A SUCCESSFUL RESCUE
Giving a dog a new life.
Currently, I live in Bogota, Colombia; a large city with over 11 million souls. Here, Colombians from all parts of the country and foreigners from all over the world live together in a multicultural society.
In Bogotá, as in any city, there are areas where wealth is abundant. Also, one can find other places where living standards are low and where one finds many stray animals.
I live in a sector with high income and low population density that adjoins another with fewer economic resources. An area where stray dogs abound.
It is the world trade center zone in downtown Bogota, and this is where my story takes place.
These are the difficult times that we live in. We all have to resort to using our skills to get ahead. Some of us write, others have office jobs and others take care of the cars of those who go to the office.
Among this last group is Ferney, a good person. One who makes a living on the street, not asking for charity but trying to be useful to the residents of the sector. His primary way of earning a living is taking care of the cars of those who come to work.
I met him while walking my dogs. My path crosses his, so we greeted each other every time we met.
I had never had an actual conversation with him. However, for a month now, the hero of our story has accompanied Ferney. A beautiful male American pit bull terrier.
This caught my attention. I had to know how that dog came to be his companion.
One day, I asked him about that pup. I had to know where that dog came from and if he belonged to him.
As always, the story of stray dogs is sad and that of Pitbulls living on the street at the mercy of wicked hearts is even worse.
I will not dwell on the dog’s past because this story talks about his future, but know that this dog hasn’t had it easy.
“Danger” was the name that Ferney gave him, a name that does not do justice to a being of light and love. Although this two-year-old puppy has known hunger and angry men, has a pure heart. Like any dog, he wants to play and be around people.
Ferney told me he had taken him under his wing after receiving it from someone who no longer wanted the dog. His goal was to find a better life for the pup, but because of his breed, it was difficult.
Do you remember I told you that Ferney makes a living taking care of cars? This means that he lives with what he earns daily. He does not have a place of his own; every night he needs to go somewhere to pay for his stay.
If he doesn’t earn enough in the day, he has nowhere to sleep, much less to feed a dog.
This situation of his and Danger’s moved me, so I set myself the goal of finding a home for the puppy.
First, I spoke with neighbors, then with city entities that offer animal protection. I posted in Facebook groups and finally; I spoke with my contacts. Effort in vain.
No one wanted to take over Danger, whether it was because of his breed or his past. The Bogota animal protection entity would not take him because he is a “potential” risk to other dogs. For me, since time was running out, the risk was that Danger would be alone in the streets again.
Ferney was losing faith that we could find a place for the dog, and it showed. For a person like him, the responsibility of his little four-legged friend was great.
A month passed and although I helped them with food and some money, the situation was getting worse for them. We needed to solve their situation.
Five times we tried to find him a home and five times we failed. Several people approached Ferney and promised that they would adopt Danger. None of those promises materialized, which discouraged us even more.
Finally, 5 days ago a friend of my wife raised his hand asking for the dog. We showed him photos of Danger and he fell in love immediately.
He was the ideal candidate to adopt. Lives in a house with space for our protagonist. Besides, everyone in the family loves Pitbulls, from his mother to the grandchildren. It is the only breed of dog they have owned.
For several years, they have been mourning the passing of the last dog they had. Thank God they heard about Danger. They realized then that it was time to overcome that pain and welcome a new puppy into their home.
I already had the interested party, and I needed to coordinate with Ferney so that he would hand over Danger.
Here began the second act of this odyssey.
Ferney doesn’t have a cell phone, so, to organize something with him, you must do it face-to-face.
Last Friday, I spoke with him and gave him the good news. The next step was for him to get acquainted with the future family of the dog.
Everything seemed in order, but Bogota is in a terrible rainy season. It rains very hard and for several hours.
As I expected, on Sunday afternoon, the day of the date, it rained more than usual.
In my heart, I knew that this was going to happen.
Helping is not a simple task. There are always obstacles to overcome to carry out these efforts.
Neither Ferney nor Danger showed up that day, and we had no way of contacting them. We had to go home sad, depressed, and with the feeling that we would fail in this rescue.
There is a very stoic saying in Colombia that goes “At will dawn, we will see”. Is like a mantra to let things that are out of our control flow and that we should take situations as they come.
That’s what we did. We let Sunday pass and very early on Monday I went to look for them where they are always working. There they were, one taking care of cars and the other taking care of the one who takes care of cars.
Now, I had to coordinate everything on my own. The future owner couldn’t be with me to receive the dog, but it didn’t matter. I have four dogs and I trusted my skills and my experience handling them. I knew I could handle this one as well.
Ferney is a good man of God. When he finally handed Danger over to me, he knelt and offered a prayer. He thanked God for being able to achieve his goal.
After that, he hugged the dog who had been his partner for a couple of months, Kissed him, whispered into his ear, and watched him leave with tears of joy.
Later, he told me he had the pleasant feeling of a job accomplished, even though he misses his friend.
Now my part in this story began.
First, I had to take him to the vet to receive vaccinations and dewormers. From there, I had to take him to his new home, which was a two-hour drive from where I was.
Before taking him to the veterinary; Danger needed to get used to me, so I took him for a one-hour walk through the parks in the area. Everything was fine. I had a glimpse of his behavior towards other people and other dogs, nothing to worry about, yet.
Chaos began when it was time to transport him. Imagine my friend, a Pitbull that has never been in a car. A stressed and confused dog barking in your ear while driving through a giant and crazy city. Poor Danger was very upset. Worst of all, we still had ahead the long journey to his new home.
I played relaxing music for dogs from a YouTube channel and gave him cookies while driving to his doctor’s appointment.
Upon arrival, I had my first reality check. Danger doesn’t know how to approach other dogs and that causes him problems. I could keep him under control, but the hour I was at the vet was endless. He wanted to pounce on everyone, dogs, and doctors.
Imagine the scene of a 60-pound pit bull pulling and barking in an enclosed space with other animals around him. The staff kindly asked me to wait outside.
I am lucky to know the head vet, which made the entire process easy. They were very understanding with Danger. They vaccinated him and also gave us cookies and a discount for being a special case.
After the visit to the vet, the journey to his new home began. Two hours of driving and talking to the dog. I had to stop halfway to give him a giant 3-pound bone to calm him down. It worked, and he took it easy from then on.
At the end of the journey, we arrived at his new home, a two-story house, where a regular 4 people family lives. Danger was a little restless when he met his new family. He did not want to let me go, but my path with him had ended. I was only a means for him to reach better hands.
Now, his new name is Dino. I know he is adapting to his new home, and I am sure that he will finally have the full life that any living being deserves.
I cannot say that this is the last rescue I will do (I have already done several) but I am going to take a break. I will close my eyes and my heart to the sadness of this world until life itself asks me to help again.
PS
When I got back home, after driving another two hours back, life had a prize for me. The new Metallica single “Lux Aeterna” was out, and I blasted it over and over for about an hour.
Their new single and album will be the subject of my next writing.
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