A Life in the Balance: Separating China and Junior We take our role of animal guardians seriously. They come to us from many quarters, many circumstances and we say, "We will try to find them good homes." Sometimes we get animals that have been together and we try to find them together homes but often other circumstances intervene. Like, when they have been sitting in our kennels for more than a month, with little interest in the two as a group, and they are starting to show breakdown signs (increased barking, more liquid stool, less responsiveness to humans) from the stress, the waiting, and relative inactivity. China came back to us when her owner died, this time with a younger pal, Junior. Very different dogs — Junior a happy go lucky, very young, very playful, very friendly big boy; Miss China a sedate, fabulously mature, contemplative, and lower energy girl who loves people dearly and is more selective about her dog friends. We waited, we advertised, we facebook'd for weeks…and a person finally came forward with a special place in her heart for Junior, but feeling so bad because she had not the place for China. We told her the adoptions were our decision and that, given what we saw, it was best for Junior to be placed in a loving home with a play buddy — and hers was just that. She didn't ask for the split; we did; for the sake of both Junior and China. China is still with us — we take her for special walks, we put her up front with volunteers, we tell and re-tell her story (see her multiple videos on her website adoption page). The senior lady dogwalkers make a beeline to her kennel first thing in the morning — China is that easy to walk, that grateful for the attention. The vet and vet tech who saved China the first time from the gunshots that took her eye, ask about China and donate to have her go on outings to get some respite, the director and trainers buttonhole the adoption coordinators asking if there are any good prospects for China … the adoption coordinators take another video, another set of photos, and just keep looking, thinking, connecting, and, once again, trying a Facebook post — to show as many people as we can the beautiful dog called Miss China. And we have faith, because not long ago if you recall, we split Cowboy and Candy and they each got fantastic homes better suited to their individual needs. Our faith is that out there, somewhere, is a home that sees the glory in Miss China and has the room and resources and heart to come meet her. Shelters don't save animals — people, all kinds of people, people whom you'd never think to look at them were saviours and life-givers, save animals. Our job is to present these people with the opportunities; we present Miss China.
We take our role of anima…