Broken

Nope, still not a blog quitter.   Let's just say I suddenly felt EXTREMELY self conscious about my blogs because I started seeing someone.   No, not a dog ... an actual MAN.    I can hear the gasps throughout the blogosphere!      And I suddenly realized that I was not ok with having him see all the inner workings of my thoughts even though I'm ok with anyone else seeing these musings.  

I was already pretty certain of something, but now I'm convinced.  Being in rescue is certainly not conducive to being in a brand new relationship.   Heck just having a couple of dogs that might, let's say, BITE someone just for looking at them wrong isn't necessarily conducive to starting a brand new relationship.   :-)    The people I've surrounded myself with currently don't think I'm all that crazy due to the number of dogs I have scrambling around.       My friends aren't shocked or even perturbed by the barking of a passel of little furry friends.    My friends don't think I'm weird for talking to dogs.   And my friends look at these rescue dogs as deserving creatures that just need a chance.    So I was really caught off guard when I let someone into my life and they weren't as accepting of the current lifestyle I've chosen.

Not only am I looked at as a little bit weird, but I was really struck by our completely opposite mindsets one day when we  were discussing Mackie.   Mackie is my crazy little dachshund  foster that came from a puppy mill raid.   She's got some disc issues but she isn't a candidate for surgery because shes so mobile.    She has kind of a nutty little sideways walk that makes her even extra cute and she's unstoppable.    She is CRAZY mobile  - one of my favorite things is to watch her decide to race through the house for no reason.   She's clearly able to be very active and she's a lot of fun to be around.   

Anyway, we were discussing her adoption fee and this person thought it was really high.   Even though I saw the vet bill and I know our adoption fee isn't even half of what it cost to have her vetted.  To have her spayed, infected teeth removed, the rest of the teeth cleaned, to have a growth removed from her head, receive all her vaccinations, a heart worm test and a microchip it cost close to $500! And that was with a rescue discount!   So even with a normal adoption fee of $225, our group won't recoup its costs.  

A lot of people think this is high and so did this guy ... in fact he said something to me that really bothered me.    He asked me why someone would pay that high of an adoption fee for a dog that was "broken."   I couldn't believe that - I would never look at Mackie or any of my other fosters as a broken dog.    I look at them as wonderful, beautiful little souls that are only looking for the right person to love them just as they are.   They just want a chance to be loved as they are.

I think that's what all of us in rescue are looking for too.    A lot of us have had some pretty sad things happen in our lives.    A lot of us have been really disappointed by people - often betrayed.   But not with dogs and cats - we find unconditional love with these little furmeisters.    If they can love us, no matter how broken we are, we find kindred spirit in the animals we foster and the people that foster alongisde us.   We find love and acceptance easily in the dogs and cats we foster - not so much most of the people we come across in our lives, though.

Maybe I just need to date a vet .... ;-)

Broken Video