A Bigger Picture

Here is the picture from the newspaper. The quality isn’t the greatest as it has been photocopied and then scanned into my computer, but if you click on the picture it should open a new page displaying the full size picture. It does on my computer at least!

It’s been a while since I’ve written my last blog, but Monday when I arrived, Bessie (the cat) had been adopted! I was relieved I didn’t have to bring another animal home, but she was a cutie! Now I have my eye on 3 other kittens that I brought in from the stray pen on Monday. They are all so cute I know they will have no problem getting adopted! My last update is on the little puppies Spanky and Sparkle. They are getting so big! They are beginning to get their teeth and are eating some wet food and drinking raw goats’ milk from a bowl. They are each developing their own personalities and are just doing so well! I can’t wait to see them get adopted.

My training is continuing to move along. I learned a lot more this week and just hoping I am moving along in the right direction. My trainer just handed me a list of calls on Thursday and said, “Here you go.” I had to decide which calls to go on first and map out how to get there. We went on one dirt road and I asked my trainer if she had ever been down this road. She said “Yep, on a quad!” Oh well, the road went through where I needed it to; it was just a little more scenic! I did make some minor mistakes while out in the field, but I was able to learn. I even had to respond to a call where the dog owner spoke Spanish. It was difficult to communicate, but somehow with some Spanglish and some charades, I think she understood what I was trying to say! Then we responded to a dead dog on the side of the road again. I asked my trainer if I was running this call on my own too. She said yes, but was kind enough to open the truck door so I could get the dog into one of the back kennels. It was a little frustrating having someone there that wasn’t being so helpful, but I know why she was. At the end of the day I was grateful because I had learned so much having to figure things out for myself instead of having someone to fall back on.

Along with the field training I have had to continue my training on euthanasia. Some of the other officers had me sedate an owner surrender to put to sleep. Then after it was sedated they gave me the syringe with the Sodium Pentobarbital to euthanize. I have found cat heart after cat heart, but this cat was incredibly stubborn (and overweight). I could not find it. Anyway after a couple attempts, the other officer took the needle and injected it with the fatal solution. Then the next day I was walking by the kennels and saw another officer kneeling down in the kennels. I walked in and she had already sedated this dog. He was 11 years old and sick so his owner surrendered him. The officer asked if I wanted to do it. Of course I didn’t, but I would rather start with one sick dog rather than a whole line of healthy unwanted dogs and puppies. It took a couple tries, but I found his heart and euthanized him. It’s a weird feeling. I know I need to do it for the job, I know why I have to do it, and I know I can do it, but I feel guilty for being able to do it. It just makes me feel like some cold hearted monster. I just have to remind myself of why it needs to be done, that no one there wants to do this or likes to do it either, and we are doing the most humane way we can. So again, please spay or neuter your pets and encourage others to be responsible pet owners as well!!! I did get my own drugs and things so next week I will have to do even more...