Posted by Rick Fish - Dogstuff, Austin on October 29, 2009, 7:16 pm, in reply to "The Club"

You did a very good thing, and I really can't abide the concern trolls who have given you grief and tut-tutted that you've brought "foreign" needy dogs into your area. That assumes that rescuing and adopting dogs is a zero-sum game and that all rescue dogs and adoptive homes are interchangeable - that every "outside" dog you rescue displaces a local needy dog. It's not that way. Rescue - and particularly a compassionate, heroic and talked-about rescue like the Texas mission - begets more rescue, raises people's interest in adopting dogs, and helps awaken them to the rewards that come from opening your heart to dogs in need, wherever they're from. You guys may not have heard about it on the West Coast, but there are some very successful rescue programs in the Northeast that regularly transport dogs hundreds of miles from the South and Southeast - where dogs are disposable - to forever homes in places where dogs are more valued. Sort of a canine underground railroad for modern times. Did you lead with your hearts more than your heads? Yeah, probably. That's kind of the hallmark of people willing to rescue, though, and you're learning how to rescue by doing it, not by contemplating from a comfortable distance. Rescuers around the country rallied to save the Camp Wolfgang dogs. The very last batch went to Missouri, I heard. I expect a lot of the rescuers went home to the same sniffs of disapproval you may have received but the dogs - bless their innocent hearts - are out of a bad situation and on their way to lives they deserve. And I'll bet you dollars to donuts that the biddy who fretted in the newspaper article about rabies, heartworm and 501(c)(3) certification will find more people now willing to adopt, inspired and made aware of rescue by what you guys did and are continuing to do. Once again - good job and thanks!

28