Turning Wrong into Right

I’ve recently experienced one of the most traumatic experiences of my sheltered life. Here is the story. I went to town, in rural New Zealand. There, in the middle of the main road, was a beautiful dog. She then ran into the car park of the town’s only grocery store. She was obviously looking for her people. She seemed lost and had no collar or tag. No one was doing anything. I showed her to people in cars and witnessed incredible apathy.

I spoke sweetly to her and she followed me to the car and got in with me. I didn’t know what to do, so I brought her home. We bonded immediately. Unfortunately, she was domineering over our other, much smaller, female dog. They had to be separated, which became a problem in our living situation. Because of this problem, I could not keep her.

I left details of a FOUND DOG with the city council dog control, the town SPCA, and the local newspaper. No one phoned for her. I was told by authorities that people drop off their dogs in the forest reserves or car parks, especially before Christmas. This mentality really exists! Our New Zealand dog, Kisses, was a Christmas gift that someone left in the neighboring forest, years ago. 

Problems ensued at home in the attempt to keep the dogs separated. It didn’t appear that we were the perfect family for this dog, even though I really loved her. I placed ads on public bulletin boards and in the paper, but still, no one called. In my desperation of the possible bottom-line scenario between the two female dogs, I did something I never thought I would do. I took the dog to another town’s SPCA, no kill shelter, where they find homes for dogs.

If I had turned the lost dog into our local dog control, she would have stayed impounded nine days there first, before taking her to the next town’s SPCA shelter. I spared her those nine days in a cage and hoped that the woman at the SPCA would find her a home, because I wasn’t getting any phone calls. She explained about her bi-weekly ‘pooch parade’ that places dogs with homes. It didn’t sound so bad.

Looking forward to the relief from the stress it brought to our lifestyle, I took her for a forty-minute ride to the SPCA. We drove up and shut off the car engine. EVERYTHING, from the lady, to the unkempt property, to the piles of chicken carcasses and bones everywhere, to the MANY caged and insanely barking dogs when we were in their view, or the silent caged pit bull (her dog) who looked dead but was alive, all ignited my temporary insanity. I was encountering the creepiest, saddest place this vegan, dog-lover ever stepped foot in. Perhaps I was naive, but I wasn’t expecting what I saw.

Because I was unprepared for this, I lost it. I sat on her step and cried. On one hand, this woman can be looked at like a saintly character; taking all these dogs with little or no funding. There was another way of looking at her, though, when I met her in person. I sat in a state of confusion. I tried calling home for help, but no one answered. While I was there, someone pulled up looking for a dog. The SPCA lady coaxed me into leaving the dog. She said to call her tonight. So, I drove home. I wondered ‘how will I ever live with my conscience?’ When I got home, I called a friend. He’s the man who taught me to love animals and dogs. He told me to go back and get her. I finally felt a clear conscience again. Ahhhhhh!!!

I drove right back and got her. Just in those few hours, she became more insane. I was seeing that this place drives dogs crazy. I couldn’t go back where the dogs were, this time. I couldn’t see the unforgettable face and eyes of the little black dachshund-type dog begging me to take it from its prison stall. The woman went and got her from her 6 ft. cement pen, with no bed. She brought her out, her side covered in urine.

I brought her home and we bounded to the river, with glee. A friend said, we’re taking her to the farmer’s market tomorrow morning and not coming home until we have her a good home. The next morning, we took her and left her in the car (windows open enough so she couldn’t get out) while I spoke to people that I thought would treat her nicely. I found her a person! It was someone we vaguely knew, a mellow, organic man who needed companionship on his new rural lifestyle block, safely set back from the road. He would license her, and most importantly, he really liked her!

We did have to bring her back home with us, but just for a day, while her want-to-be guardian prepares for her arrival. We invited him for dinner. He, the dog, and all of us stayed together for a while, so she would feel more comfortable about going with him, which she did.

If the story ended there, you could say it had a happy ending and we did our part in turning WRONG into RIGHT. However, the story has an interesting twist to it. Weeks later, her new person asked us if we could ‘doggy sit’ for a couple of weeks. There were more people at our place that were willing to care for a dog, so we said yes. When the dog came, she had already bonded with her new guardian, and so didn’t need to fight with Kisses anymore, over me. Their relationship had changed. Also, we introduced them again, this time, with the bigger dog on a leash and the smaller dog free.

Then we all walked (people and dogs) on our land in the country. The dogs started to befriend each other.  During these two weeks, the dog (who we now called Thumper because her tail thumps so much when she wags it against the floor and walls) really grew on everyone. She had a new mummy and daddles that she has bonded with, who is, by the way, the man that told me to go back and get her from the shelter.) She seems perfect for our land. Amazingly, she became friends with Kisses (the dog she was once aggressive with.)

Thumper would chase the sheep when on the other man’s land. His land was surrounded on both sides with farm animals. It is legal in New Zealand for farmers to shoot a dog chasing their farm animal, and this law is practiced on a regular basis. When she would chase the sheep, he would tie her up and give her no food for over a day to punish her. He felt he had to. She had to learn or the consequences could be serious. There were no farm animals for Thumper to chase on our land. It is a doggie paradise. When the other owner returned, he saw the ‘rightness’ of how Thumper was meant for us, and though it was hard to part with her, he let us keep her!!!  

The moral of the story is, maybe we can all try a little harder to help man’s best friend. Maybe we can all become more deserving of their beautiful loyalty and trust for us. We can try to turn WRONG into RIGHT.