It’s about Johnny, my neighbors’ beautiful young German Shepherd.  When the neighbors moved in next door to me several years ago, they brought along their two dogs — Alabaster, a petite, pretty, white Pittie, and Johnny, a magnificent young German Shepherd.  I was happy to meet the young couple and befriend their pets.  But the couple weren’t as excited to get to know their neighbors, which of course is their choice, obviously, but disappointing nonetheless.  Our properties are divided by concrete block privacy walls, so once Johnny and Alabaster were ushered into their new backyard, I was never able to interact with them again …

… Until Johnny began jumping the wall into my back yard.  The first time he came over was quite the surprise.  I happened to walk past my patio door and glance out to see this big guy standing there staring back in at me.  I marveled at his size — large, muscular, a real specimen dog.  Johnny, however, was not trained, even basics like walking on a lead.  He was a good-natured boy, but had lots of nervous energy, making him unable to focus or respond to commands.  It only took a minute or two to recognize that his owners were not invested in managing his behavior.

His owners were away that first time, so I kept Johnny with me in my yard till they returned home a few hours later.  We had fun.  Turns out Johnny loves water — loves it!  The more I sprayed the garden hose for him to chase, the more he loved it.  I loved his child-like joy!  And the more he ran and chased the water spray, the more relaxed he became.  I could see his nerves and anxieties melt away as he played and burned off all his built-up toxic energy.  It was a great time, and I could tell he was relieved.

Our New Normal.

And so began the next three years living next to Johnny.  He jumped the fence on a frequent basis.  I was always finding him in my yard running around.  I adored Johnny but, even tho he was welcome at my home, I couldn’t allow him to keep coming over unannounced.  My own pets were outside with me every day enjoying our yard, and I had no idea if Johnny could be trusted with them.  My dog Bandit is only 11 pounds, and my two cats are quite small as well, especially compared to a 150-pound hyper-active German Shepherd.  I couldn’t put them at risk by allowing Johnny free run of my property.  Johnny might have been friendly and non-threatening, but his size and nervous energy alone could hurt them.  We never knew when he would come over the fence — we just knew that he was always pacing on his side of the fence, and that he would surprise us at any moment.

Johnny’s back yard is higher than mine because we live on the foothills of a mountain range.  So he was never able to jump back over the fence to go home on his own.  And he would freak out — running, crying, pacing, barking, tearing up my grass, my window screens, etc.  I was never angry at Johnny for his anxieties and poor behavior, because it was never his fault.  I knew he was a good dog, who just needed some attention and training.  So I tried to take advantage of the times he was in my yard, and help him burn off pent-up energy so he could learn some commands.  He liked that.  But then the owners would come get him and he’d go back to being ignored and misbehaved.  It was a sad and unfortunate cycle.

Sad Intentions.

It became apparent that Johnny’s time living next door to me was coming to an end.  The neighbors were growing frustrated at having to come get him from my yard so often, and they commented on occasion that they needed to find him a new home.  They listed the typical reasons that people give:  he’s badly behaved, he’s too much work, we have a new baby, etc.  I could tell they were looking for a quick and easy way to unload him, so I began reaching out to people I knew to see if we could get him re-homed safely.  Before I got any takers, tho, the big escape happened.

The Big Escape.

One day last month, I got a notice on NextDoor.com about two dogs wandering a nearby neighborhood.  I pulled up the photo and saw that it was Alabaster and Johnny.  I quickly texted my neighbors that their dogs were loose and the finder had already taken the dogs to the county shelter.  I knew the danger they were in there, and my heart was racing.  The neighbors eventually texted back saying they would go retrieve them.  I texted them again and gave them the two kennel numbers to help quickly identify the dogs and get them safely out.  They texted back saying they were on their way to the shelter.

Later that evening, another post came through on NextDoor.com about Johnny and Alabaster.  It said Alabaster had been picked up by the owners, but Johnny was still at the shelter.  I was shocked to realize the owners had recovered Alabaster but had deliberately left Johnny behind at the shelter.  My heart sank.

Heartbroken But Hopeful.

