After I saw this photo, I couldn’t stop thinking about her.
Photo: Los Angeles Animal Services

by Katerina Lorenzatos Makris ~

U.S. shelters overflow with healthy sweeties like this seven-week-old kitten.

What got me first were her eyes. If ever there were a poster child for the sadness and fear suffered by dogs in need, she would be the one.

It was just by chance that I ran across her photo while looking for one of a German shepherd to star on the cover of our RescueDiva.com e-book Home for Halloween. She was no German shepherd—not a candidate for cover model this time—but from the moment I saw those eyes, I couldn’t get her out of my head.

Then there was this: “My name is A1508939.” The sentence jumped out from the South Los Angeles city shelter website, grabbed me, and wouldn’t let go. The poor angel had nothing but a number for a name.

Every strike against her

In the spot on her page labeled “My Story,” there was only this note: “Act quickly to adopt this dog. Pets at this shelter may be held for only a short time.”

My heart leaped into my throat. Owner irresponsibility, neglect, abuse, and the animal overpopulation and misery that come as a result often force U.S. public shelters to perform euthanasia on unfortunate “excess” dogs and cats—at least three to four million of them per year—at great cost not only to the animals, but also to the communities who must pay for it, and to the emotions of the shelter workers who must perform it. A disgraceful tragedy all around.

As an older, not particularly flashy mixed breed, what chance would this girl have, in the midst of such tragedy, and against those odds?

A1508939 had almost every strike against her. No name, no story, and probably no future.

What she did have, though, was a mesmerizing photo that spotlighted her haunting eyes. Through that photo, and through those eyes, she had won my attention, and she wasn’t going to lose it.

Why worry about one particular dog?

Although I was working like mad to finish the long-overdue redesign of our RescueDiva.com website (previously named Spicy Stories Save Lives), and had a jillion other pressing responsibilities, I kept thinking about A1508939. The last thing I needed was to do a new rescue right then. We already have our paws beyond full.

We at Spicy Stories Save Lives are in the process of rescuing Mazzel and almost a dozen more dogs in Greece. Not much free time left to coordinate more, but…

At the moment Rescue Diva is overseeing and funding nearly a dozen doggy rescues in progress in Greece. And here in California we have a full house of resident rescued pooches. It’s not like I could just pop up to L.A.—a drive of two or three hours—haul this girl back to our place in San Diego county, and get on with my work. She would need care, and we didn’t have extra time to provide it. We’re already stretched pretty thin time-wise, so bringing home a newbie would not be fair to her or to anyone else around here.

Moreover, I asked myself, why worry so much about one particular dog when there are countless millions or even billions more just like her around the world who will never get saved?

Hard to forget

My sensible side told me I’d better just forget about her and proceed with remodeling the Rescue Diva site.

But then my rescuer side had a little something to say. “Um… excuse me? Girls like this one are the whole galldarn point of RescueDiva.com, and maybe of your whole galldarn life.”

Hard to argue. The rescuer side is always somewhat louder than the sensible side.

We’ve got our hands full with our current house full of rescues. There’s not much extra time to take in more. Hubsy (The Saint) comforted and cared for our eldest pooch Dio when he got vestibular disorder, an inner ear problem that causes dogs to lose their balance and other symptoms.

Forgetting about A1508939, that sad-looking, scared-looking little dog who had only a number for a name, was simply not going to happen.

I closed my file on the Rescue Diva redesign, picked up the phone, took a deep breath, and dialed the shelter.

To be continued…

Update: RescueDiva.com donated $500 to excellent group Last Chance at Life in gratitude for their help in rescuing and re-homing the little terrier with the haunting eyes, plus one other from the L.A. shelter.

Next article about them coming soon!

Meanwhile read the first article about these two dogs.

 We depend on sales of our romantic fiction to help us create these real-life happy endings.

Please use a couple of bucks to enjoy a fun read, to spice up your life, and to replenish our rescue fund.

Fun romantic story just $2 ! ALL profits donated to rescue groups!

Rescue Diva proudly sponsors needy animals in the U.S. and around the world.

For example we help Kefalonia Animal Trust (KATs) provide free spay/neuter for hundreds of animals per year, which is one of the best ways to prevent the abandonment and misery of puppies like Noah and Kyla.

We also do in-the-trenches rescues of angels like Robin, Chance, and Tiger, with help from San Diego Animal Support Foundation, and of Marisol and Lisa, with help from Last Chance at Life.

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, Animal Issues Reporter.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).