Mary and Teddy

 

Mary and Teddy arrived Monday evening. Their journey began in NYC where they were sitting on death row with little hope of seeing the light of a new day. Thousands of dogs and cats find themselves in this predicament daily. Most of us turn a blind eye to the brutality we as a country commit daily when it comes to our unwanted dogs and cats. The solutions are fairly simple. Educate owners, implement low cost spay, neuter programs, enforce cruelty and abandonment laws and require responsible pet ownership. Stop allowing indiscriminate breeding, allowing people to abuse and neglect animals without prosecution and continuing to allow people to abandon and dump animals without regard to cost and responsibility. Take a look at our open collection agencies which we incorrectly label as safe havens for animals where people can take and discard their pets and harbor the mistaken belief that they acted responsibly. These safe havens collect and hold abused animals, sick animals, emaciated animals and healthy animals in their bowels for short periods of time. In that short amount of time the animals are subjected to a hostile environment filled with feces, urine, deadly viruses and overcrowded conditions. Their fate is then pronounced in the form of a euthanasia list that is decided at the end of the day. Euthanasia begins at six am the following day. This story is played out day in and day out as the rest of the world goes about their daily business oblivious to the suffering that is being played out in shelters and safe havens like this across our country.

On almost every post, you can read someone write “I hate people.”  I never totally understand this. I love people. I love all the good people that take action and do something to change our world to make it a better place. These good people can be found in all the nooks and crannies in every corner of the world. These good people don’t have time to be recognized or the energy to tell those people posting how they hate people, how they need to become part of the solution instead of the problem. These good people are out there. Rebound Hounds,  (Anara and her pups) saved from death row and given another chance. Urgent Death Row Dogs who tirelessly day in and day out, obtain the list of tomorrow’s kills, do write ups, post pictures and desperately in the span of twelve hours try to find homes, rescues, places… true safe havens for the dogs whose chances have all but run out.

This is where Teddy and Mary story began again. Urgent Death Row Dogs posted them on the To Be Destroyed List. Posh Pets stepped in and pulled Mary who couldn’t even walk to her own water bowl. They provided emergency vet care and weeks of in hospital treatment to overcome the germs contracted in the government sanctioned safe haven. Posh pets paying the bill for a poorly run, poorly staffed and unsanitary government entity that should be regulated, should be managed and should be held responsible for the issues they continually fail to address. Proper veterinary care, proper sanitation and enforcing current laws and regulations would elevate many of the issues. Low cost spay neuter, education and responsible pet ownership would alleviate the rest.

After weeks of medical care, tests and diagnosis, Mary is stronger but her condition still remains a mystery. She was obviously used for breeding but other than that her history is unknown. When did she lose the ability to control the use of her front legs? Was she abused? Hit by a car? Locked in a small crate her whole life? When did someone decide she wasn’t worth feeding? Why Mary? What is her story and didn’t anyone care to find out? Posh Pets cared. Urgent Death Row Dogs cared. And all of their supporters cared. Mary is here now and we care. Posh Pets will ensure that she is treated with dignity and love for the rest of her life. Do you care? Do you care enough to find a way to actively make a difference in the lives of people or animals in your community?

Teddy was brought to our attention by Urgent Death Row Dogs. He was labeled as too aggressive to handle. Teddy is a fourteen pound shivering mass of fear. He showed his teeth and snapped. His only defense left in this world. All of his security, all of his feeling of safety ripped right out from under him. Fourteen pounds against all his fears and that is how Teddy ended up on death’s doorstep. Two days of love and attention and Teddy cannot stop kissing and snuggling. Two days of reassurance, two days of feeling safe… that was all it took to end fourteen pounds of fear. That was all it took for us at Click to Zen. For Teddy it took Urgent Death Row Dogs to recognize that perhaps they could make a difference. And it took Posh Pets. Posh Pets took the chance that Teddy would turn out okay. They took the time to visit him, look past his pearly whites and recognize that under that fear there was a dog who had exhausted every ounce of his ability to cope and was defending the very last ounce of life within him. Who among us hasn’t felt that kind of fear? Knowing how it feels, how could we allow it in our worlds, our communities without trying to find a way to alleviate that fear and make life just a little easier for those around us?

Both Teddy and Mary will eventually be available for adoption. Hopefully whomever falls in love with each of them will love them unconditionally. I don’t hate people. I love all the people who wake up every morning and decide that they are going to do right, that they are going to take action, that they are going to make a difference in their corners of the world. The people that consciously decide to make a difference despite what they have or don’t have, despite all the drama in their lives, despite everything, they forge ahead and change the world for the better even if it is for one day. Make the decision today to be THAT person. It makes a difference.