An Accidental Dog Rescue
On Sunday, on his early morning run, Jake found three dogs on the street –a mom, with two nursing puppies. Two other neighbors who arrived on the scene suggested calling animal control; he suggested leveraging our neighborhood Facebook pages to find the owners.
He brought the dogs back, and I spent the day posting in all of our neighborhood groups, calling local rescues, and calling local resources like the non-emergency police line, to see if someone had called in to report these lost pups.
Jake took them to an emergency vet to check for a chip, and we set up temporary accommodations for them on the back patio. Neighbor friends came by with cans of dog food and puppy gates, and to receive updates on how they were doing.
We received no responses or clues about a possible owner, and we learned that mom did not have a chip. We also learned (which was a huge surprise, after spending a good chunk of time volunteering with dog rescues in other parts of the US) that none of the rescues we reached out to could help —because they didn't have available fosters; didn't take strays; or only took in dogs from shelters.
Suddenly, our "Reunite Dogs with their Owners" mission had evolved into what I've been calling: Sarah and Jake's Accidental Dog Rescue. . . which has involved partnering with our neighbor friend to foster these dogs, and taking on a new (and very much unplanned) part-time job of finding forever homes for these pups.
“Well this has really spiraled!” I've found myself saying multiple times throughout this process.
And as I have, I keep thinking about the way in which this sort of thing happens on our teams and in our lives—we say yes to one “small thing" that suddenly spirals into a massive undertaking that takes up a tremendous amount of time and energy.
Or, we say yes to something without fully recognizing the ripples that it will create.
I know I have certainly fallen into the trap of “distant elephants."
On our teams and in our lives, we can consider:
What is the future impact of this decision?
Do we have time, energy, and capacity for this?
If we say yes to this, what do we need to say no to?
If we prioritize this, what do we need to de-prioritize?
We clearly did not do a great job of fully thinking through these questions up front.
On the bright side, we've been able to keep all three pups together while we work to find them homes and prevent them from going to animal control (where they would have been separated and housed in tiny cages). An incredibly special human is going to adopt “Sister,” as we've been calling her. 🐶 💗
We are still working to find forever homes for Mama and Baby Brother; I have my fingers crossed about someone who wants to meet both of them over the weekend.
Reflections
What is the potential impact of this decision?
If I say “yes” to this, what do I need to say “no” to?
If I prioritize this, what do I need to de-prioritize?
How will this commitment impact my capacity for the upcoming (week, month, year)?
Have I appropriately factored in the amount of time and energy that this will require?
Have we (as a team) appropriately factored in the amount of bandwidth that this will require?
