A PROPER HOME FOR ALL

Those of you who have read the James Herriot books all ready know what an amazing man he was. Those who haven't, if you love animals and want to fall in love with someone you don't all ready share your bed with, then pick up "All Creatures Great and Small." (Link to Amazon)  Your library should have it.

OK you guys won't fall in love with this English veterinarian but I'll bet he would be someone you would like to hang out with.

His books ( about 23 of them which included 9 children's books) were not only marvelous animal stories but they were also a study of their owners and the intriguing Yorkshire Dales during the 40's and 50's.

His delightful humor  was often self depreciating and his compassion for animals endeared him to so many. It was speculated that his books are what caused the glut of applications to veterinarian schools in the 80's.

One of his beliefs was that there was a perfect owner for every animal and he often played matchmaker. One example was a huge Irish Wolfhound he was tending for intestinal problems. Bad gas.

Picture from the Net. Twelve pound Minnie brought me to my knees with her gas, A dog that size could take out a platoon.

Jim was unable to cure the gas problem so when the owner could no longer stand it and wanted to get rid of the dog, Jim talked him into giving the dog to a bachelor farmer he knew who suffered terribly with sinus problems. The man had no sense of smell so he and the dog lived in total harmony.

I tried to follow Jim's advice in my animal rescue attempts. The dogs I found were throw away dogs to begin with so they came with built in baggage. There was Corky with no hair that went to a child with allergies. Selma was a diabetic dog that was placed with a lady with diabetes who had no problem with the daily medication and controlled diet. Then Snuffy came along.

Not my picture but from the Internet. Looks a lot like Snuffy.

 Snuffy was a handsome blue merle Australian Shepard. One birth defect which affects that breed is deafness. Snuffy was deaf as a post. His owner was a young lady who had to give him up. Her husband had just been killed in an auto accident. She was pregnant and had to go to live with her parents  in a condo that didn't allow animals.

Normally I didn't take an unwanted dog from an owner as I found enough strays on my own, but I made an exception in this tragic case. I knew at the pound, his chance for adoption was slim to none with his deafness.

Snuffy had been well trained by the husband. He knew a wealth of hand signals and obeyed quickly. The only problem was that you had to get his attention so he could see the signals.

When I really felt intelligent was when he would be running ahead  of me and I would still go almost hoarse calling to him. Duh.

One other draw back to Snuffy is that since he was deaf, he had never heard himself bark. He had a TERRIBLE bark. It was an incredibly high pitched noise that he repeated in long sequences with no tone variation. All the charm of finger nails on a blackboard.

I had to find an owner with a totally fenced property so Snuffy couldn't get into traffic but I also had to find someone who could tolerate that bark. It could really wear on your nerves.

Luckily I found the right home for him before I lost my own hearing and patience. As with a lot of my placings, it all revolved around a friend of a friend of a friend. I had a delightful network of helpers.

Snuffy's new owner it turned out was hard of hearing. Dan wore a hearing aid but he only used it for conversations as the feed back annoyed him. He generally turned his hearing aid off to enjoy the quiet so Snuffy's awful bark would be no problem. He could tune him out.

Dan lived on 25 dog fenced acres so Snuffy could run all he wanted with no fear of traffic. It was love at first sight for the two of them. Snuffy was after all a beautiful and sweet natured dog and it was like he knew that Dan understood. They went off to live happily ever after in their quiet worlds.

Jim was right. For just about all animals there is the perfect home, you just have to be creative. If you are ever saddled with a troublesome pet that you just can't adjust to and you need to relocate, have patience. The perfect home is out there. Just think outside the box.

Hum--it has been 25 years, think I will go reread his books myself.