Perspective

There’s a saying by Confucius that says “I was complaining that I had no shoes till I met a man who had no feet.”

This reminds me of our new dog, Riley. She came to us from a wonderful dog rescue group here in San Diego-The Barking Lot. They worked with Soi Dog Rescue to bring back dogs from southeast Asia that were part of the illegal dog meat trade. I won’t go into the graphic details of how dog meat is prepared for this “delicacy”, but it is truly horrific. The first few days she was with us, she would sit and shake. She was scared of everything. I was cooking and took out a knife. She put her tail between her legs and fled into the other room. I don’t want to think about what horrible memories might have prompted that response. We could not approach her to pet her-she would have to come to us and, even then, she may give your hand a slight sniff and then walk away. She tried to crawl into our rabbit’s cage. It appeared that she thought that was where she was supposed to be. It was heartbreaking. It’s been almost 4 weeks now and she has come a long way. While she is still scared of everything, she sleeps in our bed and will sit with us on the sofa while we are watching television. As long as there are no quick movements, she is okay. I look forward to the day that she is not terrified of what may come around every corner. We are grateful for any progress she makes-no matter how small.
Riley has gone from a small cage to a warm bed, from loud dirty streets to a big beautiful yard. I am not sure if dogs have the capacity to be grateful but, if they do, I like to think that she is and I am grateful that she is ours.