Pets and Foreclosure

Today I was forwarded an email from a desperate family looking for a home for their two labs. They were losing their house to foreclosure and moving to an apartment where they couldn't take the dogs. This mother of three described how the dogs had been patient and loving with her small children, even tolerating "dress up" from time to time. The email was heartbreaking to read. This story has a happy ending because the local lab rescue is taking them both and has found a home for them together. Keeping them together means at least they will have each other through this transition. I'm really happy to hear the good news. But there's a part of my heart that aches for dogs and cats who lose a loving family. Imagine the confusion they experience when they leave everything they know---the yard with all its familiar smells and terrain, the children they welcomed and played with--the home they ate and slept in and protected from harm. That's not to say that their new home won't provide all of that and more. They will adapt to change. We all do. But part of me wishes we could find a way to be forever homes for animals---and children,too.