the pile. I feel the same way.

Baby is a hound mix. Ten thousand years ago people in North Africa bred the hounds from Grey Wolves and used them to help hunt bovines. But then one day someone got an idea and said, "Hey, why don't we just selectively breed the bovines into cows and keep them in herds. That way we don't have to hunt anymore." It was a disastrous idea because we humans got lazy and fat, and the bovines got lazy and fat, and we ate their fat and got fatter.

Of course, if you're a Young Earth Creationist you only believe that the Earth is 6,000 years old, and you think that what I'm saying is poppycock. So, in that case, we can just say that God made "dog" and "cow" on the Sixth Day, and enough of that. Let's move on.

In her early life, Baby required a lot of medical treatment.

Baby loves to chew everything she can, and she doesn't like neighbors very much, so keeping her has been a wild ride. But every day I love and appreciate her more. She fits in well with my other two dogs, but not so well with the cat.

When I call her to come in from the backyard, she curls up on the ground and I have to get her. But when I say "get in the car," she gets super excited and shoots to the back car seat like a rocket, almost knocking me over. That's because she LOVES going to the park, and seeing her mama, Merve.

I know I've gotten jaded and cynical over the years, and I keep fighting that. American politics literally suck the life out of me, and I'm still recovering from losing a job I loved after 26 years. I just go through life as a lost soul. I appreciate Baby giving me some focus and I thank her for allowing me to do some good in this world. Hunger and thirst are horrible pains and it grieves me to think of every stray dog in the world that needs the basics of life, and not to mention protection from so many cruel and heartless human beings. I wish I could help every dog. The empathy and pain I have for them is strong.

We need to spay and neuter our pets, and if you can't adopt a rescue animal, then please donate to an organization that rescues and shelters these wonderful animals. They truly are man and woman's best friend. And for gosh sakes, don't go buying a bred dog when there are so many hundreds of shelter dogs that need homes.