Chapter 2 #2
“I trained a lot of dogs—drug sniffing for airports, for example, depending on what they wanted,” he explained.
“That’s what I was doing before I went into the military.
I was exposed to it through family, but nobody I have any contact with now,” he added, with a shrug.
“I was wondering about setting up something here, though I don’t even know what’s around and what’s already available. ”
“I don’t think it matters what’s available,” she pointed out.
“If you find something that any of these animals can do, I say, just go for it, since any training will help get them homes.” She pushed loose tendrils of hair off her face.
“Seems people all over the world need dogs with various skills, and, as long as they’re well taken care of, I think these dogs are just happy to be busy.
I even heard somebody say that they were training pigs for drug-sniffing details too. ”
He laughed at that. “I’ve worked with pigs,” he replied, with a nod.
“They are incredibly intelligent and really just fascinating animals, especially eager to learn. If I wasn’t already such a dog-crazy person, I would probably be interested in working with pigs on a more permanent basis.
” When she looked at him with one raised eyebrow, he shrugged.
“They really are interesting and quite smart.”
“Oh, I don’t doubt it,” she said. “We get pigs in occasionally and tend to look for farms to take them. Sometimes that works out well, and sometimes it doesn’t,” she muttered, her voice deepening.
“As in sometimes the farmers turn them into bacon?” Sterling guessed.
“We had that happen with one, yes,” she confirmed.
“He thought it was hilarious that he got a free pig out of the deal, but believe me that we were not impressed. He’d signed a contract saying that wasn’t his intent, and, when called on it, he basically just chuckled and said, So sue me.
Obviously he knew full well we didn’t have the money to sue him or anybody else,” she admitted.
“That wasn’t cool,” Sterling declared, his tone hard.
“I get it, and farmers more than anyone live with the realities of where our food comes from, but to deliberately take an animal that’s been raised as a pet and then wound up in a shelter, just to slaughter it for food is contrary to the whole premise of rescue and definitely not what the families want for them. ”
“The trouble is, the families can no longer look after them, usually because the pigs have gotten so big. Nobody expects the tiny little pig they buy to end up weighing hundreds of pounds.”
He rolled his eyes at that. “Isn’t that the truth?”
Working efficiently, they moved through each mama and got them and their puppies all washed up and in line to be checked out.
Tiffany called Sterling over to help on the other side of that.
When he turned around, he saw Lindsey busily settling the mother dogs with their puppies into small cubicles, already set up with dog beds and blankets.
When she was finished, she looked over at him and noted, “I probably should head back to town, unless I can help with anything else.”
At that moment Tiffany replied, “Seems we’ve got the lot of them cleaned up. Thank you so much for staying to help, Lindsey.”
“Thank you for taking them.”
“Were you serious about needing to move out another ten or even fifteen?” Tiffany asked.
“Yeah. Honestly, we’re struggling to keep up with cash for food. We’re always doing drives, looking for donations, but lots of people give up their animals in tough times. So, it’s an equally tough time for people to make cash donations as well.”
“Of course,” Tiffany agreed. She handed her a business card. “That’s my clinic, and we have another vet who works here who runs a different clinic in town.” She laughed. “We should have put our resources together and created one clinic, but we didn’t know each other at the time.”
“Are you talking about Keisha, the one who does exotic animals?” Lindsey asked.
“Yes,” Tiffany confirmed, with a smile. “She’s been out here working on the llamas, and we have an armadillo that got injured, but he’s doing pretty well. Timber has had several different wild animals wander in, seemingly looking for help.”
“We send the animals to other refuges as needed, but, if we can get them back on their feet in town, we do,” Lindsey shared. “I would hate to cage and transport some of these animals.”
“No, that wouldn’t be the easiest job and is so hard on the animals stress-wise. Yet, if it’s needed, we’ll do it.”
“Exactly, and that is where the challenge comes in, determining what each animal needs,” Lindsey noted. Tiffany walked her back out to the vehicle as they talked. Lindsey looked around to see if Sterling was anywhere close by.
Tiffany asked, “Are you looking for somebody?”
“I just wanted to thank Sterling,” she replied, with a laugh. “When I pulled up, he was the first one to smile at me, and we had a good visit while we washed all those dogs. So it seems rude of me to leave without saying goodbye.”
“I don’t know where he is, but, if you’re coming back with more animals, I’ll ensure he’s around, or at least I’ll tell him.”
“Oh God, don’t make it sound like that,” she muttered, now flushing.
Tiffany gave her a wry grin. “No, of course not.” Then she high-fived her and added, “Thanks so much for bringing this lot out. It saved me a trip into town, and now Timber will have to get more feed, plus I’ll need to sort out surgical dates. We’ll get these mamas taken care of.”
“Isn’t that the truth,” Lindsey muttered. “Do you have an assistant out here?”
“Sometimes. I get a couple to help with surgery dates.” She studied Lindsey curiously. “Have you ever assisted?”
“I have, though I’m certainly not licensed, and you probably need somebody licensed for that.”
“Sure, but, when we have a day of heavy surgeries, like this will be,” she noted, with a wave of her hand, “it takes more than just two of us.”
Lindsey nodded. “If you ever need a hand, you can always give me a shout,” she offered.
“I work as an accountant, mostly from home, or at least as much as I can,” she shared, pulling a business card out of her pocket and holding it out for her.
“So that leaves me a little more flexible for volunteering.”
“Nobody running a rescue of any kind would turn down that offer,” Tiffany declared, accepting the card with a laugh, “so absolutely expect my call.”