Resolutions of a dog rescuer

by Katerina Lorenzatos Makris ~

Conversations with fellow dog rescuers have turned up some common themes regarding our pledges to the new year. One very common theme is that we’re not very good at keeping these kinds of pledges.

Nevertheless it’s time to wipe the slate clean, start afresh, and give it another go, as follows.

1. Get organized. A time-honored favorite. This one has been made every year in a row since the rescuing began. Try again.

2. Reduce clutter. Toss out the sentimentally valuable shoe gnawed by the first litter of puppies you ever fostered, the armchair whose stuffing was removed by the Vizsla with separation anxiety who nonetheless found a fabulous forever home, and the lamp with the shade dinged up by dogs hopping on the nightstand as a bridge to your bed.

3. Get more sleep. Another old fave. Sure. Good luck.

4. Be all Zen when people ask you things like “Why do you rescue animals when there are so many humans in the world who need help?” This applies especially to cases where the individuals asking the question do little or nothing to help humans or animals either.

5. Refrain from taking a swing at people who speculate with statements such as “You probably rescue animals because you don’t have children/don’t have enough children/don’t really love your children.”

6. Refrain from throttling people who do not treat animals—particularly your rescues—properly.

7. Brush the dogs’ teeth. This can get lost in the shuffle. Try mornings. Mornings are a better bet than evenings, when you have already spent much of the day feeding, watering, medicating, exercising, brushing coats, mediating disputes, pulling hazardous objects out of mouths, phoning the vet with questions, making trips (sometimes multiple) to the vet, vacuuming, mopping, soothing the fearful, and cuddling the cuddly. Yes, try mornings.

8. Keep up your appearance. Ditch the shirt with the most stains, the pants with the most rips, get a haircut once a year, a facial when hell freezes over, paint your nails every never or so, and purchase new lipstick to replace the one that two years ago rolled into the black hole under the back seat of the car where it joined for eternity the bits of dog biscuits, toys, keys, cash, grocery lists, and fathomless layers of fur.

9. Give almost as much attention to your paying job as to your rescue work, which is the opposite of paying, which is why you really, really, need to keep the paying one.

10. Give almost as much attention to your spouse/partner as you give the dogs, or at least enough so that he/she does not notice a wide discrepancy.

11. Learn to say “no” to taking in “just one more.” It is pronounced “NOH,” which rhymes with “go,” but actually means “stop.” Practice this word. N-O. Place tongue on roof of mouth, pucker lips, drop tongue and lower jaw simultaneously, then exhale emphatically. Please note this is the opposite of “yes,” which tastes a lot better. Hence the challenge.

12. Remember that you can’t save them all. Make this resolution absolutely earnestly for the sake of well-meaning friends and family who are always saying it to you, while you are pretty sure that you will never remember any such thing.

This article is dedicated to the countless thousands of superb animal rescuers around the world, including those whom this writer is privileged to personally know and love. You devote yourselves to giving voice to the voiceless and restoring life to innocent souls at death’s door, making miracles and providing boundless inspiration every day of every year.

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Katerina Lorenzatos Makris is a career journalist, author, and editor. Her fiction includes 17 novels for Simon and Schuster, E.P. Dutton, Avon, and other major publishers (under the name Kathryn Makris), as well as a teleplay for CBS-TV, and a short story for The Bark magazine. She has written hundreds of articles for regional wire services and for outlets such as National Geographic Traveler, The San Francisco Chronicle, Travelers’ Tales, NBC’s Petside.com, RescueDiva.com, AnimalIssuesReporter.com, and Examiner.com (Animal Policy Examiner).

Together with coauthor Shelley Frost, Katerina wrote a step-by-step guide for hands-on, in-the-trenches dog rescue, Your Adopted Dog: Everything You Need to Know About Rescuing and Caring for a Best Friend in Need (The Lyons Press).