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I’m not sure where this post is going or where it will end up. All I can is this: I’m extremely frustrated, and I’m not sure what to do with that frustration.
I recently found myself indoctrinated into a brand new world in Israel (dogs!), and now I wish I could un-know what I know. Because it’s tormenting me.
A lot of elements came together to get me where I am, so I’m going to need to back up several steps.
The Saved Kitten
It all started with the wonderful world of unemployment. I’m struggling really hard to find a job, and I’m simultaneously terribly frustrated with the unstructured life that stands before me.
In the search to find meaning in difficult times, I walked past a clearly abandoned, tiny kitten. I went home to discuss with my family what we could do to help. We decided to take the little girl into our home, nurse her back to health, and find her a permanent home. And we did so gloriously!
I can say with pride that if we hadn’t intervened, I don’t think this poor thing had a chance of survival. We then found her a home, and road off into the sunset. The feel good story of the century!
Feel-Good Dog Story
Then we saw an opportunity to foster a dog. If a few conditions were met, soon we’d have a big dog hanging out in our home until we either found the owners or determined it was abandoned and found new owners.
We had an amazing dog in our possession for a mere five days. In this short amount of time we truly connected with him. He was lovely. Sweet. Well-trained. Just a gem of a creature to have in our lives.
By the time the smoke cleared, we had found the person who trained the dog, so we knew his whole history. We were able to track down the owners who did, in fact, abandon their dog. We were able to get paperwork stating explicitly that they no longer wanted him and had severed all connections with him. And most importantly, we found him a loving home.
Another feel good story.
Another high.
And then came Benny…
And then we were asked to foster yet another dog. We were on a roll, and even though the situation seemed harder, we were doing so well, what could possibly go wrong?
And then Benny came in our lives. The first 24 hours were a small taste of hell. This poor thing was terrified of everything and everybody. Even though he was quite big and heavy, in order to get him outside and back, we needed to carry him. We almost gave up before the day was over.
But I’m so glad we didn’t.
We’re not experts at raising or training dogs. At best we’re novices with good hearts and possibly a little bit more patience than average. But we did miraculous things with Benny in a relatively short period of time. He comes on walks freely. He plays with people and other dogs. He’s a pleasure to be around. And after not too long, we started looking for a home for him.
Fate Reversed Itself
And that’s when this story starts to take a different turn. What was supposed to happen was we find him a loving home quickly, and we occasionally visit the kitten and the first dog. And we bask in the joy of having made the world a slightly better place.
But that wasn’t our fate.
Shortly after we started watching Benny, we noticed someone advertising a kitten on Facebook, and quickly recognized our little angel and the name of his new owner. I reached out and he said he over-estimated how much time he’d have available and was struggling to raise the kitten, or find a new home.
Last I heard he was giving up, and was going to dump the kitten in a kibbutz somewhere.
Then I started receiving frantic messages from the woman who adopted our first foster dog. She was no longer able to handle him, the situation was causing her tension at home and in her community, and she was inches away from giving up.
Eventually I had to request to be involved significantly less, since the whole matter was causing me immense amounts of stress, while I was still dealing with our now-not-so-new foster dog, and a host of other things going on in my life.
Newly Discovered Challenges
Simultaneously, while trying to find a home for Benny, I was getting indoctrinated into the many complexities of the dog world in Israel. And people in general.
People would enthusiastically write me about the dog, then ghost me when I wrote them back. I had one person tell me for days how excited they were to come meet him, only to cancel on me literally one minute before they were supposed to arrive. That was the last I ever heard from them.
When we brought Benny to get neutered, we learned that literally 100,000 dogs were put down every year in Israel because shelters can’t find homes for them. Yes, you read that correctly! People continue to breed dogs or purchase from breeders, adopt dogs unclear on whether they are actually capable of being a proper dog owner, abandon dogs they eventually learn they cannot handle, or neglect to neuter their animals, because they can’t be bothered to waste the time or endure the cost.
We’re here, alone, trying to do our part to be a part of the solution. But we’re exhausted, frustrated, and heart broken.
Here we stand, taking care of a beautiful animal we simply cannot hold on to for too much longer, despite desperately wanting to do the right thing.
But it now appears our previous efforts have retroactively fallen through. And our current efforts, albeit noble, are crushing our spirits a bit. We’re not at all sure where this process is leading. We have no idea if we’re making a difference. And we’re fighting against a tide that seems much more powerful than we are.
My Message to the World
All I can do is say this to the world:
Dogs are angelic, gorgeous creatures that need to be loved, not put down.
Please stop breeding them when there are so many others who already need homes. And stop supporting these businesses while the crisis continues.
Adopt a dog. Bring the love into your home.
But make sure you know exactly what you’re getting into. It’s not easy. It’s not all fun and games. If you lack the knowledge, patience, and time to raise a dog properly, and you even stand a chance of returning it, then adopting is not for you.
Be a responsible dog owner. Get them neutered or spayed.
Learn about your local shelters. Find out which ones are ethical, decent places, and support them.
We now know that so long as things are the way they are, we probably can’t foster again. And that hurts us to the core. It need not be this way.
Please be a part of the solution.