Posts on NextDoor.com were swirling about trying to get Johnny out of the shelter to safety.  I called everyone I could think of.  Folks were even visiting Johnny at the shelter to be sure he was doing okay and posting status reports on any possible adoptions.  Three days later, the posts stopped.  No more updates on Johnny.  The shelter folks would not let us know if Johnny had been adopted or if they had killed him.

It’s been a few months now, and I still think of Johnny every day.  I fight the urge to judge his owners and be angry with them.  But it’s hard.  Johnny deserved so much better than he got from them.  My heart will always hurt for Johnny knowing he got cheated … and it wasn’t his fault.  I can only pray our networking helped and that he was adopted and is now in the care of loving, diligent folks who prioritize his wellbeing and happiness.  Miracles do happen.

If you don’t have the time or attitude to invest in training a dog, . . .

                                                              . . .   please don’t get a dog.

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God Bless and Happy Pet Parenting!

With love and good wishes,
jeannie.   ?

About jeannie:  I’ve been pro-actively involved in pet rescue all of my life. I founded Milagro Senior Pet Refuge© (Phoenix) in 1998, and BareFootPets (TM) in 2008. Animal welfare has always been and will always be my heart’s work. If my only legacy is that I save a handful of precious souls that would not survive otherwise, I’m good with that.

The post And Another Good Dog Is Ruined. appeared first on BareFootPets.

Some very unfortunate writings have come to my attention, writings by authors who appear to be politically motivated students of socialism, attempting, unbelievably, to insert a slanted racial bias into the realm of shelter pet rescue, of all things.  Having read enough excerpts from each of these books to soundly reject their precepts, I feel compelled to comment on my own behalf in defense of animal welfare and shelter pet rescue.  I make a deliberate point of not naming the books and their authors’ names here so as to avoid giving them “free advertising” on my blog in light of their discriminatory opinions.  [More detailed discussion, if desired, can be found on Nathan Winograd’s >blog<.  Mr. Winograd is the founder of No Kill Advocacy, which exists to dispel outdated and barbaric shelter programs that still choose euthanasia as a primary tool for pet population control.  He is infinitely more qualified than me to speak directly to this important issue.]

Following is my very personal and cautionary response.

Educated Guess.

As I begin this response, I acknowledge that I cannot know what is in the authors’ hearts on this subject.  I can only respond based upon my interpretation of their writings.  I perceive they write with distinct social and political bias, so I will tailor my response accordingly.

You’re Kidding Me With This, Right?

In a nutshell, the authors suggest that low-income minorities are incapable of caring properly for pets because of apparent oppression, white supremacy, and racism; and thus should be given a pass when they abuse, neglect, and even kill their animals.  This mindset is horribly skewed.  It is this kind of divisive thought, purposely perpetuated generationally on low-income minorities, that blocks any chance for positive opportunity and change.

Let’s Break It Down.

The beautiful and simple basis for my response is this:  animal welfare and pet rescue are driven by the goodness in people’s hearts, the fundamental compassion naturally born within.  Pure as the God-given gift of love.  But these authors conspire to undermine the primary thrust of animal welfare movement for their own vanity, much like abortionists.  They promote a hateful ideology, and not only forgive the actors who embrace it, but cheer them, in order to beat down inherent, organic good.  The authors themselves even admit to socialist bias and a complete inability to be impartial.  Their words, not mine.

Indoor, well cared for pets are not the product of only privileged, white homes as claimed by the authors.  Well-cared-for pets are a reflection of love and care, in whatever race or community the pets’ family exists.  And abused, neglected, or surrendered animals are not victims of only impoverished races/people.  They are a result of ill programming such as found in these authors’ books.

Anyone can be taught to care lovingly for their pets.  That’s one of the reasons the No Kill Advocacy, among many benevolent organizations, exists – to educate and encourage.  Compassion and kindness and mercy are not unique to only white-privilege neighborhoods.  Everyone, of all races, has the capacity to love and be kind – and to be taught how to show such love and kindness to their pets.  These qualities are inherent in every human heart – until folks like these authors make it their mission to denigrate.

