Allow me to introduce you to Arabella, a recent save of TLC's who should be the poster child for what the No-Kill movement is all about...
I will be the first one to tell you I still have a bit of an issue with the term "no kill" because it is not quite that...
There will always be a few animals whose pain and illness are so severe that it is really inhumane to keep them alive... Or some that are so viciously aggressive they are a threat to the general public's safety no matter how much time and rehabilitation efforts you put into them... So unpredictable because they have been taught by humans to be aggressive that any child or some other trigger can generate a vicious and unexpected attack...
But the biggest part (for me) of No-Kill is that no animal should die who is healthy and adoptable... It is also inhumane (to me) to warehouse animals to the point they end up 'shelter-crazy' as well... For No-Kill to work, it requires many things, and one of them is that people stop buying puppies, but go into the shelters and rescues to adopt, adopt with their brains and minds -- but not their eyes or 'Aunt Martha has an XYZ dog and that's the one I want'... All dogs are different, regardless of their breed...
Arabella had no hair down her back and the skin was black and deadened... Cushings was ruled out and a few other reasons, thanks to Dr. Heather's efforts...
And then, almost as if to say, "Hey wait... Don't put me on a kill list... I'm a mom!" Arabella popped out two little pups on Friday, October 25th!...
TLC had no room at the rescue shop, and I had no room at my house either, as a matter of a fact - I can take only so many litters at a time!... Arabella and her pups spent their first night at my house in a kennel, but the door opened, in my bathtub!... It was a quiet, confined place that bought her time until I could find a foster or figure out something else!
We get jammed up on laundry at TLC, doing 14+ loads a day, and periodically we have to take the backlog to the laundromat and do a massive 'catch-up'... My laundromat partner is Kathryn, one of the TLC volunteers...
The next morning she and I had a laundromat run (translation? the back of my truck is completely filled with dirty laundry!) and as we're talking about things in general, I asked Kathryn if she was up yet to another foster... She'd just gotten back from a trip and has been a steady foster mom with TLC, but I was not sure if she could take on another foster... Never hurts to ask though, ya know?
Kathryn immediately agreed and after the laundromat run, we back-tracked to my home... I think Kathryn might have thought I was joking about having Arabella in my bathtub! But in rescue, you do what you gotta do to save a life, ya know?...
The bathroom was quiet, no other dog could come in there and Arabella was still in the mindset of 'anyone that comes within 6' feet of my babies is going to feel the wrath of momma grizzly bear here!'... So the bathtub in the bathroom was a perfect place for her to feel secure and take care of her babies...
Eight weeks later under Kathryn's loving care, this is what Arabella's back now looks like:
Amazing, huh? But beyond the outward appearances, Kathryn tells us Arabella's tail is nonstop... It wags from morning to night... Arabella is a GREAT dog, has no bad habits, is not a barker, gets along with Kathryn's other dogs and deeply loves Kathryn!
If anyone had seen Arabella at the shelter, they would have immediately passed her on by... She'd have stayed un-adopted until once again the shelter ran out of room and would have probably been killed to make space for more 'adoptable' dogs...
No one at the shelter (or in a rescue) wants to kill animals - but until the general public stops dumping their animals or starts adopting, we will continue to have great dogs like Arabella die (sometimes on a daily basis!)...
For every person that has chosen to buy a puppy from a backyard breeder or off the Internet, an Arabella has died in our county... For every person that has walked away from adopting a dog because they just 'have to have a puppy', an Arabella has died for their misconceptions of what they feel they have to have...
We have pulled SO many dogs out of shelters that we have never interacted with... We have no idea what their personalities are like nor their issues when they arrive at TLC... I can't begin to tell you how many dogs I've rescued in 32 years, but I have had to euthanize only three dogs in the thousands we have given a second chance to...
All the rest (at least 1500 since 6/09) have gone on to have great lives with responsible humans who love them BECAUSE they are adopted, rescue dogs...Our criteria has been size because of the way the rescue shop is set up, but we've pulled our share of larger dogs along the way as well... We don't turn away from saving "less than perfect" dogs because we KNOW most of these dogs ended up in a shelter due to a human's stupidity and decisions - not because they are bad dogs or dogs not worth investing in to save their life!
Oh, and should I mention that if Arabella had not been given a second chance - first by VCAS and Dr. Heather, these two precious little ones would not be alive today - Bijou and her brother, Laddie...
Just goes to show you how differently one decision, followed by another good decision and another can change the course of life or death for these little ones who can't speak up to save their lives, huh?
If I haven't convinced you yet to get your butts into a shelter or rescue to adopt your next dog, maybe you should watch the video below and realize what perfection exists inside each and every dog waiting at a shelter to get their second chance... Notice Arabella keeps a watchful eye out for her two babies and when she decides they've had enough play time, she goes and fetches them... What a great dog and mom she is - and almost had to die two months ago!
P.S. Just in time for Christmas, Arabella won her own furever home and mom... she's been adopted!
Arabella has had a long journey and now a new journey begins with me and her new brother and sister, Sissy and Jonesy. She knows she is loved and is the best dog a person can have. Santa was good to me this Christmas.
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