Some of you may know that I have a good number of customers and suppliers in South and East Los Angeles. So, I am in that area several times a week. A few years ago, just before Christine and I got into helping dogs, I came across a little stray black dog in East LA who had darted across a busy street right in front of me. I made a u-turn and my adrenaline to help the dog was rushing. I had seen an inspiring video just a week before about a guy named Eldad who captures stray dogs in the LA area, cleans them up and finds them forever homes. To say the least, his video inspired me to no end. So, when I saw the little black stray just a week later I set out to imitate Eldad. But, the little dog scurried off and was not to be found. I spent over an hour driving in circles but nothing. That night I pulled up that inspiring video I had seen, of Eldad rescuing a dog he later named Fiona, and sent him an email. I asked him to please call me because I had found a stray dog in the same general area of his Fiona. But, his video had well over 2 million views and even more comments. Not to mention the video landed him interviews on CNN and other major networks. Eldad is known all over the world so I figured I would never hear from him. To my surprise, Eldad called me just a few hours later. He patiently listened to me explain my precise description of the dogs color, size, weight, exact time, his exact coordinates and even the exact direction he was running (South, southwest then west). It felt so good to tell him where I saw this dog, it felt so good to know that now that Eldad called me the dog might have a chance at being rescued. I felt so good because I thought I was doing my part in saving the dog by telling someone like Eldad where he can be found. But after patiently listening to my description, Eldad said something that I will never forget. I won’t forget it because it was my wake-up call and there was no hiding my naiveté . He said “Thank you for letting me know about the dog, I know that area very well” He said “There are literally hundreds of stray dogs in that area and I can pull them off the street all day long, every day of the week. The problem is, I have nowhere to take them”. Well, I am embarrassed to admit, I didn’t know the problem was so bad. It really wasn’t until then that I realized what I saw is really the case in every city across the country. That the problem of stray homeless and unwanted dogs is so much more wide spread than what I ever thought. And in the months to come as I visited and researched shelters in LA and Orange counties I found the problem to be of epidemic like proportions. Then the next thing that Eldad said in our short conversation was my knock-out punch. He said “I will go get this dog you saw first thing in the morning… if you can foster him until I find him a permanent home”. That took the wind right out of me. I told him I would have to call him back. My excitement about this dogs chances went from feeling good to oh-shit in a split second. Christine was sitting next to me and after I hung up the phone it only took us 5 minutes to commit. Unfortunately neither we nor Eldad were ever able to find that dog. And Eldad moved on to help so many others in need. But Christine and I’s commitment was still there to save any one of the 1.75 million dogs that are killed every year in the U.S. because nobody wants them. Well anyway, it has been a couple years now and as many of you know two of our dogs (Wheat-e and Wiggl-e) were found living on the streets of South LA in very, very bad shape. We love them like our children. Our bond with them grows every single day. And I have learned so much about myself from our dogs. I have even learned how to be more patient, how to be a better communicator, a better teacher and a better listener. And honestly, we take our dogs family membership and responsibility for them so serious that I really believe they are also preparing Christine and I for a more human type of family member in the future. Maybe you have already seen this video that inspired me so much but I believe it is worth watching again and again. I have watched it over 100 times. It keeps my heart in check and it is so awesome to see how it all ends. It has a million more views then when I first saw it 2 years ago and now I know first hand that rescued dogs are the happiest most obedient dogs there are. https://youtube/watch?v=YJkZXh9v_i4
Posted on: Fri, 24 Oct 2014 20:10:06 +0000
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