Synchronicity Follow-up

Last week I blogged about one day that was unusually filled with fascinating stuff relating to pets and pet rescues. Since then, my good friend Linda, who’d saved a dog in her Las Vegas neighborhood recently, forwarded an e-mail from another friend of hers who’d rescued a dog wandering the freeway near Victorville, California, and was trying to find it a home. This was a lot of rescue stuff compressed into a short time for Linda, who doesn’t currently even have a pet. And, by the way, if you know of someone interested in adopting an approximately 3-year-old shepherd/chow mix, let me know and I’ll give you what contact info I have. Of course, I’m not sure of the status of this rescue, and the pup may already have a new home.

In the meantime, my own little Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Mystie made me frantically think of pet rescues for, fortunately, a short time this week when she disappeared while helping my husband Fred with his gardening in our backyard. Turns out the fence between our neighbor’s yard and ours has slats that are close enough together to keep most of our respective dogs where they belong, but Mystie is particularly petite and slipped through. Then she somehow sneaked into an area under a platform where we store our garbage cans--most of which is already enclosed. Fortunately, she started crying when we called her and Fred managed to coax her out. We hadn’t discovered the fence problem before, because Mystie hadn’t, either... till now. Fred is already making plans for putting up more fencing on our side.

And, yes, since I’m blogging about animals today--as usual--I can’t help but bring up the new First Dog, Bo. He’s a purebred Portuguese Water Dog, and I found it interesting that his adoption seemed initially couched in a sort-of rescue since he’d lived with another family for a short while, then was re-homed with the Obamas after a major training session. And as a gift from Ted Kennedy made sense to choose the animal they wanted, no matter which part of the public complained. Poor Vice President Biden, too, wound up being criticized for adopting a purebred dog, a German Shepherd. Controversy? Sure. President Obama had said, during his campaign, that he hoped to adopt a rescue mutt. But there would have been some controversy about any pup the Obamas adopted. If it had been a rescue, its ancestry would possibly be less determinable, so people would complain about the potential harm to the Obama daughter who has allergies. To me, it. In my opinion, it’s a personal decision. But the one thing I’m absolutely against is people who allow their pets to have babies indiscriminately, then abandon them. Or they otherwise mistreat their non-human kids. They’re the ones who really deserve criticism.

What’s your opinion of the Obamas’ adoption of Bo? And have you ever rescued an animal?

--Linda

Synchronicity

Most of my days involve animals--my Lexie and Mystie, at least, and usually some I’m writing about in my Kendra Ballantyne, Pet-Sitter mystery series, and Silhouette Nocturnes featuring shapeshifters or K-9 cops with Valkyrie powers.

Earlier this week, I had a day where one animal-related situation seemed to follow another, and I certainly didn’t plan it that way. Sounded like synchronicity to me!

The first event I did plan, though. I’d been intending for a while to introduce myself to a local attorney who specializes in animal law, brainstorm with him about ideas for Kendra stories, and ask if I could use him as a resource for animal law questions. He was a delightful man, and tried coming up with ideas on the spot!

In addition, he told me about a meeting that night at the Los Angeles County Bar Association where the speakers had been involved with a lawsuit against the local county’s animal rescue organization, and were speaking about it--with the added benefit of Continuing Legal Education credits. Of course I had to go... and was outraged by the alleged violations of law they described, as well as failure to fully abide by the settlement that had been reached--violations that resulted in abuse or premature euthanasia of animals. I introduced myself to some of the people there and believe they, too, might become excellent research resources.

And then when I returned home, a good friend whose dog had died some years ago had called for some pet advice. She and her husband found a Yorkie wandering their gated community in the Las Vegas area and wanted my opinion on how to deal with the situation. The way she described it, they’d been handling it just fine--posting signs, allowing the dog to sleep in their home that night (and thereby avoiding coyotes) and calling the phone number on the pup’s tag. The number was for a shelter, and by the time they’d found the dog no one was answering the shelter’s phone, but they’d planned to follow up the next day. Sure enough, after some effort the next day, they did locate the owners--who seemed awfully blasé about losing their dog for two days, as I understand it. At least it had a happy ending... maybe. It’ll be a lot happier if the owners pay attention to the pup and don’t leave it alone in a yard it can clearly escape from.

Anyway, lots of interesting stuff about people who defended and nurtured animals, occurring, or at least starting, all in one day. With all this synchronicity, you’d think I should write a mystery series featuring a pet rescuer...!

What synchronicity has been going on in your life?

--Linda