Sh*t Storm. Literally. Figuratively.

Tap the water. Start a ripple. Create a wave.

“You can’t save the world, Mo!!” I know. I KNOW!! Let’s put the question to my life at hand; what CAN I do to help? I can rescue a dog. Good. Done.

Can I rescue 2 dogs?? Well….only one way to find out. So we did.

And we are in a shit storm.

Back in June a post came through Instagram. A video of a HUGE beauty. A 140 lb. Dane Mastiff stuck in a cold shelter. I guess our grief from losing our pithuahua girl, Charlotte, back in April told us the only way to fill that hole of grief was to go BIG with the next doggo. His name was Skooby. The kismet of the name is this; my husband’s last name is Skuby. We had go meet him, right?? He is spectacular!! Best behaved dog I’ve EVER met. The Big Handsome. Walter is a fascination. Every inch of him. Every second. We hit jackpot with a beast who should, based upon past experience, want to lift leg and piss on every human. But he’s just a big baby. A majestic baby.

Then came the diarrhea.

It’s not uncommon in the process of decompression for rescue dogs to have upset stomaches. We (and by we I do mean Alex, my husband. HE deals with the poop. HE prepares fresh, healthy food twice daily. For me AND for Walter. I see you, baby. I love you. I am GRATEFUL!!! If I wasn’t I suppose I’d be pooping in the yard too). We got through the 3/3/3 of adoption. 3 days of quiet, sleep, chill. 3 weeks they know this is their home. 3 months, you see the dog you ultimately have taken in to your family. T’was good. T’was VERY good.

We are one week in with Beanie, the new rescue girl, and can’t help but harken back to the conversation prior to her adoption: Everything is so settled right now at home. We have a really good schedule. The energy level is exactly what we need. SHOULD WE KEEP IT THIS WAY?

But there she was. Dumped in the 100 degrees desert to perish after pushing out babies for cash for 8 years. She was one of two mamas dumped. The other was struck by a car and killed. She was sick, terrified and deserving of better.

Quick rant: BAN BREEDING!!!!!!! SPAY AND NEUTER YOUR PETS!!! Shelters across the country are overwhelmed! GOOD dogs, including puppies, are being killed to make room for more dogs to ultimately be killed. THIS is a crisis of humanities failures. We need to do better. We need laws, and furthermore they must be UPHELD! Otherwise what is the point. Oooooooh this subject makes my blood boil.

So, yeah. Beanie. I followed her story. Her first angel was a woman driving out on the road who spotted her running. This woman also happens to be a dog foster/trainer. This is where the trajectory of Beanie’s life changed to the direction of good. She had surgery, and began her healing journey. Only 3 weeks after this trauma, I met her at an adoption event. She jumped right into my arms. Goddammit. Crap. She’s tangled in my heartstrings!!! HELP!

“YOU CAN’T SAVE THE WORLD, MO!!”

BUT I CAN SAVE THIS DOG!!!!!

I drove her home a week ago. Here we go again. 3/3/3.

Day 1 was incredible. Dreamy! It was looking like she was missing from our family equation all along! Boy oh boy, did we feel complete. For nearly 24 hours!

And then she bit Walter. Latched onto his jowl like a Hyena! He did nothing. Thank goodness. Also grateful that her teeth are ground down flat, and didn’t draw blood. In her defense, it was a tense moment as both dogs were alerting to the raccoons fighting up in a nearby tree. (Oh my gosh. This remind me I need to write about the raccoons over here!! And by ‘over here’ I mean in my house. In my bedroom). It was only Beanies Day 2, and this was a legit stressful moment. She reacted. Walter didn’t. Amen. Then came Day 3…

So now, Walter doesn’t like her. The dog who likes all dogs. The dog who did nothing when a little chihuahua stuck her face in his mouth at the park to grab some leftover rice from his muzzle. A little chihuahua dentist! Like in Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer when Hermey checks the bumble’s toothache. Walter just let her do it.

Life is lived on the edge when you are 24/7 monitoring a 140 lbs. irritated Mastiff with a 34 lbs. rambunctious, UNpotty-trained gremlin. Opposites don’t always attract. Their energies are vastly different. Our energy is drained. We are exhausted. I would like someone to put me in a crate and let me decompress for 3 days. And a bath. I could use a bath. A long “Calgon take me away” soak. Someone rescue me. LOL

I fully realize it is early days with the little one. And, honestly, she is a gem. All she wants is love and affection. And food. I have NEVER seen such velocity when eating, and I frequented the hog pen at my cousin’s farm in Iowa over my childhood. I call out “SUEY!!!!” as she eats, but honestly it’s drown out by the din of her feasting. But she’s real cute.

Then came the diarrhea.

We’re starting to think it’s US! We’ve had dogs before. Scrappy dogs. One I grabbed from an abusive neighbor under threat of calling the authorities. A beautiful boxer/pit mix. Another, our girl Charlotte, was a pithuahua girl (see my type?) we found abandoned at a Carl’s Jr. in Pomona. They ate everything. And all their poops were fine! For years! Meanwhile, we’ve spent next months mortgage on trying figure out these dogs bellys! Goat’s milk ain’t cheap! Neither is carpet!! NOW who is stressed?!! Me. That is who. I am stressed. (This is they WHY of why haven’t I posted for a week). Also trying to process that I can never have company over again because my house smells like a skunks asshole. The bissel is yawning as I type this.

Then came MY diarrhea. It was bound to happen.

Let’s all just take a deep breath here, shall we?

I took an hour of self care last night and got my tired buns to yoga. Didn’t want to go. But it needed to happen. My metaphorical crate was outside the home for an hour.. My decompression came in the form of downward dog, ironically. How do you say “Ohm” in a bark?

It’s all going to be okay.

I know I can’t save the world. MAYBE I can save a few animals along the way. I can also remember that if I am going to do ANYTHING good for the world, it starts by seeing to it that I am doing alright too. Self care. Life is hard. The world is on fire. Half of humanity is WAY off track. But there’s always shit we can do. Sometimes it’s literal.

Adopt a dog. Save a life. Rescue yourself.

Tap the water. Start a ripple. Create a wave.

This is the only way I know to START to save the world. I have to remind myself of this when things don’t seem to be improving fast enough. I can also lay my head down at night and know that I am not part of the problem. Sometimes the smaller things are the big things are the stretches toward all of the saving of the world. (If you read that last line like a 4 year old who is learning, it will make more sense).

Thanks for reading.

XoMo