How about some updates on dogs that we've blogged?

Ever wonder about GADAB's dogs whereabouts now? Sometimes it seems as if they're stuck here in some kind of depressing timeless warp, but no, eventually, they all leave, somehow.

I go back and read these blogs, remember our roster of characters with so much fondness, sometimes smiling with happiness, sometimes with a heavy heart. The bitter with the sweet. I remember their favorite toys, their issues, their triumphs, the butt scratch/slap with The Retreiving Meister, the world-class grin of Her Serenity when she succeeded in catching a ball in the air from a TWENTY-FIVE FOOT sit/stay (she was here a while - of course, we didn't start at 25'), how Ms. Dog and A Half took soooo long to learn to trust again, how Sir Hugeness jumped for joy every time he saw one of us, how Little Barky-Snarky Guy really liked to curl up in a lap and take a good snooze.

I remember how one of my favorite pitties of all time came out of her shell, treat by treat, creeping closer and closer to me while I dare not move a hand or a single body part or she would retreat. That lovely dog finally found joy in being with us, generous with her kisses, and we discovered about the same time that she did that she was a born wiggle bug. None of us ever would have known had we not been there for her, day after day, week after week, month after month.

Another favorite mental visual is of Mr. Hip-Hop dancing merrily across the mid-bar of his kennel, which he never left the entire time he was with us. But if he could find joy in two-stepping across his kennel, how am I not to celebrate his dancing prowess and laugh with him, his huge mouth stretched widely in a grin?

Can I ever forget how Sparkle's passing was, how her favorite animal care attendant grabbed her into his lap and held her close while I fed and touched her, how surprised I was that she went so quickly from this life into the next, and how I didn't know what to do with myself then, she had no more need for me, how numb I felt, and how much her life changed the person who loved her more than anything in the world. He knew, when he came back later and we talked, he knew why Sparkle had come into his life, how he grew into the person he was supposed to be because of her. We cried together.

I salute him and all of you who who recognize why our dogs come into our lives. They are teachers, they allow us to love when it's so hard sometimes to remember why we are here, they kiss away our tears, they make us laugh, they accept us, they put their trust in us. They are givers.

The rescues with whom we work, the funders, and individuals who make this possible, the volunteers who give themselves to the animals. Stay. Grow with us.

Dogs, go. Grow without us.

Remember Blackie, the grumpy reindeer, posted on 12/4/07? She went to Chow Rescue (quite the adventure that transport was!) and was adopted from there to an older couple who fell in love with her.

You'll be seeing Leroy and Samson when you arrive at the Pearly Gates. Farewell, laddies.

Little Mo, whom I tracked after he was allowed to go home with his owner, has a much better life now. His owner is on track with pulling his life together, hanging out with Mo at one of our lovely multiple-use local parks, keeping him well fed and quite dapperly dressed.

Booda, adopted by rescue. Grow into a good adult, baby.

Pops, aka Little Papa, aka LP, adopted. Bear, his partner, euthanized. Just too long at the fair. Some dogs deteriorate so much from being at the shelter that they can't make it out in the real world again. They become unsafe. Sadness.

Frankie, Stoney, Jeckel, Gracie, all adopted. Joy.

You were loved.

To paraphrase what Mark said about Momo and Minna, "it's been an honor to know you". All of you. Each and every one of you.