Thursday, February 4, 2010

The Toughest Souls


The Toughest Souls

Working with dogs that come from abuse cases is very rewarding. It can also be very heartbreaking. It's hard when you work with a dog and the dog seems to be better. Then one day there's regression. (Which by the way is part of healing). Sometimes, not always, impingemnet has to occur for recovery to take place and for a dog to completely get better he as to be ABLE to RECOVER. It's not just getting over the ONE thing. It's the ability to get over THINGS. It's the ablility to recover that needs to be regained or gained.

Sometimes though we see dogs that have just been so damaged they've somewhat lost this ability to recover and they need that extra boost or the extra amount of time to realize that "nothing bad's going to happen".

So we go on..... But......what about the damaged people that are damaging the dogs? Have their souls been so tormented by life that they must carry it on? We see people that come from homes that are great and sometimes those people don't do that well. We see people that grow up in abusive homes that come out fine. Are they just tough souls?

We see the same thing with dogs. They are so individual in how they respond to environments. Some come out of abuse cases like the world is working just fine. Others take much time to get over what has happened to them. Some never get over what happened. To me, all of these types are tough, tough souls. The weak souls are the people involved in abuse cases.....the people who hurt the animals. Hurting animals is not tough though, it's cowardice. True blindness in my opinion is a society that turns it's head to these activities. What if we just keep letting these things happen, won't we end up with people who can't recover? People with no remorse left for much at all because they are so desensitized to the idea of pain being inflicted on animals? This is a scary thought to me.

The toughest souls from my experience have been the ones that are in our dogs. To be able to go on and love and work and play after everything that has happened is true courage and strength, EVEN when scared and fearful about the adventure of a new life without abuse.

We usually like to have positive fun stories and pics but I feel that these issues are improtant to look at too. Sorry if this is a bummer but animal abuse has GOT to stop. I know I've said it before but at this time maybe it can't be said enough. I do know it's being said already but.......

Thanks so much for the tough souls here and out there that support animal rescue!

Thank God for the toughest souls that keep us going on.... and that's the dogs!

4 comments:

  1. I wanna speak up and say: I'm a tough soul too, and so is my entire family. We've had our Linguini with us for almost 9 years and she still flinches when you try to touch her, even though she loves it. I was thrown possibly out of a moving vehicle in the streets and as a result I'll never use my leg and I almost died. I can go on and on myself. My point for saying all this was to tell you that it was a great post and many of us deeply appreciate it.
    Twinkie

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  2. Thanks Twink. I'm so sorry about what's happened to you! No one should have to go through that.
    Do we need more education is humanities? Is that what needs to be done?
    I'm glad Linguini still likes being touched and has you guys to touch her and love her.

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  3. Wonderful, important post! Animal abuse is a hugely important societal issue that MUST be addressed for all the reasons you state and more. It is one thing chipping away at humanity, something that makes us less human. And if we turn away from it, it is almost as bad as participating.

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  4. My face is a road map of scars. My ribs have been broken, my toe is missing, and parts of my tongue...but you are my sunflower and you are my inspiration. I strive to love and be loved. I am a tough soul with a heart of gold.

    XOXOX
    Sir Reginald Farnsworth III
    Victim of Dog Fighting now ambassador of the breed.

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