This Thanksgiving, we are grateful

In which Jill shares what she’s thankful for. (Hint: Wonderful adopters.)

One of the hardest things about rescue is falling in love with a dog and having to let him go. In most situations, “goodbye” means forever, and that’s good news and bad news. Most of our adopters keep in touch with us through periodic photos, and a few of them have even set their dogs up on Instagram.

So when adopters invite us over for a visit, it’s nothing short of a validation of our work. On a trip to San Diego last month, we were delighted to visit Rocco at Sandi Gascon and Steve Sacco’s house.

I will say that as soon as Rocco saw me, he stopped, his ears stood up, and he began hurtling toward me. It was like one of those slow-motion reunion videos, background music by Enya. He tackled me and covered me with sloppy kisses in his goofy, enthusiastic way. I didn’t cry. Okay, I cried.

You might remember that we had a hard time placing Rocco (because: senior bully). If someone had told me that it would be worth the wait because the perfect adopters would show up, give him an expansive home with plenty of space for frolicking, and spoil him rotten, I would have lost a lot less sleep.

To say that Rocco is loving life would be an understatement. Just about everything thrills this preternaturally happy boy. He lives on three acres in the hills east of San Diego. He eats well, gets daily walks, and lots of belly rubs. Rocco even waits by the car for his daily ride around town, doing the little tap dance those of us who looked after him knew so well. It’s freakin’ adorable.

It was so satisfying to see Rocco back to his bouncy, energetic self. No more kennel mania. No more twirling in his kennel. No more desperate attempts to escape. Rocco clearly adores Sandi and Steve and, despite their acreage, can usually be found trotting alongside one of them. They even have little songs they sing to him, and he seems to understand the lyrics.

The lesson of Rocco is, of course, to never give up. In retrospect, I made some unfair assumptions about Rocco, didn’t trust my gut when I should have, and often considered lowering our standards to simply get him into a home. But if those mistakes led Rocco to the Gascon-Saccos, I’d make them again.

I’m grateful for the lessons Rocco taught me. When they live up to their potential, dogs can astonish us. We give up on them too easily.