04-27-2012, 10:47 AM
quote:
Originally posted by coppercoin40
gosh terracore - what a heart!!! sad storyyou should be a writer you have a tremendous way with telling a story
Thanks for the encouragement. I would like to try writing some day, but I've been working at least a job and a half for as long as I can remember. I realize that there are more days behind me than ahead of me, and I can't burn the candle at both ends forever. Someday, one of those flames will be burning for something I want to do rather than what I have to do. In the mean time, I'll share a dog story with a happier ending: Leander was a giant Rhodesian Ridgeback. In Africa, ridgebacks are used to hunt lions, wild pigs, and baboons. They are called ridgebacks because they have a swath of fur that runs from their rump to their neck that grows in the opposite direction of all the other fur, making a distinctive ridge. Leander was an impressive specimen, roughly twice the size of a "standard" ridgeback. He would stand in his kennel with an aggressive, muscular stance, barking at potential adopters with a bark you could actually FEEL. People were terrified of him and would actually put distance between him and themselves as they walked down the line of kennels as if he might rip through the cage fencing and kill them. The first time I saw him, and felt his bark, and stared into his poker face I was awed by this creature. I approached his kennel and told him to sit. He just kept barking. I squatted down to his level and told him to sit again. He sat. And I saw sadness in his eyes. I opened the kennel door and he lunged towards me, licking my face and whining. He was lonely. Incredibly lonely.
I found out that he was on death row and took him home. We bonded immediately. The first night I had him he stood next to the bed and leaned up against it until his eyes closed and he started to get wobbly. He almost fell asleep standing up. He eventually laid down next to the bed and slept. I tried to find him a home- contacted breed rescues, posted his story on the primitive internet that existed at the time, and in the meantime he became a part of the family. We were like peas and carrots. I used to be a smoker and one time I was in the back yard, finished my cigarette, tossed it on the ground and stomped on it and proceeded to head back up into the house. Leander wouldn't go. I said, "Leander, come!". He was defiant, something I had never seen before. He sat down. I said, "Leander, come here!" He continued to sit- and started whining. Again, I said "Leander, come here!" He whined louder, then got up and started pawing at the ground. I went over to see what was going on and saw that the grass where I had stomped on my cigarette was smoldering and beginning to smoke- the exact area he was pawing at. I put it out. This was about 12 feet from our above ground heating oil tank. Leander may have saved our house, maybe our lives.
When a breed rescue called me and broke the news that they had found a home for Leander I should have been thrilled. But I wasn't. When I took him into the airport for the trip to his new home my feet felt like they were made out of lead. Walking up to that cargo counter with my dog, giving him up to an unknown future, was one of the toughest marches of my life. I told him goodbye, he licked my face, and then he was gone. Forever. I left the airport and went home, sure that I had made a big mistake. If a dog alerts you to a fire, maybe even saving your life, you keep him, right? It was too late. After a couple of days I was able to get a hold of Leander's new owners and asked how everything was going. I was hoping that they were going to tell me that keeping him was a nightmare and that they wanted to send him back. But instead, they told me how Leander and their female ridgeback instantly bonded and spent their days running and playing together, how much the human family loved him, and what a perfect match he was. The mom had made a fresh loaf of bread and left it to cool on the counter, and when nobody was looking Leander grabbed it and ate it. He was a tall dog and he loved human food. He was happy. He was home.
The next dog I fostered was Booger. After Booger, my dog fostering days were over. Since then I met my wife and we now help parrots. Seeing these majestic, intelligent, flighted animals confined to cages is so unnnatural that it made us to seek a better option- an outdoor flight in a tropical climate closer to what they would enjoy in nature. This drew us to Hawaii and eventually here to punaweb. Soon they will be enjoying natural warmth, 100% natural light, tropical breezes in their feathers, all things that are impossible to give them in Alaska.