SPECIAL REPORT: Gratitude and Empathy
Due to the submission deadlines around the holidays, I needed to get my regular Sunday report into the Alameda Post before Thanksgiving so that the staff could have the day off and enjoy time with family and friends. The Post is the best local news publication on the island, and they take really good care of their staff and us contributing reporters.
This special report is being written on Thanksgiving Day after I had a great plant-based meal from Greens Restaurant in San Francisco and Planted Table of Oakland fame. Throughout the day, I got four walks, a pig’s ear, two Milk Bones, four Pupperoni sticks, a couple of random freeze-dried liver treats, and a Nylabone All Natural Broth Bones Chew Treat (Beef Flavored). I am stuffed!
Tonight, I will follow my human companion (HC) upstairs, jump on the bed, chew up a full-size bully stick while watching an episode of Elementary on Netflix (I just started season 4) before sacking out diagonally across the bed for the night. Yes, I have a great life, and I am eternally grateful to everyone who helped me on my journey to my forever home and the reporter gig. However, my life wasn’t always that way.
How I got to Alameda is an interesting story. I was transported down to Alameda from the Solano County shelter when the FAAS folks offered to take the current canine residents, knowing there would be many arrivals due to the raging wildfire.
For any canine, the shelter experience is incredibly stressful, even under the best conditions. Nobody knows how I originally wound up on the street or how long I was in the Solano shelter, but being pulled out of my temporary home, put in a van, and driven to a new strange place had my anxiety level through the roof. The FAAS staff was very sweet and supportive, and the volunteer walkers had such patience with me as I dragged them around Alameda reacting to everything—especially other dogs. My kennel card said, “Strong on the leash,” which was in fact a warning to any unwary volunteer walkers.
My first foster opportunity was a failure (not in a good way) to say the least. I was still recovering from the trauma of the move, and there just wasn’t the time in the shelter to get my anxiety under control. I was the “special dog,” it was my seventh month at FAAS, and it was not looking good for me to find my forever home. Then came my HC. Bear—the original roving reporter—had just crossed over the rainbow bridge, and HC needed a “temporary foster only” large high-energy dog that could keep up with his insanely aggressive running and walking schedule until he was ready for another dog.
My Gotcha Day, which is the day I left the FAAS shelter with my HC, was February 7, 2021. I can still remember our first 5K run that took me through Park Street. So much going on, and the smell coming from The Pampered Pup was a sensory overload of the best kind. I wrote my first report on February 21, as the new hire roving reporter for the “Bear’s-Eye View of Alameda.” Looking back, I can remember being scared 💩-less about the report and whether Alameda residents would accept me, being as I was a shelter dog with an unknown past, a scar over my right eye, and no pedigree. This February, I will be celebrating four years as the roving reporter. So much for the “foster only” commitment my HC made when he took me home.
The point of this story is that while I am eternally grateful to my HC for all that I have, I also distinctly remember my time at FAAS, what I was going through back then, and that I needed to do something to recognize those shelter pups. So today, I and my “pound posse” delivered 24 Thanksgiving Goodie Bags with a bunch of treats to make the day special and let them know they are not forgotten. Check out their reactions.
For those of you canines that have been fortunate enough to live the good life from day one and may not be able to relate to what the FAAS dogs are experiencing, my HC suggested that I offer an empathy technique he learned as part of his mediation training. You know the feeling you get when your HC leaves the house, and you are waiting at the front door feeling sad? Now imagine feeling that way every day. The 30-minute volunteer walk or the pig’s ear you get on special occasions mean the world to you.
With that in mind, Giving Tuesday is today, Tuesday December 3, and FAAS can always use the donation. Whether it goes to buy a pack of special treats, basic food to be given out to families that can’t afford to buy pet food, or emergency vet bills to help an injured animal, FAAS is there for every animal, no matter how big or small.
Right now, there is a special need. One of the washing machines went down and needs to be replaced. Currently, the community is pitching in to do the laundry until a new washer can be purchased. I am helping out by having my HC pick up a big bag or two every day and washing towels and toys. It cracks me up to see him being so domestic. LOL!
The cost to replace the stack is about $2400 which was not in the budget. Please consider making a donation this Tuesday to be sure all the animals will have clean towels and maybe a few special toys and treats. To contribute online, just click this link to the FAAS donation page.
Finally, this special post is also inspired by a change that took place in my family this past week that I will go into in a future report. Next week begins my coverage of the Alameda holiday scene from the street.
Happy HoliDAZE!
Mouf, Roving Reporter
Bear’s-Eye View of Alameda
Mouf and his human companion can be reached via [email protected]. Their stories are collected at AlamedaPost.com/Jeff-Cambra/. All photos and videos by Jeff Cambra.
