True Hearts

I work in a place where it is not uncommon for the police to drop by without warning--bringing to the clinic dogs that were hit by cars and abandoned, still alive, by the road. Maybe the cop witnessed the incident, or saw the dog afterwards. It doesn't matter, really. We have stretchers hanging by the main exit doors for this purpose.

It certainly gives one pause to see a fully kitted-out policeman ringing the front door buzzer at 2am. There is almost never a happy ending to that story. 

Tonight, we had two dogs hit by cars that were brought to us by the police. One will survive and will find a new home. The other, well, his back was broken and he had to be euthanized.

He had been knocked into a ditch and was wet, covered in moss and algae slime. He was cold and in shock. And despite the fact that we were preparing to euthanize him, my colleague got a large fleece blanket to cover him up for those 15 minutes it took to get everything ready. 

If you were deeply cynical, you might say, why bother getting another blanket dirty for this dog. But if you work long enough with the folks who take care of our animal companions, you will see that this small act was not small at all. There were many layers of meaning to it: respect for the diminished and fading spark of life the dog still had, sadness at the way this dog had to end his run on this earth, a ritual acknowledgement of our role in the euthanasia, an action that might help reduce his pain and fright.

The other dog? Her owner was eventually found, and when he found out that she had already undergone treatment (she'd been hit by a car), he accused us of "ruining" his dog (Warning! Black humor ahead: 24-hour emergency clinic business plan: buy car, hit dog, have dog undergo many unnecessary procedures, make money! Yeah, I don't think so.). The Humane Society took legal ownership of her, covered all costs of her treatment, and she will be re-homed with someone who will love her.

Moral of both stories: my faith in humanity remains generally dim but I am honored to work with so many true-hearted people.