Rosie Returns

Remember Rosie? A St. Bernard mutt that spent her first couple of months outside during the coldest winter Tennessee had experienced in 37 years? Click here if you need a refresher. Last night, five months after she had been adopted, her family texted, saying they were too busy to care for her anymore.

Right now, it’s 5 a.m., and I’ve been sitting in my office for the last hour, drumming my fingers on my desk, looking out at a black pre-dawn morning, trying to figure out what I’m doing wrong when I’m homing these homeless animals. ICHBA’s application process is rigorous; we’ve already been told we’re downright crazy and our questions are offensive.

Wrestling with my frustration, I can’t help but notice two glaring links between Rosie’s family and the other two families that returned their dogs to ICHBA during the past year.

One: All three families had adopted puppies, returning them right at or under a year.

Two: All three families were religious zealots.

Because of the puppy connection, Donna, ICHBA’s founder, has already decided that we are holding dogs until they are four months old.

Concerning the second similarity, maybe this question needs to be added to ICHBA’s application: Do you believe animals have souls?