Safe Place for Pets' Auld Lang Syne

Should pet companions be forgot,
and never brought to mind?

Our best friends' love cannot be bought,
nor the days of auld lang syne.

When our days draw to a close,

and our shoulders stoop with time,
beloved pets still linger near,
ne'er forsaking auld lang syne.

When cancer strikes a loved one down,
and pets are left to pine,
Safe Place for Pets gives loving care
for the sake of auld lang syne.

And if you wish to comfort a pet
whose loyal love still glows,

please donate through Indy Give

and help Safe Place for Pets cure woes.

For auld lang syne, my dear,

for auld lang syne,

together we'll make a difference yet

for the sake of auld lang syne.

Dear Friends,

We have rewritten the song that resonates with us all at this time of year, as we bid farewell to the year past and look to the year to come. In a way, Safe Place for Pets serves as that bridge throughout the year, coming to the rescue when a pet loses its beloved owner and can only hope to find another loving family in the future.

Please help us save bereaved pets in the Pikes Peak region. Your $10 donation through http://www.indygive.com/ will truly make a difference. The campaign closes at midnight on December 31st, so please don't delay.

Thank you for your caring support.

For auld lang syne,

Safe Place for Pets

Howlidays at Summerland

We have a heartwarming tail - er, tale - for the holidays, thanks to our friends at Summerland Gardens.

You see, many months ago, Julie McIntyre - owner of Summerland Gardens - started collecting donations for her friend's dog, Sparkle. Catherine 'Chi' Leary's Wire Fox Terrier is diabetic and had developed cataracts.

But then Chi found out that Sparkle's operation was going to cost way more than they could ever hope to raise - $7,000 per eye. And since Sparkle was perfectly happy with her quality of life, Chi and Julie decided to do something else worthy of the Summerland customers' kindness: they decided to donate the funds to Safe Place for Pets!

Needless to say, we are very excited to be the lucky recipients of this thoughtful gift. To say thank you, we are having a little celebration on Tuesday, Dec. 14th at 5:30 p.m., when Summerland Gardens will present their generous check to representatives from Safe Place for Pets. Please join us for a cup of cheer and some holiday sweets! We appreciate your RSVP to info@safeplacepets.org and look forward to seeing you on Tuesday evening.

Photo: Sparkle at her happiest - playing in the water at Bear Creek Dog Park, and refereeing the other dogs!

Smile!

On a news show this evening a reporter was asking people what makes them smile. What makes them happy? I knew right away, as it was something I had been noticing for a while. Not money, not fame, nothing material. Nor was it the love of a good man. Although that would be wonderful. What makes me consistently, unerringly, unfailingly happy is the sight of a dog simply being a dog.

Driving and seeing a dog with its head thrust out of the window enjoying the
air, the movement, the pleasure of going somewhere, anywhere just as long as it is with its person makes me grin foolishly. I could be worried, anxious, preoccupied but that sight puts me squarely in the present, in the now. And in that moment I am happy, content.

Going to and from my neighborhood I regularly pass a local dog park and it is a joyous place. Dogs playing with each other, running full out, chasing balls, sniffing pungent messages left by other dogs, in other words, being themselves. Of course there is the occasional scuffle but these dogs, for the most part, play well with others and enjoy doing so. And then there are their humans. Who knows what they would be doing if not for the bond they have with these animals? Playing Angry Birds or Beer Pong, watching daytime television or HSN? But here they are enjoying a good walk, the great outdoors and companionship…. canine and human. It makes me smile every time.

Then it happens again when I get home. I smile like a fool. I could be gone ten minutes or ten days but the greeting is the same. Diva runs down the hallway to find a toy, even the rag of a toy and throws it in the air to celebrate my homecoming. Ziggy is a bit more subtle. A big stretch, a yawn, a grin, and then a trot down the hall for a treat. We are a mutual admiration society and I cannot imagine life without them.

Heartwarming Homecoming

It's hard to beat unconditional love. Hope this video of a soldier coming home from overseas & being greeted by his dog warms your heart and brightens your day.

Thanks and tail-wags to all the men and women serving our country!

Micha was a pound puppy...

This is the second in a series of posts from our Board members about what inspires them to volunteer for Safe Place for Pets.

Micha was a pound puppy, a Golden Retriever mix who had a Master’s Degree in begging for tummy rubs. We were living in Palmer Lake, next door to my brother-in-law who had a yellow lab of about the same age as Micha. ‘Sunny’ was about as laid back as a dog could be, and Micha didn’t know the difference between the word ‘play’ and ‘life’.

