Old vs. young

The van ride from Montreal to Toronto in the metal crate must've been hard on Abby's sore old bones. No one knows anything about the Rottie's past except that she was picked out from amongst dozens of other dogs and rescued from a pound in Quebec where she surely would have been euthanized being just another unwanted, unhealthy, old dog in a sea of others. Not that Abby's fate, upon arrival at Toronto Animal Services was all that secure either.

There's always the question of which one do you help. Do you help the young and healthy since they have the best chance at being adopted or do you help the old and ill because they are such sad cases? The dog rescue program at Toronto Animal Services operates under the philosophy that it's better to help the young and healthy because they are faster out the door allowing more to be brought in quicker and thus more can be helped over the long run. I believe the majority of rescues and shelters run, at least partially, on this philosophy and if we look at it purely as a numbers game, it makes sense.

So, with respect to the numbers, it was bad news that TAS ended up with a beat up old dog like Abby who would in all likelihood lie in a kennel for a few days or weeks and then be euthanized once her deterioration got to a point of no return.

What was likely to happen, though, didn't happen.

Helping the life of an abandoned dog, at least on a personal level, is never about just the numbers. It's not even logical. It's about compassion and empathy and a personal connection with the dog in question. Fortunately, for Abby, Emily has got plenty of all that.

Last week Emily adopted that crazy Lab who seems to have already settled into a calm routine at her new home. Now this week, after hearing about the Rottie in peril, Emily decided to give this old girl a home as well. What concerns anyone had about someone taking two dogs in as many weeks were quickly appeased by Emily explaining her living environment and her carefully thought out plans for the new family member. Vet appointments have already been made and bedding and equipment bought in anticipation of Abby's arrival. I don't think Abby could go into better hands.

I'm not sure what the official status of the transfer of Abby from TAS to Emily will be but unofficially, it's a compassion hold. We all hope for a turnaround in Abby's health but the diagnosis from the vet earlier in the week wasn't good - likely kidney failure - and without the Metacam that Abby got started on a few days ago, she's pretty well immobile. Life springs back in amazing ways, though, with some of these well worn dogs. It happened with my Rocky. It happened with Gudrun's Gretel. Both were older dogs whose spirits and health shriveled in the shelter kennels but sprouted again once they found a home.

In my case, with Rocky, I've never regretted the decision to bring him home but I sometimes wonder what it would've been like if I hadn't and didn't have to deal with Rocky's reactivity towards other dogs. Would I have been able to foster more dogs? Would I have had more time to spend with the dogs at TAS? Would I have been able to help Kiki or this one or this one?

Do we make a fair decision when we choose which dog to rescue? Is it fair that some younger, healthier dog (or two or three) got passed over so that Abby could be saved? I don't think so. It's not fair. None of this fair. But rescue isn't about the kind of fairness dictated by numbers and logic. Rescue is about doing the best you can. And for Abby, this means that at the end of her hard life, she will finally have found someone to care for her, to love her, to weep for her and to remember her. That's what rescue is about.


Thanks to Johanne, James, Joanne and of course Emily for getting Abby home.