Working with Dog Rescue can be rewarding, but it can also break your heart. Anyone who's fostered and given up a dog to another home knows the pain and then they do it again because they know there's another dog out there that needs them. There is always another dog.
The story Soul Mates came from a writing challenge, but it was the love of dogs and experience in dog rescue that moved the story. So many foster dogs come in with emotional baggage, one can only wonder what happened to them. We can patch up the broken bones, give them any medications they need, but their heart takes longer to heal after its been broken by humans.
This story is fiction but I've seen dogs who come into rescue with clouds of fear and uncertainty in their eyes. They pancake to the floor when I reach out to pet them, or bark like crazy at the slightest noise. This is how they learned to protect themselves before they arrived on the rescue's doorstep. It breaks your heart every time. When they start to finally act like a dog again, wagging tail, playing with toys, you feel true joy.
So this book has some hard parts, that's true. One reviewer told me "I laughed, I cried, I loved this book." Another review said "it's about animal abuse!" I don't think that second reviewer read the whole book. If she did, she would have known that although the pup goes through some rough times, the dog is saved. Because that's the story of too many rescue dogs. They come in scared and wounded and rescue does their best to patch them up physically and emotionally.
That's what rescue and foster people do. They save dogs, help them heal, and then find them a good home.
See you in the pages...
Jeanne Donnelly is a New Jersey native and has been writing all her life. With an English/Creative Writing major, she's honed her skills with help from the New Jersey Romance Writers and Liberty State Fiction Writers. Both are great groups that support writers and their dreams.
