Thursday, January 12, 2006
Heartbeats
It's only a few minutes between a dog whose home is the shelter and a dog whose home is a home. If you get down to the nitty-gritty, it's really only a few seconds. Those few little words "we'd like to adopt this pet" can be the major turning point of the day.Sometimes it's a long term pet whose adoption, while hoped for, still felt so unexpected that an SPCA-wide e-mail declaring the news is warranted. Sometimes its a puppy who (hopefully) will become one of the four out of five dogs that manages to live in a single household their entire life.
It goes the other way too. It's only a moment between when we think a cat has successfully settled into her new home and when we see a familiar face with a cardboard cat carrier in tow, ready to return the pet for an unanticipated reason. Between a dog sitting warm and snug in his owner's car and finding himself tied to a pole in an unfamiliar courtyard.
Between "unavailable for adoption" and "available".
Between "has kennel cough" and "ready to move out of isolation".
Between "waiting for foster" and "in foster".
As a shelter worker, you do you best to plan ahead, but you very quickly learn that the meat of your day is moment to moment.
