Eleven Years and Not Counting

Samson

November 21, 2008, is the day I started this blog, 11 years ago. The first picture here is the first picture I posted on the blog. I just reread that first blog post: "Samson, a GSD with Pneumonia" and was struck by how little has changed in those 11 years, nothing at all really. People still get dogs that they shouldn't and then dump them. People still breed indiscriminately. People still suck.

The number of fosters has ebbed and flowed over the years, but with only one dog at the moment, we are definitely at the low tide mark for foster dogs around here. It's perhaps fitting that the one foster we have on the 11th anniversary is Kaiser, another German Shepherd. We are taking in fewer German Shepherds these days and I'm fine with that, but once you get a reputation they have a tendency to find their way here even when I'm not looking.

Kaiser

I've been writing the blog for 11 years, but we've actually been engaged in rescue for close to 20. I wish I had started blogging then because it's a very useful and effective way to jog my memory of the many dogs who have passed through here.

There is much that is still the same and that's unfortunate, but on the other hand, there has been a sea change in the rescue world itself. There are more people involved in rescue than ever before. There are more rescue groups and organizations. Some are better than others, of course, but the tide pulls in the right direction. Even in rural areas we've seen big improvements in the operation of county shelters. Many more of them now make a real effort to get dogs adopted rather than simply euthanizing them to make space. More people are getting involved and more shelters are making good use of volunteers. That has several beneficial effects: improving the quality of care the dogs receive, improving their chances of getting out, and citizen involvement that means that someone is watching how the shelter conducts its operations. And Animal Control as a profession is attracting better candidates, people who actually care and want to make a difference, rather than fat, lazy, good old boys, who want to carry a gun but were too dumb to be hired by law enforcement.

I'm not an overly optimistic person by nature, and we have a very long way to go, but I have just a glimmer of hope when at least some local governments and even the state begin to look at anti-chaining ordinances and laws aiming at improving animal welfare and punishing abuse and neglect more severely.

Sticking with the shepherd theme for this 11th anniversary blog post, I've also included some pictures of Theo getting a bath today. He is blowing his coat and he was just plain dirty as well. He's got a vet appointment tomorrow and I thought it would be nice to take in a clean, nice-smelling dog for once.

Theo is cooperative with the process, but that shepherd coat makes bathing a major event.

 

You can see all the loose clumps of hair still on him, and all that covering the floor mat in the
bath. We clogged the drain too, of course, and this was before I really got started with the rake.
We left a lot of fur there and made quite a mess, but that's why I don't like to do it at home.
I just towel dried him and then took him outside to shake. When I got home I used my shopvac
as a blower and pulled off even more hair as I brushed and blew him dry.