Recently we received an email from a Basset Rescue we work with in Illinois. They asked us to speak and do some healing work with a litter of 6 puppies that were very sick. These pups were infested with intestinal worms and fleas. Two had been diagnosed with parvo. We weren’t given the details of where they had come from or who had allowed them to get into this condition. We later learned that their owner had turned them over to GABR because they could not afford to treat the pups medically.
The email included several pictures of these beautiful Basset pups. Obviously they had nice looking, full Basset parents. One in particular – whom Emmy (from the rescue) named Phantom – had a white mask over half his face. In another picture a beautiful black tri-colored Basset radiated with personality. His face said, “I’m special!”
Others in the pictures seemed further away, weaker when we spoke with them. One, we learned in the email, had already passed over. The other dog with him was barely able to talk. Our job was first to reassure these babies that they were very loved, that there were a lot of people pulling for them, that everything that could be done for them medically was being done. Emmy herself went and sat with them, so that they would experience human love and caring directly. We told them that all they had to do was try – try to get better, try to hang on, that they would feel better eventually.
We also did some distance Healing Touch for Animals® work with them to try to balance their energy system and boost their individual ability to heal themselves energetically and physically. We asked friends in the HTA community here to volunteer some time to work with them. One thing that is very wonderful about the HTA and Healing Touch® communities in this area is that people are willing to come together and help in situations like this. These puppies needed all the help that could be provided.
We received an email from the rescue a couple of days later. All the puppies had passed over. Phantom – the one with the unusual white mask – was the last one to transition, and the little guy who said he was special passed away right before him. Emmy and Guardian Angel Basset Rescue are committed to not forgetting these wonderful dogs, and to battling the circumstances and people that allow senseless tragedies like this.
After getting that email, we sat with Lukas – our new Basset boy from Guardian Angel Basset Rescue (GABR), and we thought about how lucky he, and we, really are. Lukas (1 ½ yrs old) and his “girlfriend” Lady were a breeding pair that produced 8 beautiful puppies. Parents and pups were in such poor condition that they ended up at GABR. Three months later, Lukas and Lady are happy, healthy, and in new homes. One of their puppies died, but the rescue has found homes for all but 2 of the rest, and it’s only a matter of time before they placed. They are all beautiful dogs – just like the 6 puppies that just died of parvo.
We’d like to first of all thank all our readers who are involved in breed and other types of rescues – for dogs, cats, reptiles, horses, birds, and other pets. We honor what you do, knowing that it is so very difficult, but so very needed, work.
We’d like to challenge all of our readers to do something for us, as the holiday season approaches. Whenever someone talks to you about the “cute dog they saw at the pet shop”, or is considering breeding their pet so that “the kids can see the puppies/kittens”, or tells you they “can’t afford to spay/neuter their cat” – stop them and tell them about the puppies that died. Invite them to go to their local shelter and walk through the kennels and cat areas, looking the animals in the eyes. Encourage them to call their local humane association to find out about local vets who will spay/neuter for reduced prices.
Let these puppies not have died in vain. If you tell one person, you have made one of those pups wag their tail on the Other Side.
Happy Howlidays from Cindy, Terri, Lukas, Bear, Nate, Ben, Diana, Frank, Simba, Sophia, Rusty, Rohan, and Kazel Queen of the Dragons
