For The Love of Dogs

I don’t even love dogs.

Let me start by saying I have a dog, Charlie, a Puggle.  I like him.  We rescued him from the York SPCA to provide the dog/childhood experience.  Tim grew up with a dog in the house, but my history with dogs involved gnarly German Shepherds behind a fence and the strong caution to stay far away. 

So when Cara asked me to join her on a dog shelter / book tour road trip for her new book Another Good Dog, my first thoughts weren't dogs.  Instead, they were:  1) I’d love a distraction from dropping my first born at college and 2) I’d love the rare opportunity to get two busy friends together in a vehicle for 7 days.   Add in my strong affinity to surround myself with passion-driven women, I was in. 

Immediately falling into the personal assistant role of tweeting, posting, and tagging, our first event was super easy, a dog-centric festival in downtown Arlington, Va.  Dogs everywhere you looked, small dogs, large dogs, even a dog that looked like Charlie.  Dogs with loving owners that carried them in totebags, snuggies, and baby carriages, clearly loved and adored.

And then came the other dogs.

The next day, we visited our first shelter, Lenoir County SPCA.  Girding my heart the best I could, the tears spewed out with zero warning. Dogs everywhere with no loving owners. No sweet bowtie collars, no perfect grooming.  Cold cages, concrete floors.  A small staff of women working tirelessly to clean and heal but the incoming exceeded the outgoing quickly creating maximum capacity.

There’s a quote I live by: When you know better, you do better.  You can’t un-see some of the things we saw or un-hear some of the stories told. Dropping off dogs to a kill shelter while families went on vacation knowing full well their dog would be killed.  Returning from vaca to find the family pup euthanized and leaving with a kitten instead.  I witnessed Cara transform into Superwoman on this trip.  A soul-stirring occurred that couldn’t be settled.  Reaching out immediately for community help,  it came in spades. Friends shipped much needed supplies to desperate shelters while volunteers rose up and fostered dogs.

Powerful truths witnessed:

1)      A handful of people, bonded together under one cause, can make a huge difference.

2)      Technology can be used for the Power of Good.

3)      Understanding a problem is one thing, actually doing something is altogether better.

4)      Dogs can undoubtedly see the depths of your soul.

5)      Never underestimate the power of a fired-up-woman.

6)      For every bad, there are many good people doing many good things.

7)      Sometimes you have to look hard for the good people doing good things.

8)      A sweet treat, delivered with love, can soothe the soul... as well as the pup.

9)      Eventually, you are rewarded for your hard work.

10)  Never, ever, ever, ever give up.

Lots to ponder during the long trip home…what’s my own personal passion?  What fires me up?  Which Good is most in need? Should we become a foster dog family?

One thing was for certain, Like transformed to Love towards Charlie.   

Check out the all the road trip details here:  Another Good Dog 

Buy the book because it's amazing, here:  Another Good Dog Book