November 15, 2023

Adoptable dog!

Jenny’s Experience at the Fur-ever Friends event

            Setting this event up took lots of work (thanks to all who helped), and the day before the event we had lots of challenges getting permission to have the shelter on campus with dogs, so I was very tired the morning of the event, and I was worried about rain. The day dawned cloudy and warm, and I felt hopeful…until I walked up the hill to my car and it wouldn’t start. So, I had to get my husband to fire up our 1966 VW Bus, and we headed off to school, me worrying about the event, my car, the rain that might be coming. Although I have organized many campus events and civic engagement opportunities for students, every event is a new adventure, and I felt a familiar sense of hoping things would go well and fearing the worst.

Fur-ever Friends Event

By 8 am I was in the space, waiting to see if anyone would arrive. The first folks to show up were students from my 8 am English class, and we all stood around awkwardly on the lawn. Soon enough some of my Honors 1010 kids arrived to volunteer, and as they were the class that organized the event, I suggested that the English students interview them about their thoughts on making a difference or requiring service learning. Again, awkwardness prevailed as folks were shy, but some of my Early Entrance (EEP)students really like to talk, so soon I saw interviews taking place, and then Lollie Ragana, the woman who designed and started this event arrived with Erin from One Sea Star, and, of course, Fiona the dog.

Fiona!

            “Fiona used to teach here,” I told the students, and they looked at Fiona, a tiny scrap of a Poodle, 18 years old, and blind, and then the students looked at me, saying “What?” with their eyes. But it is true—many mornings I encountered Lollie and Fiona on their way to teach, Lollie in some quirky outfit, and Fiona in her dress. I remember Lollie would tell me that Fiona would leap out of bed on teaching days, eager to get to class, partly because students drop crumbs in classrooms and carry lunches in backpacks, but also because she loved going to school and seeing everyone. I thought a little about Fiona being 18, very old for a dog, and my students being mostly 18 (except the EEPsters), which for humans is pretty young.

I could hear students talking to Erin and Dave Weishoff, the International Bird man,

and I loved that my English class students were asking questions related to the writing project and gathering quotes. “Everything is going to work!” I thought. Then Baldwin Park Animal shelter arrived, first with the little dogs in cages, then with the Huskies and a sweet gray Pitbull named Cinders who just wanted to hug everyone.

Cinders!Adoptable awesome pit bull

Heal the Bay had set up by then, and a journalism student needed to interview me, and my EEPsters were handing out buttons, being interviewed, and asking folks to complete the survey for the event.

Heal the Bay RULES!

One Sea Star: We Can Make a Difference!

At about 10 there were so many people there I could hardly see the sidewalk, and the weather was holding, and I kept hearing snatches of conversation about “Can we make a difference?” and “Should students be required to participate in events like this?” and my heart felt full because this is the kind of teaching I prefer—not in a classroom, not reading some boring book, but actually interacting and learning the way we really learn, by having experiences. And the dogs! There was Diego, a Chihuahua mix who was barking,

and another small white dog whose name I never learned singing out, and one really funky little black and brindle dog,  some kind of a mixed pug and? breed, Teddy, who was just chilling with his funny little face and terrible underbite.

Terrible Picture of Teddy–He’s WAY cuter and needs a home

While we were running to school in the VW Bus, my husband told me I could adopt a dog if I wanted to, for we have long missed having a pack, and right now we only have Harold the Pitbull/Labrador mix. My beloved Chihuahua Joey came from Baldwin Park

My Joey, a Senior from Baldwin Park

, so I was interested in finding another small dog because Harold does not do well with big dogs. I kept returning again and again to visit Teddy, who seemed pretty chill and friendly, although I did notice the Huskies freaked him out and got him all barking and crazy, but I thought it was just that Husky dogs can be a little weird.

But then I was connecting with folks I hadn’t seen for a long time, and helping students, and running back to my office to get things I forgot, and I was reminding my EEP students who were dancing to do sun dances, not rain dances, and it was one of those moments when I was so happy to see so many people at the event and talking, so happy to see the gorgeous gray cat find a home, so happy to be doing what I do the way I like to do it, that I didn’t notice the sky.

RAIN!

            Keira, one of my EEP volunteers, took my extra umbrellas to shelter the dog crates, mentioning in passing, “It’s raining!” and I admonished her to think happy, sunny thoughts, but soon enough it was actually raining, then thundering, then bucketing, with sideways rain and wind, and folks were huddling under the canopy tents, the shelters were hustling to get the dogs in dry spaces, and I was thinking, “Oh, why is this happening!” I mean, I know, weather, but then another thunder boom came, my sign in list was soaked, and my shoes were wet. One of the coordinators from the Center for Engagement, Service, and the Public Good, Anh Hong, needed an umbrella, so ran to get one from my office, and by the time I returned, the rain had stopped. Sigh.

Then there was a lull in the weather, more EEP students arrived, and I got to see students interviewing students, to overhear Dave the Bird Man talking birds, and Erin from One Sea Star carefully explaining her beliefs. I stopped in at Heal the Bay and got a cute sea horse pin, too! Suddenly, the ship was righted again, and things seemed good, so I spent some time talking to the volunteers from Baldwin Park about Teddy, the weird little gremlin with the underbite. I was pretty sure I would be taking Teddy home, but I saw other folks interested in him, and I didn’t want to snatch him up.

Adoptable and Adorable Dog!