People who rescue do it with compassion, mercy, and kindness – qualities that the human species is inherently born with.  To be able to embrace these authors’ perspectives, the natural God-given qualities of compassion, mercy, and kindness would first need to be deliberately stripped from one’s psyche, from their very fiber.

Educated For Show.

These authors’ perspectives admittedly serve only to perpetuate a hate-filled narrative of racism which, in even the broadest analysis, has no bearing whatsoever on animal welfare and shelter pet rescue.  One of these authors, specifically, by her own admission in her book, acknowledges point-blank her personal prejudice and socialist agenda.  She is in essence, then, simply spewing venom upon a mission of mercy that has nothing to do with social academics and political persuasion.

People are not born racist and cruel – they must be programmed — by environmental and/or generational influence, but also certainly by people who continually perpetuate division and contention between races.  In the absence of such propagandists putting forth divisive hatred, no one would see another’s skin color.  No one would push for euthanizing shelter pets when life-affirming measures are in place and readily available — because the natural and inherent first impulse of the heart is to love.  Kindness is in our DNA.  Love does no harm.

Love Is More Than A Four-Letter Word.

Love is a universal action word.  People dedicated to animal welfare and pet rescue act out of genuine love to save animals – no more, no less.  No ulterior agendas, nothing political.  Authors with politically-begotten degrees attempt to impress people with their education, when in fact all they do is degrade goodness.  All it takes to save an animal’s life is a kind heart — simple as that.  It does not take a college degree or political persuasion.  And a kind heart is not unique to white-only citizens in affluent communities.  All human races are born to love.  No book and no critical analyses are needed.  It’s just love.  To try to cast animal welfare and shelter pet rescue in a politically or socially complex light, or any other misleading light, is fraudulent, even abhorrent from truth.

I understand the authors’ likely desire to gain notoriety and profits from their college degrees, but I respectfully caution readers to be very, very discerning about following such self-described experts who maliciously undermine the basic goodness of animal welfare and shelter pet rescue in order to exalt personal egos.  At the end of the day, saving lives is simply about compassion, kindness, and love, in its purest form.  I would encourage these authors to examine your hearts and, if you truly believe the system does not work effectively for minorities and low-income pet owners, then please find a way to put your college degrees to better use by setting aside your prejudices and racial bias, and instead support us in shelter pet rescue to make a better way for the animals.  We can always use the help.

I also respectfully recommend the Bible in contrast to those books discussed above.  It is intended for Everyone equally.

• A righteous man regards the life of his beast.  Proverbs 12:10.
• Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings and not one of them is forgotten before God? Luke 12:6.
• Love suffers long, and is kind; love envies not; love boasts not itself, is not puffed up; love does not behave itself unseemly, seeks not its own, is not easily provoked, thinks no evil; rejoices not in injustice, but rejoices in the truth; love bears all things, endures all things; love never fails. And now abides faith, hope, and love; but the greatest of these is love.   I Corinthians 13:4-8, 13.

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God Bless and Happy Pet Parenting!

With love and good wishes,
jeannie.   ?

About jeannie:  I’ve been pro-actively involved in pet rescue all of my life. I founded Milagro Senior Pet Refuge© (Phoenix) in 1998, and BareFootPets (TM) in 2008. Animal welfare has always been and will always be my heart’s work. If my only legacy is that I save a handful of precious souls that would not survive otherwise, I’m good with that.

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The post Pet Rescue Is Neither Racist Nor Political. appeared first on BareFootPets.

Sorry I’ve been gone awhile. I got behind on my BareFootPets blog recently because, on May 14, 2019, our home was robbed–in broad daylight–while we were at work. And I got to see it play out on video. It has been the most horrible horrible experience. Needless to say, over the past several weeks, we’ve been in clean-up mode, working with the insurance companies, police, repair people, and trying just to figure out our new normal.

On that day, while I was at work, I got a pop-up notification on my cell phone from the Canary video surveillance app that there was movement in our home. I figured the cameras were just picking up one of my pets moving about the house as usual, so I casually launched the Canary app on my cell phone. And instead I saw video footage of thieves ransacking our house–and I watched helplessly as my little blind senior pets struggled frantically to find safety in the midst of the chaos, but not knowing how to get away from the danger. My heart stopped! It was hands down one of the scariest moments of my life.  And the longest drive home I’ve ever made.

