thank you to everyone who voted for us in the shelter challenge

thanks to your amazing dedication and committment we today have finished number one in canada and in the top 50 in north america. i think that is something to be proud of...not bad for a shelter that has only been around for less than 5 years.

i think if i had only been in rescue for 5 years tho...i wouldn't feel so tired. i rescued my first dog as an adult in 1975 (as a kid, i brought everyone home)...i named her shadow...she was a small lab cross and used to sit on my lap and burp alot!...i can still smell that garbage gas erupting from inside of her. sadly i can't remember where i placed her any more, too long ago.... and since i didn't know what i was doing back then, i don't even know if i placed her all that well.

i hope i did, she was a really nice dog.

i had another shadow from about 10 or 12 years ago...she was a twisted little bugger..muzzled and chained. i found her a great home...she died a few years ago and her mom sent me a note to let me know what a huge hole was left in her when shadow passed away...i placed that shadow well, but i still worry about the first because i just don't know.

sigh...so many animals to worry that i did right by...so many to remember. i think you measure rescue not in terms of years but in terms of lives....i know i did a good job with some of them, but did i do it right for all of them? probably not...thats a huge burden to know.

but rescue is like wine...you get better with age (or at least you should)....the tough part is when you are growing and learning cuz you learn and grow because of your mistakes.

you have no idea how many animals there are out there for me to worry about...i have been busy..slow to start maybe for the first few years but gathering speed every day.

i don't know if we deserve to be number one in canada..but i do know that we have paid our dues to get there at least for this one day.

rescue is freaking hard.