As a result, the two of them didn’t interact much. Sunny thought that laying in a patch of sunlight on her doggy bed was the ultimate pleasure in life, while Micha thought that rolling in the snow was the best thing ever. I used to call Sunny “Eeyore”, because she had that same, slow-moving, “I’m coming…” attitude.

We had a late winter blizzard in March, so Micha and I went next door to visit Sunny and her family. After a few cups of coffee, Micha and I decided to head back home. Sunny needed a potty break and came outside with us. While Micha was dancing and burrowing into the snow, Sunny was freezing cold. She quickly took care of business and headed back inside. Micha intercepted her with a look that said, “Sunny, let’s play in the snow!!” Sunny stopped, and the look she gave Micha could only be interpreted as, “What the hell is wrong with you?” Frankly, I was wondering the same thing.

My mom passed away in May of that year, and about two weeks later we got the news that Micha had cancer. Not wanting to deal with another loved-one’s death, we arranged for Micha to get chemotherapy. But by early October, Micha was nearing the end. Every morning, we carried her outside in a large storage container so she could lay there and enjoy the sunshine and cool fall air as she was wont to do. Then, the strangest thing happened; Sunny would beg to go outside, and then come over to our house and lie down about 20 feet behind Micha. Sunny usually never stayed outside more than a few minutes, but she stayed there at her post all day until we carried Micha back inside in the late afternoon. Sunny would then get up and go back inside her house. This continued for three days, until it was finally time to take Micha for her final trip to the vet.

Clearly, Sunny was watching Micha’s back, knowing that Micha was becoming feeble. Now, Sunny was no fighter, having her own issues with arthritis and seizures. But Micha was her neighbor, and it was her job to protect her. No, there was no communication, no playing with each other, no outward signs of friendship. It seemed that Sunny knew that 11th commandment: “Love thy neighbor as thyself”. Even if you don’t like your neighbor, or socialize with your neighbor, or even talk to your neighbor, you still have to ‘love’ your neighbor. Not that romantic, fun kind of love, but the kind of love that makes us help people thousands of miles away that we may never meet.

I’ve often thought that dogs were sent to us by God to teach us how to live our lives. Micha taught us about unconditional love and living for simple pleasures, and Sunny taught us to love those we don’t even know that well. Yes, there are badly-behaved dogs in this world, but I think that’s mostly caused by people that abuse them. If the world was run by dogs, we wouldn’t need to post the ten commandments on courthouses; dogs already have those rules written in their hearts.

Sunny passed on a few years ago. I always wondered how her passage to the Rainbow Bridge went. I like to think that Micha was the first one to greet her, tail wagging madly, dancing and smiling, while Sunny slowly ambled over to the first patch of sunlit grass she could find. Though they all live in community with each other, Micha’s ‘heaven’ probably has lots of snow and sticks to chase, while Sunny’s has soft beds and warm sun. Regardless, they both deserve their final reward, more than any person I’ve ever met. If I can learn how to behave half as well as them, then with the grace of God I just might be granted the same fate. Although, I kinda like Sunny’s version of heaven better.

"I am a dog person."

This is the first in a series of posts from our Board members about what inspires them to volunteer for Safe Place for Pets.

I am a dog person. I think I was born that way. I can still remember my first dog Maverick, a wired hair Fox Terrier, better than I can some childhood friends. And I hope to have a dog in my life until I die, which implies that I will be leaving a pet behind.

That is why an organization like Safe Place for Pets is so vital. It allows people to have the companionship they need and the animals to have the security of a forever home they deserve. In sickness and in health……..that is true of pets and their bond with us and in our devotion and promise to them.

As we age, as our world narrows, shrinks from going on walks in the park or around the neighborhood to simply walking to the kitchen or the bathroom, our companion animals adjust and remain by our sides. If throwing a ball or a Frisbee becomes more than we can manage they don’t complain. They remain. Our appreciation, our kindness, our continuing devotion is enough.

So what can we leave behind for those who have given us so much, who have provided a presence “ a heart beat at my feet,” in the words of Edith Wharton? We can give them hope for the future, a future in which we do not exist. The promise of a new forever home is such a simple thing to provide for the creature who is the reassuring bulk against our legs during the night, the unfailingly cheerful greeter of the day every morning and the best welcoming committee ever. No ticker tape parade has ever been sweeter than the one my dog Diva gives me every time I come home, no matter how long I have been gone.

Safe Place for Pets exists for people like the elderly woman who called to tell me she lies awake at night worrying about what will happen to her Cocker Spaniel when she dies. She had planned for her son to take him but her son died and now what? Safe Place for Pets exists for people like me and you who want to have an animal companion until we die. And our duty is to provide them, in turn, with a forever home when that happens.