Dual Benefits Of Video Surveillance.

So I originally got the Canary security app and four video cameras just to keep a better watch on our senior pets while we were at work. You know, to see who was using the litterbox and who wasn’t, is everyone finding the food dishes okay, is anyone in distress while we’re away, were they all navigating the house okay in our absence since some of them are blind, etc. It was a huge help–I felt immensely better equipped to care for them and still be at work, able to supervise them by video.

For instance, we discovered that Chelsea the big black cat was picking on little Mikimoto, my blind and fragile senior cat. So, with that new information from the video cameras, we now knew to secure Chelsea in a separate room while we were away at work. Boom–problem solved. Mikimoto no longer lives in fear, and we have harmony in the house again. We are now able to protect Mikimoto by video and give him comfort and freedom from fear even when we’re gone. And Chelsea enjoys her private new “studio apartment” (a/k/a guest bathroom). We will never be without video surveillance again!

Little did we know that the day would come when we’d be watching video of thieves going room by room through our home, stealing everything of value, and trashing everything else. I was also able to watch my poor pets running for their lives, hiding wherever they could, or just going in circles because they’re blind and not knowing what was happening, just that it was something really really bad. Broken glass was flying everywhere, and they were stumbling over things being thrown randomly about. It was a nightmare for them!

New Kids On The Block …

So, here’s a little side story to lead us up to the robbery. I was at the county animal shelter a few days before the robbery, picking up a little 4lb senior Chihuahua. He was elisted and scheduled to be put to death the next morning for being old and feeble. Someone in my rescue network had given me a heads-up email about him, so I went to the shelter to get him. They hadn’t even given him a name, only a number. The folks at the shelter talked me out of pulling him initially. They said he had too many health issues and was just too old to mess with. So I reluctantly left without ever meeting him. But he stayed on my heart as I drove away.

At home that night, instinct made me look again at his profile and something just told me he wasn’t ready to go yet. I needed to step up. Knots formed in my tummy for fear he was going to die before I could get back to him. I quickly emailed the shelter and said I was picking him up the next day after all, and I wanted no argument about it. They agreed to remove him from the elist and keep him safe for me.

The next morning, I hustled back to the shelter and happily claimed him. When I walked into the elist room and saw him for the first time, curled up in a tiny donut bed with his back to me, and he turned his tiny wobbly head with giant rabbit ears and looked up at me soulfully, that was it. You could hear the chorus singing and see the hearts floating all around the room. He completely captured my heart with that one look. I named him Bug. And I scooped Bug gently up into my arms, and told him he was safe, we’re going home.

On our way out, a scruffy little black and white Terrier pup caught my eye, maybe some Doxie mixed in. He didn’t have a name, either, just a number. Listed as a two-year-old stray that no one had come back for. Now, as founder and president of Milagro Senior Pet Refuge, I’ve stayed true to Milagro’s mission statement since the 1980s–I haven’t had a young dog in decades. But this little boy grabbed my attention and didn’t let go. I fought it off and passed on by. But just down the hallway, I turned and headed back for another look. Yep, he was definitely calling my name loud. Still I resisted and decided to walk other aisles for awhile to see if it would pass … it didn’t.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned in a lifetime of pet rescue, it’s that oftentimes, most times actually, rescue pets choose us, we don’t choose them. And I’ve learned to listen to that voice inside. I finally recognized that’s what was happening here. And so I turned around and went back and collected the little two-year-old fellow as well. We tried out quite a few names on him over the next couple of months, and finally decided on Kevin (you’ll find out why in the paragraphs below). And Kevin and Bug took their freedom ride home together. It was a most excellent day.

Click on these photos to see Bug’s and Kevin’s Freedom Rides. 🙂

Fast Forward Back To The Robbery.

