Patrick

This is an intense post, and might be hard to read...but it's a very important one, a very moving and inspiring story that is a prime example of how common and neglectful and cruel abusers are and can be to their animals. Despite his tragic and sickening past, this dog was able to recover and forgive and remain a gentle and loving soul. He has also become a beloved ambassador not only to his breed, but to the countless victims of abuse and neglect.

This is Patrick.

Looks beautiful, happy and healthy doesn't he? Well he hasn't always been this lucky. 

The image below may be disturbing to some, the first time I saw it I felt physically ill. Perhaps you cannot bare to see something so awful, and may feel the need to look away. At first I had that same thought process, and  then I realized, looking away is part of the problem...because issues like this have been ignored too much and for too long. So I forced myself to look at this photo again and again, and I have never seen such suffering on any beings face in my life. As hard as it may be, I think it is necessary to see things like this in our lives. Images and stories like this shock us and make us stop, think, care and maybe even count our blessings. But there are so many homeless, neglected and abused animals of all kinds out there who are desperate for help, support and love. So I ask you to try not to look away. 

This is Patrick on March 16, 2011 when he arrived at Newark's Animal Shelter. 

He was found in a garbage bag at the bottom of a 19 story building's garbage chute by a maintenance worker who came on a Wednesday to empty the bin and dump the trash into a compactor. He felt the bag move as he picked it up, so he opened it and this was what he found. When Patrick arrived at the hospital, his temperature was so low that it did not even register on the thermometer. He was immediately given fluids and covered in blankets and heating pads, and also received a blood transfusion and a bath. Once stabilized he was moved to an animal hospital where he would receive intensive 24 hour care. And his progress was remarkable...

2 days into recovery...

12 days into recovery...

He is proof that even a pit bull can recover from a traumatic nightmare of a past, forgive and continue living their lives happily if they are lucky to be rescued and rehabilitated. 

photo credit: http://www.facebook.com/ThePatrickMiracle

Grab a tissue box...

This article showed up a few times on my Facebook wall, I knew it would be emotional and sweet, but not gonna lie, I cried. haha!....wasn't expecting it to strike a chord with me, but I was not alone in my reaction. I think everyone has had that ONE pet in their life who has been more of a family member or best friend than an animal. One that who lives the course of his or her life loyally along your side, and becomes a key character in many memories that you will have for the rest of your life.

Singer Fiona Apple poured her heart and soul out into a four page, hand-written letter (transcribed below) to her fans in which she explained her very emotional reason for cancelling her upcoming South American Tour.

I'll let her do all the talking....

It's 6pm on Friday, and I'm writing to a few thousand friends I have not met yet. I am writing to ask them to change our plans and meet a little while later. Here's the thing. I have a dog Janet, and she's been ill for almost two years now, as a tumor has been idling in her chest, growing ever so slowly. She's almost 14 years old now.I got her when she was 4 months old. I was 21 then, an adult officially - and she was my child.

She is a pitbull, and was found in Echo Park, with a rope around her neck, and bites all over her ears and face. She was the one the dogfighters use to puff up the confidence of the contenders. She's almost 14 and I've never seen her start a fight, or bite, or even growl, so I can understand why they chose her for that awful role. She's a pacifist.

Janet has been the most consistent relationship of my adult life, and that is just a fact. We've lived in numerous houses, and jumped a few make shift families, but it's always really been the two of us. She slept in bed with me, her head on the pillow, and she accepted my hysterical, tearful face into her chest, with her paws around me, every time I was heartbroken, or spirit-broken, or just lost, and as years went by, she let me take the role of her child, as I fell asleep, with her chin resting above my head. She was under the piano when I wrote songs, barked any time I tried to record anything, and she was in the studio with me all the time we recorded the last album. The last time I came back from tour, she was spry as ever, and she's used to me being gone for a few weeks every 6 or 7 years.

She has Addison's Disease, which makes it dangerous for her to travel since she needs regular injections of Cortisol, because she reacts to stress and to excitement without the physiological tools which keep most of us from literally panicking to death.

Despite all of this, she’s effortlessly joyful and playful, and only stopped acting like a puppy about 3 years ago. She's my best friend and my mother and my daughter, my benefactor, and she's the one who taught me what love is.

I can't come to South America. Not now.

When I got back from the last leg of the US tour, there was a big, big difference. She doesn't even want to go for walks anymore. I know that she's not sad about aging or dying. Animals have a survival instinct, but a sense of mortality and vanity, they do not. That’s why they are so much more present than people. But I know that she is coming close to point where she will stop being a dog, and instead, be part of everything. She’ll be in the wind, and in the soil, and the snow, and in me, wherever I go.

I just can't leave her now, please understand.

If I go away again, I’m afraid she'll die and I won't have the honor of singing her to sleep, of escorting her out. Sometimes it takes me 20 minutes to pick which socks to wear to bed. But this decision is instant. These are the choices we make, which define us.

I will not be the woman who puts her career ahead of love and friendship. I am the woman who stays home and bakes Tilapia for my dearest, oldest friend. And helps her be comfortable, and comforted, and safe, and important. Many of us these days, we dread the death of a loved one. It is the ugly truth of Life, that keeps us feeling terrified and alone. I wish we could also appreciate the time that lies right beside the end of time. I know that I will feel the most overwhelming knowledge of her, and of her life and of my love for her, in the last moments. I need to do my damnedest to be there for that. Because it will be the most beautiful, the most intense, the most enriching experience of life I've ever known. When she dies.

So I am staying home, and I am listening to her snore and wheeze, and reveling in the swampiest, most awful breath that ever emanated from an angel. And I am asking for your blessing.

I'll be seeing you. 
Love, Fiona

At Last!!!

Congratulations to Tanner for finally finding his forever home!!!!

 Tanner came to us in early June when he was about 5 months old, he was rescued from the euthanasia list at the Sacramento Animal Shelter. The day he was picked up, over 30 other dogs were put to sleep due to a contagious upper respiratory infection called kennel cough. But the lucky lucky boy was saved by volunteers and quarantined until his symptoms diminished, then the work began!

Tanner has always been a very very good boy filled with curiosity and love. He enjoys very much being around people (including kids), cats, horses, other dogs...and even chickens! So what took him so long to find a home? Well, of course, finding a stable and suitable home for an animal takes patience, skill and a positive attitude! But as mentioned in the interview with Becky a few posts back, Tanner lived in a cage for the first 4 months of his life, and even though he has been crate trained, remaining still in one for hours on end or in a stimulating environment can be difficult for him. Unfortunately, during many adoption events he would have to be in a crate for a period of time...so his barking would intimidate some from wanting to get to know him. He would also sometimes become nervous when initially meeting someone for the first time, if not properly introduced (i.e. walking right up to him and pet him without giving him a moment to sniff you and realize you are not a threat). We did our best to desensitize him to that and to teach any newcomer how to properly become acquainted with a strange dog for the first time, and progress was made very quickly!

Here he is at an adoption event! It's much more fun out of crates! =) 

For those who are unsure how to interact with a strange dog, here is a good illustration of the basic do's and don'ts: 

Best wishes Tanner!