We have been busy!

It's been forever since we wrote a blog post, but that doesn't mean we haven't been busy. I attended my fourth Tellington TTouch class in Pflugerville, Texas, in early June. And, I leave on Friday for my fifth class - at the beautiful Icelandic Horse Farm in Vernon, British Columbia.

Since I can now work with paying clients, I have a business name - All Creatures TTouch - and, as of this morning, my own website, All Creatures TTouch Behavior & Training. The website is definitely under construction, but I hope to have basic information available in the very near future.

I have also pulled together an editorial calendar so I can post here regularly. The day-to-day details tend to pull me away from the computer. And I have found that being tied to a desk (I gave up my laptop for a new Mac desktop in January) isn't nearly as convenient as I had hoped. Maybe I can supplement with another laptop very soon ...

The dogs are healthy and happy. The week I returned from my Texas training, I drove to Kansas to collect a new rescue girl, picked up as a stray in the western part of the state. I cannot thank Airedale rescue volunteers enough for helping with transport, vetting, and grooming of this little one, named Joan Jett (JJ) in honor of the little town where she was found, Jetmore. JJ has been with us for a month now and is slowly coming around. She is extremely timid and untrained in all manner of living with humans - using a leash, pottying outside, walking through doorways and on varying indoor surfaces. I'm thankful to be available to work with her this summer, to help her learn confidence and to embrace the world around her. It's a slow process, but she is teaching me, too - as have so many wonderful canine teachers - to go slowly, with presence and with an open heart. As Ram Dass says, "Be here now." She is learning and then we backslide and then we learn again. One of my teachers and mentors, Kathy Cascade, sums it up like this: "It's about moments, not minutes." So JJ and I try to focus on the moments. JJ is listed on the national Welsh Terrier rescue website, WTCARES. She will stay here with me a while longer, but soon she will be ready for her own loving forever home.

The dogs and I thank you for reading our infrequent ramblings and for being our friends. We are grateful for your physical and your online place in our lives and in our hearts. And so I leave you with a couple of photos from our recent mornings outdoors. Oklahoma weather is being kind to us this summer. We have had more than a few mornings of absolute coolness and beauty in the midst of what is normally stifling temperatures 24 hours a day this time of year.

Blessings.

A little piece of my heart

I ran a rescue transport this weekend. And while my work in rescue always makes me look with new eyes, I can say without reservation that this trip changed me. Ella is pretty typical of many of the dogs we have seen in Welsh Terrier rescue (WTCARES) lately. She is older, she has some health issues and she isn't a shining example of the breed standard.

Her story isn't unique: she was dumped at a shelter in southern Oklahoma, likely gotten rid of by the puppy mill to which she gave her life until they got rid of her. When I picked her up just about two months ago, she was crawling with fleas - literally; it was like her skin was moving - eek! She was dirty and matted. She smelled. She was misshapen from nursing litter upon litter of puppies. She seemed to crouch as she walked; I'm not sure what caused this, maybe she spent all her time in a small crate; I will never know. She had lumps and bumps. And, in what was a first for me, she was swaybacked. At 8-10 years old, she had a lot of "strikes" against her.

Her name - Ella - popped into my brain, and it seemed to fit. She was as ladylike as she was fearful. But her spirit was evident, even hidden beneath the indignities of her life. That first night she slept in an ex-pen full of clean fluffy towels and bowls of fresh water and food. After delivering her to my vet for a health check, I was told she had erlichiosis and had to be treated for that before anything else. For the next few weeks, she was given twice daily doses of medication to fend off this tick-borne disease, one that isn't unusual for puppy mill dogs in this part of the world. When she was strong enough, she was spayed and began the second step in her recovery. There was a bit of interest in her from adopters. Unfortunately, all have cats and Ella is not a fan.

The decision was made to move her to Tennessee, which is where the national chair of breed rescue lives. Ella would stay there until a forever home could be found. Yesterday she continued the journey she began in October when she left her former puppy mill life behind.

Preparing to load up

"But I don't want to ride in a crate!"

She didn't, by the way. That is, she whined and barked until I relented and allowed her to ride in the seat next to me as we made our way east towards Arkansas. We were meeting someone in Ozark, just about 180 miles for us, who take her to meet another transport person in Little Rock and she would go on to Memphis for a couple of days. I don't usually let dogs ride outside of crates; it's too dangerous for both them and for the humans. But ...

Who could resist this face?

