Unsung Heroine

Unsung Heroine

In the spirit of fair play I have to give one of the great girls a mention. Karen Mitchell of Ballymoney Borough Council gave us a dog they had rescued back in 2005. He had been abandoned and she knew in her heart of hearts that he was meant for us. We cannot thank her enough. He is our wee boy, our wean and pride and joy. We have learned to understand dog speak. How the tail tells us how he feels and how to recognise the signs when he smells a fox and leaves it a message. I cannot begin to tell you what a wonderful caring dog he is and how sensitive he is to our moods. Karen is a dog lover. She said Rocky is a lovely old gentleman and I thank her from the bottom of my heart for giving him to us. She told us about losing one of her dogs. Talk about heart-breaking. I so wanted to hug her and with hindsight I should have. If anything happened to our wee boy Tiger will not survive it. He would rather go before Rocky.

Karen has to face all sorts of animal abuse. I do not know how she copes. I couldn't.

I think we don't give enough credit to Karen and the other peeps that do us proud! How come it is always the best peeps that get overlooked? That’s because they are under appreciated because they do a hard job with so much grace. I cannot and do not want to know how terrible it must be to have to take a dog away and have it put down because some freak decided to breed it for fighting or starved it and hurt it.

Some dogs are a bit wonky from the get go (not the creatures who are bad to the bone, that would be the two legged kind). Not all owners buy dogs for friendship or as working dogs. They buy them from puppy farms where they have been bred in the most awful conditions. The dogs have health problems. Many are discarded like the rubbish Karen also has to deal with.

People like Karen have to go out and rescue wee animals that have suffered terrible abuse. They have to have some put down because they are beyond help and it is cruel to let them suffer. It’s a pity that we cannot all learn that dogs are truly a man, and women’s, best friend. They are caring and loyal and loving if treated with love in the first place. Thankfully Karen is out there doing her best to protect and save. And she often matches strays and abandoned wee furry, four legged creatures with us two legged loving creatures. I am so going to throw her a party.

I suppose we are going to have to take Andy and his wife Valerie prisoner so we can let them see what a mad house this is. It will be a pleasure. If they are up for it, it will be a hoot and a toot. Or should that be a woof?!