Souls That Heal

In rescue, we try never to forget that we're dealing with sentient, feeling beings.

The dogs we take in from local shelters, as well as the dogs from across the country that have suffered in abusive situations, give us what amounts to a huge college education. We learn so much from all of our dogs. They teach us that hope is inside of you, not outside. That hope is something you have to try out first, test, see if it's there and then go for it. They teach us that life is precious, not something to waste or destroy. They also teach us that optimism and hope is a state of mind, and can prevail even in the worst of circumstances. Wise ole souls, these dogs!

It's amazing to me how resilient our beloved dogs are. Whenever I find myself griping and bitching about something, I look at what some of our dogs have been through and I suddenly feel like such a wimp. If I could only be more like them....hmmm.

Our bust dogs, as well as our shelter dogs, generally change according to their environment. They don't hold grudges, go on Oprah and whine about how they just can't go on anymore. They say, "Hey, look where I am, I just knew life could be great!"

Sometimes, some of our dogs can be hurt and damaged, and have a hard time swinging back into life in a hurry. Sometimes they need the extra mile, and they need someone to hold out hope, throw them a lifeline that holds them up long enough to get them there. It's worth the stretch, the reward is like heaven. Seeing a dog smile for the first time, seeing his eyes light up because he gets to snuggle, to love and be loved, is giving AND getting the world for both human and dog!

We are still helping to coordinate rescue for the very large recent HSMO bust. I just know, as we've already seen, that there are those sentient feeling beings there with hope that they will get a spot in a foster home so that their souls can begin to heal. The miracle in this work is that our souls begin to heal when theirs do.

Please look around and see if you have a spot for dog from this bust and contact www.hsmo.org, muttsnstuff@yahoo.com or info@ourpack.org.

Happy healing!

—Marthina