As I drove, I had a lot of time to ponder the horrors of recent days. Ella didn't really care for music, so it was quiet except for road noise and her quiet snores as she relaxed into the heated seat. She made one thing clear, however, either I had to be touching her or she had to be in contact with me. At all times. I found this interesting, as many times puppy mill dogs have been so deprived of human contact that they never really welcome touch. Ella is different however. She craves touch and human contact. She is happiest when she can be in direct line of sight. And her tail wags constantly. I haven't seen such an ongoing windshield wiper of a tail in motion in quite a while! She may carry baggage from her former life, but she has relegated it to a place of unimportance where it cannot interfere with her appreciation of the here and now.

And so we traveled. I talked to her and she listened intently when she wasn't sleeping. We shared secrets and ambitions, hopes and dreams, heartache and grief (well, I did). Even in sleep, she would stretch across the center console until the tip of her black nose - or one of her paws - lay ever-so-lightly on my leg. In her silence and her peace, she told me of herself and taught me a lifetime of lessons.

As I have done more times than I can count, I drove to the appointed location and sent Ella along her way. She wasn't happy to get in her crate (I hear she barked on her next two legs of the journey; that would be close to five hours of total barking. Sheesh!). I told her goodbye and that I loved her, that she would have a wonderful life and I would work hard to find her a forever home. And then I spent the first 20 miles of the return trip sobbing. For, you see, Ella gave me more than I ever gave her. She shared her ageless wisdom with my very soul, in ways I have yet to even comprehend. But I can absolutely say that I know that wisdom is there, somewhere deep inside me. She taught me that it is okay to open up for love, even when you have been treated badly, that the reward is worth the risk, that good and loveliness exists in the world and, often, comes in the shape of a little rescue dog.

I pray that Ella will have a long life filled with love and happiness. I will work hard to find a home for her where she will have the time and the space to stretch her bent legs and always be in contact with those who love her. And I will always carry a little piece of Ella in my heart, in exchange for the piece she took of mine. I can only hope that my heart will be as pure and as full of love as hers, that I will greet each day with the exuberance of her tail and her sparkling dark eyes. That I will relish the good in the world and do my best to help good outweigh evil.

As I drove back through Tulsa at dusk, I snapped this photo of the evening sky. It reminded me of the unlimited potential in the world and that, regardless of the vast potential for grief and ugliness and horror, the wisdom of the ages can be found in the heart and spirit of the animals all around us.

Thank you, Ella-Bella. I love you.

P.S. If you know someone who can give Ella the life she deserves, please let me know. Or go to www.wtcares.org to complete an adoption application. Ella is waiting and she is patient. But I am not, and she deserves nothing but the best!

It is raining rescues at WTCARES

The holidays always seem to create a whirlwind of Welsh Terriers coming in to rescue. It may be the same for all rescue organizations, I am sure we aren't unique. But that doesn't make it any less frustrating, depressing and maddening.

I feel so blessed that a nine year-old Welsh gentleman is traveling tomorrow from the Kansas City area to his new home in Boston. His elderly owners passed away and the children didn't feel it was fair for him to spend his days crated while they worked. He patiently waited two months at a boarding facility until the perfect match found him. By this time tomorrow he will be winging his way to a waiting family, a new sense of place and much love. All are confident he will settle in beautifully.

Another senior girl has been in rescue for about six weeks. I picked her up from a shelter in southern Oklahoma in mid-October. She was full of fleas and covered with dreadlocks, had a growth on her shoulder and some mammary tumors from her years as a puppy mill producer. Most seriously, she tested positive for the tick-borne illness, erlichiosis. After wonderful care from the staff at Bristow Veterinary Hospital, she is recuperating and showing her true terrier colors - including a distinct dislike for cats! Next week I will drive her to the home of our national chair of rescue in Tennessee, so that she may spend time in a home environment as we continue to search for a home for her.

Yesterday I listened to a voice mail message from someone who believes they need to surrender their dog. This Welsh Terrier girl has been a family member since she was 10 weeks old; she is now 15 years old. I don't know anything more about her at the moment or the situation in which she finds herself. Just the message was enough to make me both sad and angry and I know I need to get a grip on both before I return the call. After all, it's about what is best for the dog and offending the owner doesn't help the situation. At all! And there are - sometimes - extenuating circumstances. I absolutely understand that. But I pray I am never in the situation of having to make that choice and don't want to even be able to envision such an event. I hope I can provide support and assistance and that, in this instance at least, the dog can remain in her familiar surroundings as she lives out her life. If you can send any good thoughts our way, it would be appreciated.

And, if you would like to open your heart and your home to a rescue Welsh Terrier, please visit WTCARES at www.wtcares.org. There are so many wonderful dogs available and I promise you your life will never be the same again. Thanks.