Then the rain returned. This time, one of the canopies collapsed. The folks from Baldwin Park told me they could stay until 1, but they were calling the event over on account of the weather. Shout out to Baldwin Park, here—great volunteers and Animal Control officers, and they made the adoption FREE for a spayed/neutered, vaccinated, microchipped dog/cat, which is a deal. But me, I was thinking about Teddy. As the weather fluctuated between bad and worse, I filled out the paperwork to take Teddy home. “If I can’t make it work permanently with Harold,” I thought, “I can foster him and find him a forever home. We have baby gates and a yard and rooms—I can do this and make it so he doesn’t have to go back to the shelter.” I even got my picture taken with him, and he is a love—ready to give kisses and snuggle.

Jenny and Harold, a rescue dog with issues

By 1 pm, most folks had left, but I had some stalwart volunteers from EEP and my English classes who helped us take down the canopies, which was a WET and NASTY business. Squelch, squelch, squelch was the sound my shoes made as I tried to help with Teddy straining on his too short adoption leash.  I said goodbye to Lollie and Erin and the lovely Fiona, Professor Emeritus.  But we got everything packed and put away and then I was in the English department, e-mailing my class that hadn’t been able to attend, calling my husband to tell him I needed a ride, and, oh, by the way, I adopted a dog.

Teddy was a big hit in the English department where he wanted to love every single person he met in the hall, and although elevators aren’t his thing, he did well enough.  He had water out of a coffee cup and begged for my cold pizza lunch, but I knew I couldn’t take him to my 1:40 class as he was too freaked out, and I was too wet (squelch, squelch, squelch). While I waited for my husband to pick me up, I imagined my evening snuggling with Teddy, writing this, and catching up on my grading; sorry EEP students for the LONG delay in grading your work.

            What I did not imagine is what happened. We stopped at PetSmart and bought Teddy a proper harness, leash, food, and treats, and then we came home. Robert (my husband) had everything prepped, so we brought Teddy upstairs and got Harold on leash and met on the porch. At first, I thought things were going relatively well: no barking, no biting. Then Teddy exploded into a tiny mass of weird teeth and snarling insanity, and Harold, a MUCH larger dog, responded in kind. “Oops!” I thought, but I was still hopeful. We tried to calm everyone down, but the insanity continued. Then we brought Teddy in the house behind the baby gate and tried again with treats for all. Harold was actually better than he usually is, slow wags, ears back, signs of interest, but once again Teddy turned into a whirling dervish of little black and brown dog very pissed off, launching himself at Harold, saying in dog language “I will kill you!” But, of course, Harold is the one who would win that fight, and by now the gentle wags were gone: Harold was meeting Teddy’s every attack with his own attack, tearing his claws so they bled on the gate, even trying to bite Robert.

            Sigh. And so in the gray and rainy afternoon I found myself looking up the hours for Baldwin Park to return Teddy because this was not safe for either dog. I do not want my sweet and terrible Harold to kill another dog, and obviously Teddy deserves a home where he can survive and prosper.

He’s my one sea star: Harold is my rescue for life, and I wish I could adopt/foster Teddy the awesome little man, but dogs need to be safe–and this is not a good situation.

Sitting in my office with Teddy, calling friends for a ride—my car is going to the shop for repairs—I felt a dismal and familiar feeling: I have failed to save this sea star.  I was so confident in telling the folks from the shelter that even if it didn’t work out, I could foster and find Teddy a home, but I was wrong. Failure is a feeling I know well, and I never like the way it feels, but I am not sad that I tried. Like the story of the little boy trying to save all the sea stars and only making a difference for one, I will always try, and sometimes I will fail, but I will keep trying because I believe that we can make a difference in the world. I have seen it and I saw it today. I also believe that students should be involved in events like this because that is how we learn: by doing, and if we are doing, why not try to do good? (For my English students, this is a delayed thesis, where the thesis comes at the end, but please for you, only answer ONE prompt—can we make a difference/should student be required to do events like this?)

            And so in the dripping rain and the first fall feeling night, I hope all readers are well, and if anyone can help Teddy, he will be at Baldwin Park Animal Shelter, linked below. He is an awesome little gremlin, but when I adopted Harold, I gave him a forever home, and it is not safe to have a dog who weighs 20 pounds attacking a giant Pit/lab mix. To all my students if you are reading this, thank you for your help and for attending if you were able to, and for the volunteers: you rock. For the campus partners: The Center for Engagement, Service, and the Public Good, thank you thank you thank you Anh! For the Honors/EEP folks: thanks for the help with the tables and copies and for your students. For the English department, thank you for being my home on campus and special thanks to the chair of the department, Dr. Kathryn Perry, for being a dog person. Special thanks to everyone at Baldwin Park–you are awesome and your work matters–but especially to Isha McDonald who in so many ways made this event possible.

Finally, none of this post or this event would have ever happened without one person: Lollie Ragana, so thank you forever and forever and forever.

All of these dogs are adoptable! And cats, too! Please adopt and help animals get out of the shelters.

Can you give Teddy a home? His ID # is A5587299

He will be at Baldwin Park:

https://locator.lacounty.gov/lac/Location/3173634/baldwin-park-animal-care-center

Want to learn more about our partners:
https://healthebay.org/?gclid=CjwKCAiA9dGqBhAqEiwAmRpTC1fVhQaT93lnSSPI4ci-Ih-8Upj8Vxa_OvusSqlBuU7qBbh5Ud13RhoCdGUQAvD_BwE

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https://www.oneseashttps://www.oneseastar.org/tar.org/