Confessions of the Wife of a Kindhearted Man

Some of my recent posts may have given the impression that I am a passionate animal lover whose passive indulgent husband is just along for the ride. Nothing could be further from the truth. My husband is the one who cannot bear to walk away from a needy animal. And he is certainly indulgent, but more about that later.

Rick with our pack of three plus one grandpuppy,

Upon seeing a needy stray animal, I tend to wish there was something we could do, while thinking of lots of practical reasons why we can't. Not him. He'll rescue first and then try to figure out the details.

This explains:

why he'll walk in the front door carrying a dog in his arms while our three resident dogs go ballistic, barking and jumping at the anxious new-comer...

and why I came home from work to find this stray cat in the garage one day last December...

and how these homeless traveling companions ended up in our backyard and then in our house one day in the fall of 2007.

Ginger and Louie, dirty, matted and hungry.

We called this guy, Louie, because he was short, squat and somewhat obnoxious, but lovable, like the character from the TV show, Taxi. He was a purebred Pekingese and after we had him scanned for a microchip (he didn't have one) and tried in vain to find his owner, we took him to a Pekingese rescue organization who were able to find him a loving home.

Louie all cleaned up.

We called this pretty lady Ginger. Beautiful as she was, it was harder to find her a home because she wasn't purebred. Sad, isn't it?  Her microchip traced her back to a shelter in Los Angeles. She had been adopted by someone who never registered the microchip in their own name and didn't seem to be looking for her.

We might have kept her permanently, but sometimes she was aggressive toward Zoe.

These three didn't always get along this peacefully.

Ginger never showed any tendency toward aggression with people though, and she became the only dog of a loving family that adored her and continued to call her Ginger. As far as I know, she still sleeps at the foot of her best friend's bed, a little boy who told his parents that they didn't need to check on him at night anymore because Ginger was protecting him.

Ginger and Louie both owe their new lives to my compassionate husband.

One of our grandpuppies (in the back) joins our pack for treat time in the kitchen.

My husband is a creature of habit and our four legged creatures have happily fallen into the rhythm of his habits. Most mornings he eats Frosted Mini Wheats for breakfast and that means three dogs each get a Mini Wheat and two cats each get a little milk in a saucer. If he has a peanut butter sandwich for lunch, three dogs get a peanut butter filled "kong." If he has a banana, each dog gets a slice of banana. When he makes himself an ice cream sundae, three dogs and two cats gather round as soon as they hear him squirting Redi-Whip out of a can, because they know they are each going to get a dollop. Now you might say that these are not the healthiest of treats, and believe me I've said the same, wagging my finger and shaking my head in the background. His reply is always that this little bit of (fill in the blank) isn't enough to do them any harm. I've given up. He knows what foods are truly harmful to dogs and cats and knows better than to give them those.

Sasha and her favorite human

He grew up with dogs and cats and his mom has never met a hungry cat she didn't feed. When I decided I would like to adopt a cat from a shelter I knew he would take no convincing.

He once asked me why I had turned off the ceiling fan in our air conditioned living room. "Because there was no one in there," I answered. "The dogs are in there," he replied.

He carries Zoe up and down the stairs when she's in pain from her hip dsyplasia and arthritis.

He is the reason our dogs can count on their daily walks, which would probably be less frequent if it were only up to me.

He is the reason our grandpuppies are just as excited as our grandchildren when we come to visit, because they know they are in for lots of extra attention and treats.

And he is the reason I was confident I could bring this dog home and try to save her when I found her cowering at the shelter within 24 hours of being put down on New Years Eve 2011.