So, Bug’s and Kevin’s freedom ride happened only a few days before the robbery. The boys were still brand new to my home when all the crazy went down. I don’t know if they even recognized us as their new home and family yet. That is, until I saw the Canary video of the robbery. I have watched it over and over to memorize every unbelievable detail. And what I saw touched my heart and blew my mind.

Kevin, in all his little 9lbs of fuzzy scruffy glory, recognized immediately that these guys did NOT belong in our house.  And he stood up to them. He met them at the back door as they popped the lock and tiptoed in, and he nipped at their heels and barked loud and hard at them. Then he very smartly moved to the safety of the upper back of the living room sofa and barked louder and harder. He gave them royal hell and didn’t let up till they were gone. His body shook with fear and adrenaline, and he barked so hard he couldn’t breathe.

And right behind Kevin was little Bug, bringing up the rear, toodling along behind the robbers in his oversized diaper, backing up Kevin with the barking. I could not be more proud of these little guys. And they were immensely proud of themselves, too, which is even more awesome. They saw there was a job to be done, and they stepped up and saved the day.

The Aftermath.

Ever since the robbery, Kevin is still a bit freaked out. He barks at every little thing, hides up on my bed (it has become his safe place), and dribbles a little pee when he feels really unsure of things (probably he’d prefer I didn’t tell you that). Still, he’s proud to be the man of the house. He is now acutely tuned in to the security app notifications on my cell phone. As soon as they announce, he’s off to the doors and windows like a shot. He is front and center whenever someone comes to the house and lets them know they have to get past him. So far he has chased away the housekeeper, the pest control guy, the police detective, the neighbor’s lawnkeeper, my best friend Donna, and the Amazon prime driver. He has taken on the role of protector and takes the role very seriously, God Bless His Sweet Little Soul. By the way, Kevin is named for Kevin Costner, who was Whitney Houston’s bodyguard in the movie “The Bodyguard.”  Perfect, isn’t it.

And Bug is Kevin’s wing man (pun intended). Bug is a pretty chill little fellow, so he seems to have weathered the robbery like no big thing. Bug is always right behind Kevin, barking and bringing up the rear–way back in the rear. After all, Bug is only 4lbs, 15yrs old, very delicate, has no teeth, falls easily, and wears a diaper (which I have agreed to call a “toolbelt” because he feels that’s more manly), but he’s as fearless as Kevin. And together they are the force that keeps the other senior pets, and our home, safe and sound. They are our Avengers!!

A Very Unexpected Gift of the Video Monitoring.

Being able to watch the details of the robbery, and see with my own eyes that the robbers did not hurt my animals is the one comfort I have gotten out of this awful ordeal. They could have kicked them to the side–they didn’t. They could have picked them up and tossed them–they didn’t. They could have kidnapped them–they didn’t. Had they hurt my animals, even a little, I would have broken out a level of crazy that would have made those robbers’ nightmares seem like happy dreams (that’s actually a post I saw on Instagram awhile back and saved, thinking I might be able to use it someday. oh look–it’s someday).

Yes, the boys are impacted by what happened, and Gabriel, my youngest cat, too. They all still show signs of some stress. We’re working on that, and they’re improving every day. But at least I still have them with me, and they’re going to be okay soon. When we made it home from work that day, our home was surrounded by police SUVs, news vans, forensics team, and helicopters. My home was turned upside down–every room. Everything of value was taken, and everything else was destroyed. But when the dust settled and the chaos subsided, there were Kevin and Bug standing proudly right in the middle of it all, like the legendary Boxer in the clearing (Simon & Garfunkel), letting me know everything was okay–we got this. That was all I needed to know. Thank you, Jesus.

God Bless and Happy Pet Parenting!

With love and good wishes,
jeannie.   ?

About jeannie:  I’ve been pro-actively involved in pet rescue all of my life. I founded Milagro Senior Pet Refuge© (Phoenix) in 1998, and BareFootPets (TM) in 2008. Animal welfare has always been and will always be my heart’s work. If my only legacy is that I save a handful of precious souls that would not survive otherwise, I’m good with that.

The post The Immeasurable Benefit Of Home Video Surveillance: Must Read! appeared first on BareFootPets.