This morning, I opened an email to find that a Mass. shelter I had previously worked with had increased its kill rates dramatically. The email said the shelter temperament tested 15 dogs yesterday, all 15 failed and all were killed. The 15th dog, it said, passed the test, and afterwards gave a lick-kiss to the evaluator, bumping her too hard, so the evaluator had him killed too -- !!

I read this in disbelief, as I remembered dear Maybull, pictured at the right, who came from that shelter earlier this Spring, and who I placed in a wonderful home. They love their girl very much, and I still view them as one of the best homes I've seen ever.

Feeling pretty bummed out, it's easy to wander to the "am I really making a difference" angle -- is this really what's meant to be?

Fast-forward a couple of hours, and I get a call from a Charlie, a man in his early 20s -- he owns a pit bull in Bridgeport, CT, he said. Bridgeport is a known dog-fighting area, and almost all pits in the shelter there are killed. Daisy, my foster, was an unfortunate victim to Bridgeport's evils.

Charlie, it turns out, was walking down the street, and he ovcerheard some kids selling pit puppies "for fighting." Charlie, being a stand-up guy, knew how he loved his pup and also that puppies shouldn't be brought in to the world with the intent to fight. So, Charlie bought a puppy -- !!