My heart is really heavy today. Within the confines of my own home, life is great. My parents are nicely settled in a rental house while they’re home is being rebuilt from the ground up courtesy of a fire that spared their lives and the lives of their pets, my son was recently promoted to a position where he is thriving and challenged, my daughter has begun her second year of teaching and pulling down outstanding grades in grad school, my husband is doing good things in support of our country and his community and I’m blessed to be able to spend a portion of my days walking other peoples dogs and a good portion walking and playing with my own.
This heaviness comes from something that isn’t happening directly to me but it feels so personal. If you know me at all, you probably know I stopped eating meat a few years ago. I did so because it seemed like the healthier alternative but then I became educated in what every single cow, pig, chicken and turkey suffered at my hands while I took part in eating them. I began to really connect eating meat with the loss of life that it is….that said, I know most of you don’t want to feel guilty about the bacon you ate this morning so I’ll move on ~for now~ but I wanted you to understand that I didn’t always feel the way I do today. It was a gradual change in my thinking toward all animals.
In my house growing up, we always had pets. Always. Rags and Riches, our outside cats; Pepe and Fifi, our outside dogs; eventually, we had Thumper (a rabbit I won on the Bozo the Clown show), Jo-Jo and Smoochie, Lady, Zack, Molly B, and on and on….there was literally never a time in my life when my family didn’t have a 4 legged family member to feed and cuddle. Naturally, I wanted the same for my kids so there was Pebo, Bogart, Oliver, Kennedy, Deni, Lucy and a myriad of fish (I’m a horrible mom to fish~they have no life expectancy at all in my care so I gave that up). Then one day when Devon was in high school, she wanted a tiny dog to carry around like Reese Witherspoon and she caught me in a vulnerable moment so Kahlua became a Gutierrez. Then, one early foggy morning, Wally showed up on our doorstep dragging a dirty leash and his tired eyes pleaded for a loving home. He became a Gutierrez. Nick adopted a shelter pittie (who is the sweetest guy in the world) named Roscoe whom we get the pleasure of being grandparents to and then I decided I needed to foster one of the millions of dogs who either are fostered/adopted or euthanized annually in this country. That’s right~ estimates are that the United States euthanizes 3-4 million dogs per year. My heart weeps for each and every one. Anyway, my foster pittie Arya quickly became a “foster failure” and was deemed a permanent fixture…another Gutierrez. We have 4 individual little canine personalities under this roof and life is good in my tiny portion of the world.
A couple of days ago, over 367 dogs were rescued in the 2nd largest dogfighting bust in US history. Thank GOD! I could go on and on about what punishment I’d like to see the cowardly, greedy, evil people receive who choose money over life and over compassion but what I really want you to see is the dogs upon rescue. These are dogs who have been conditioned to fight and mutilate in order to save their own life. They have been abused and mistreated to an extent that I can’t even comprehend but know this. ..On the premises, there were staple guns found that were used to close gaping wounds, treadmills to run these dogs to exhaustion, bodies of deceased dogs, heavy chains, empty food and water bowls and lots of cash. A lot of cash. And, yet, here is their reaction….they will somehow love and trust again.
And when I see these beautiful pups that our society misused in a depraved world, I see not only their beauty and innocence, but the beauty and innocence of all living things we slaughter for our own desires. I’m sorry, this hasn’t been an easy read but I’m trying really hard to inform you of what you really don’t want to know because it will interfere with what you eat. We need to take care of them~ they are voiceless. ALL animals. This literally keeps me up at night and since God himself placed the passion in my heart, I’ll deliver the message without apology.
So if seeing these photos of innocent dogs tugs on your heartstrings at all, would you please also consider these photos?
We have to DO something to stop this. I believe education is the key. Stop telling me how you can’t live a single day without your steak. You don’t have to answer to ME. You have to answer to them. 
