Betty Page, adopted from the Mid-Atlantic Pug Rescue on 4- 9- 2009.
“Life has no other discipline to impose, if we would but realize it, than to accept life unquestioningly. Everything we shut our eyes to, everything we run away from, everything we deny, denigrate or despise, serves to defeat us in the end. What seems nasty, painful, evil, can become a source of beauty, joy and strength, if faced with an open mind. Every moment is a golden one for him who has the vision to recognize it as such.”
Henry Miller
(1891-1980, American Author)
I’m the mother of two adopted pugs. Each one has come from situations that weren’t ideal by anyone’s standards.
Elvis had a family that once really cared for him, but a divorce and other circumstances relegated him to the back burner for quite a while before his owner decided that it was better for him to just surrender him in the hopes that some family that had time for him would take him. When he first came to us, it was very clear that he had “issues” from neglect and maybe even a little abuse. Mainly, he was afraid, and that made him act out in violent ways until we got him on the right medication and took the time and patience with him to help him fit into our family.
Our most recent adopted girl, Betty Page, came to us from a very tragic situation. We don’t know all the details, and she can’t tell us in words, but she tells us in her actions. She has more severe issues than Elvis had. When she was rescued, she was half-starved and had a terrible yeast infection on her skin that left her bald and raw in several areas. She had been tied around the neck with a rope. Even though the skin has healed, we can still see the double imprint of the rope that held her securely outside in the weather to fend for herself until she lost so much weight that she was able to slip out of that rope and run for her life. She is terribly food aggressive since she was starved and had to fight for what food she could could get or find. She is afraid of certain noises, but instead of cowering, she’s a fighter. So, she sits and watches for shadows on the ceiling so she can be ready to attack. She will jump high in the air over and over, ferociously barking at nothing. She almost wears herself out doing that sometimes.
In our care, Elvis and Betty are thriving. Betty’s fur has grown back in most places, and she has filled out nicely to be the healthy, slender weight that she is meant to be. Elvis’ coat, which was wiry and coming out in clumps from sheer stress when he came to us, is soft and sleek as velvet. He’s put on too much weight, mostly the result of the medication he is on. But he’s happy and healthy and vivacious.
Betty wags her tail and runs to us when we come home to get her pettings. She growls and snaps at Elvis to keep him out of the way of my touch, and I have to hold her back by her harness while I tell her that I have enough love for both of them. I croon to her and to Elvis, rubbing them simultaneously with both hands, that I love them both so much, and that I will never abandon them or leave them to fend for themselves. Betty calms down and sits quietly next to Elvis, taking in my soft, reassuring tone, and my love.
I look at their sweet faces and wonder how anyone could possibly have ever given them away or, worse, just left them. But then I don’t know what those families were going through. I only know that in spite of whatever it was in the past that brought Elvis and Betty to us, they are part of our family now. They are well-loved and cared for, and I’m convinced that this is just where they are meant to be.
Some people have asked me why we want to take in such dogs. Why don’t we just get a puppy that has never been abused? Why do we spend all the time and effort working with “damaged” dogs when we could have any kind of dog we wanted? I really don’t have any answer except that we’re supposed to do this. It’s part of our reason for being here on this planet, I truly believe. No one else could love these little dogs the way we do, and no one else would realize how very perfect they are in their own special ways.
I happen to be a person who believes that everything that happens in this world happens for a reason. I may not always know the reason, but once I decide to accept it for what it is and try to find the beauty in it, I always can. These little dogs are just one example of silver linings found in dark clouds. They need us, but we need them, too. We’re much better people for loving these dogs. They help us to better see the value in even the most damaged human beings, too.
I missed my Weight Watchers meeting tonight because I have been sick and had to go to the doctor today. I weighed a full 11 pounds lighter at the doctor’s office than I did at my WW meeting last week. I know that I haven’t lost that much weight in just one week and that the scales have to be different, but I do know that I have lost some more weight, and I will be satisfied to wait and report my true number when I go to my meeting next Thursday.
