One Phone Call, 24 Puppies: Why We Need to Be Ready for the Next One

That's what happened when 24 puppies came into our care, all of them unwanted, all of them in need of help, and all of them needing somewhere safe to land.

‍

Each one of those puppies needed shelter. They needed veterinary care. They needed food and basic, everyday care that, up until that point, they hadn't reliably had. Most of all, they needed someone to look at them and say, "We're here for you."

These puppies were just two months old when they arrived, nervous and unsure of the people around them. They didn't know yet that they were safe. Like a lot of puppies coming from difficult starts, they needed time to decompress before they could even begin to trust the world around them.

So that's exactly what our staff gave them: time, patience, and consistent care. Slowly, they started to come out of his shell. They began trusting the people around them, a little more each day, until the nervous, unsure puppies who first arrived became dogs who now greet people with a wagging tails.

It's a big change from where they started. They’re learning what a safe life looks like. They’re getting the chance to just be a puppy, to get the life they should have had from the very beginning. They got their second chance.

But they won't be the last.

There will always be more animals who needs help. Another phone call. Another puppy, or litter of puppies, who has never known safety. Another animal needing veterinary care, needing somewhere to go, needing someone to say yes.

So the question we keep asking ourselves is simple: will we be ready for the next one?

Being ready means having the resources available before the call ever comes in. It means having staff ready to respond, medical care available for animals who need it right away, food and supplies on hand, and space to safely house however many animals show up at our door, whether that's one animal or twenty-four.

‍

Support from our community is what makes that readiness possible. Every donation helps us say yes, the next time an animal needs us, no matter the size of the need or how little notice we get. Our goal is simple: make sure the next animal, whoever and whenever they are, gets their second chance too.

That's also part of why our Unleash Love build means so much to us. A larger, modernized facility means more space to house animals during large-scale intakes like this one, more capacity in our hospital to provide veterinary care right away, and an environment better suited to helping nervous, scared animals settle in and start to trust people again. When the next call comes in, and it will, Unleash Love will help ensure we're ready to say yes.