another week

It's been a long hard week here at West Coast Rottweiler Rescue. We have 4 puppies in our care. And no they aren't Rottweilers. But they were dogs in need. They need good loving homes, with families that will always stand by them no matter what.
They are cute active, normal puppies that drive me crazy, keep me up at night and melt my old tired heart. And for the most part we have found them homes and they will leave once they are altered.
Bolt's adoption was finalized today. He is such a happy funny boy and his mom is totally taken with him. His older sister Bella, well, having Bolt around has put a spring in the old girls step. And from what we could see, Bolt is willing to bow to the queen. And that is how it should be.
Doesn't it sound like a good week? Well, as much as some of it was good, some of it just stinks. Yesterday we lost Kysha.
Kysha came to us when her owners decided to move out of province. I guess you don't want to take a 13 yr old Rottweiler to your new home. I really don't know the true answer. I think it was they said they couldn't find a place that would take her. But whatever the reason it wasn't good enough. 13 yrs old for a rottie is a very old age. Kysha deserved to be with the family that had had her for years, not with people that barely knew her.
Danielle loved having Kysha and she worked hard to make her new life as wonderful as she could. But Kysha was an old dog and old dogs will always break your heart. Her back end wouldn't work anymore, she had so much trouble getting up and then couldn't stay up. Maybe there was more that we could do, but really, who are we keeping her here for? Should we risk having her live in pain so that "we" could love her for another day, week, or month. Is that fair to the dog. Not in this case. So I stood by and watched while Danielle's heart broke again. All I could offer was a hug because there is nothing to say. At that moment, I hated what we do in rescue. I hated the decisions we have to make that really are for the original dogs owners to do. But damm it, they weren't around and while they said they were sad, they were the ones that left Kysha behind with strangers.
And I keep hearing about puppies in need on reservations. I have emails from people wanting to rehome their dogs, I have wonderful dogs sitting in rescue cause I can't help them. I'm tired

Some days rescue just doesn’t seem worth it.

There seems to be a never ending supply of dogs needing help and never enough money, resources, etc to do it all. We don’t take owner surrenders but sometimes you have to look beyond the owner to the dog. And that’s what is happening right now. We are going to take care of the dog because the owners really and truly can not.
I am tired and stressed and not really looking forward to the puppies arriving on Sunday. The responsibility of caring for them, finding them the perfect home and being able to cut thru the crap to do that boggles this old girls mind. LOL But then I remember I’m not in this alone, I have a host of people helping. Our vet Kevin Harris from Trenant Park Pet Hospital has always been kind and now has agreed to discount the cost of spaying these girls. This means I have the peace of mind of knowing that they will get the best care available and at a cost that would kill us. I have folks promising to do what they can for us and that means the world to me.
If it was only the dogs I had to deal with my little world would be pretty content. I do have the best Board of Directors supporting my decisions and a circle of friends and mentors that help guide me. Without them, I surely would be a basket case. Cause its people that drive me crazy. Those that want a puppy today and no they will not wait until they are assessed or vetted. There are those in the rescue community that have opinions about how we do things and if we don’t do them their way then it must be wrong. Then there are those rescues that need to say, “I” saved this dog and “I” saved that dog and if it wasn’t for “me”, this or that dog would be dead and” I’m better than everyone else for saving it”. And most times there are 2 sides to something, but god forbid we actually talk about that. Lets instead talk about how WE did something. It seems I get slammed if I voice my opinion, or not, so maybe for awhile I will do just that. I will let those that care (and even those that don’t) know that they aren’t the only ones in the world pissed off.