Ruger's Gift

A beautiful post by one of our Board members about some of the ways pets make a difference in our lives...

I did not want my 19 year old son to get a dog. He had recently bought a monster off-road vehicle which turned out to be a brakeless nightmare and by the grace of God did not hurt himself or anyone else. I was concerned about his choices. When I met the object of his affection, a young dog of dubious parentage, a lot of which was hound dog, I saw a pound puppy with loose joints and floppy ears in the arms of a young man who loved him already. And that was the dawn of my son’s coming of age, the beginning of the end to his adolescent self-centeredness and his first steps into taking care of something other than himself. The something he named Ruger.

He had been a partier and remained so but now he had something to feed, water, and be mindful of. Something he cared about depended on him and he rose to the occasion. He got up when he didn’t want to. He kept him safe. He paid attention to the clues our companion pets give us when they need or want something. He came out of his self-absorption and began the road to adulthood. Granted it wasn’t a straight shot but Ruger, that wonderful, mellow, and loveable hound dog, was the reason for the change.

My son, who had dabbled in school, got into it. He realized he loved Political Science and went from academic probation to the Dean’s list in two semesters. He was passionate about something at last and I think that Ruger helped him recognize that passion simply by being in his life. He learned that he had to plan, to think ahead. You can’t just take off for the weekend if there is an animal depending on you. If a paper needs to be written, if expectations have to be met, then you get it done and do it well.

The maturing extended into his personal relationships and he met his future wife. A woman with two cats, cats who Ruger accepted as he had the other dog in the household, Kaya. After my son married they returned from their honeymoon and noticed a change in Ruger as well as a large lump on his neck. Lymphoma. A new marriage and the first sadness they had to face together was the death of a dog they both loved. In the end, Ruger was still a great teacher.

A Day in the Life of Safe Place for Pets

Our board President, Cathy Woods, threw out an idea at our January Board meeting suggesting that Board members could really learn more about the inner workings of our organization by taking a turn at answering the Safe Place for Pets phone.  Since we are an all-volunteer rescue, we don’t have paid staff to answer our phone, so she has been doing this for the last few months.  I agreed to take a turn in March.

I had a very rocky start  Having picked up the phone from another Board member’s office, I didn’t realize that the phone was on vibrate until after I received an email from Cathy asking if everything was alright since she hadn’t heard anything from me in about 10 days.  I said I hadn’t heard the phone, but when I clicked on one of the buttons, I noticed there were nine voice mails!  I called everyone and apologized profusely about my ineptitude with a cell phone.  Everyone I spoke with was so forgiving and gracious, and after a few phone calls, I realized that my transgression would be forgiven.  Aren’t pet lovers the best people?

Having learned from this experience that mistakes are okay when first trying something, I agreed to write our first blog.  I wasn’t sure what I would write about, but then I thought, why not share my phone experience with not only other members of the board, but with our supporters too. 

Today is a day in the life of the Safe Place for Pets phone person.  I received one call from a granddaughter who was still mourning the loss of her grandmother.  She shared her story about how her grandmother had awakened from a morphine-induced coma to say one last good-bye to her great grandchildren.  Being a woman in her late forties, I am prone to unexpected bouts of emotion, so it was with some difficulty that I had to let this very caring granddaughter know that we couldn’t take her grandmother’s cat in for placement because we were at maximum capacity.  She asked if there was anything I could do, because the cat had meant so much to her grandmother. I did what I could, offering the names of some other rescues and tips on how to place the cat herself.  I was feeling a little blue after the call.

My next call was from a woman who was in at-home hospice and she was calling to discuss how to surrender her two poodle-mix dogs, a brother and a sister.  She had been referred to us by a groomer.  I took her information and chatted with her about our assessment process.  She asked if there was any possible way for us to keep the two dogs together, since they had never been apart.  I told her that we would try our best, but if we thought that they had a better chance at placement separately, then we would need to do what was best for the animals.

Within minutes of that call, I received another call from a woman who was having trouble with our online adoption form.  I asked her to submit the form via email.  While talking with her, she indicated that she was interested in adopting Laci, a poodle we had listed on our website.  I regretfully told her that Laci was on a pre-adoption visit, but that we might have 2 toy poodle mixes up for adoption.  After confirming the weight of the dogs with their owner, I called our adopter back and she told me that the dogs sounded like a great fit.  Yes, that’s right; she said she would take both.  I’m sitting here crossing my fingers that this will be a surrender- to- adoption scenario, and this time, my eyes are misting from joy.  Call it serendipity or call it a divine intervention, but right now, I call it a great day in the life of this phone answerer.