Finding homes for four-legged friends

It's amazing how one person can flip your whole world upside down. Just one call made life in the Deering home sad, stressed and hectic.

Our landlord of about 13 years for my husband and 10 years for me, called on Friday and said that our house may get sold, we need to eliminate animals and repair all that needs repaired by Monday. My husband and I were both in tears. We love our babies more than anything and don't want to lose them

We are those people in your community that take in those that others don't want or can't have. There have been times we have had up to 10 guinea pigs, six birds, two bunnies, seven dogs and two rats. It can be crazy, but we love it. We remove what we can, but there are those we can't remove.

When the call came, our numbers weren't bad, but nevertheless it was devastating. Of our four dogs we had to eliminate two, our blue heeler mix and our lab/dachshund. The lab mix actually has owners who visit, take him for grooming and take him for vet care. It was a small battle, but I convinced them to come get him and take him home. Our blue heeler is our baby, she would be hard to get rid of.

My mom and dad are a lot like us and will take in animals that are in need, so I gave them a call. They agreed to take her in, so Saturday I drove my frightened baby to grandma and grandpa at the farm. She was scared, but since my parents love animals, I knew she'd be spoiled in just a matter of time.

I received a call at 9:30 p.m. Saturday saying they let her out to go potty and she ran away. Our baby, who sleeps in a bed every night, was out in the cold with the coyotes, who spend every night calling and answering each other, scared to death. What have I done? My dog could be hurt or dead, all because I'm afraid of losing my house.

Sunday morning, I headed back to the farm to find my dog. I was driving down past my parents yelling for her with no luck. I decided to head toward Ritzville in hopes she was trying to follow our route home and turned onto the lane of an abandoned farm house. That’s when out of the corner of my eye, I found my baby. I wasn't about to let anything happen to her again, so I decided she was coming back home with me.

We spent the rest of Sunday cleaning, repairing and trying to find homes for the other animals, four guinea pigs (that we took in because they couldn't stay in their homes) and one kitten (that couldn't stay with her family because they couldn't afford to get her fixed).

Monday was walk-through day. I'm cleaning, bleaching and making sure animals are out of the house before they arrive. As we are waiting, my neighbor on the other side of our duplex comes over in tears because they were told to get rid of their dog. So she took her to her in-laws and she got out of the house and was hit by a car.

I understand landlords worry about property damage, as some pet owners do not try to prevent damage. I've witnessed it firsthand. They will let them destroy doors, floors, yards and more. But when you have someone you know, who cares for animals in need, who has been a tenant for years and has upgraded the rental property with their own money, why cause them so much heartache?

For some of us our animals are our babies, our life, they are what keeps us normal. Don't judge us by what others have done in the past. We have always treated your home like our own home. Don't take it away because we try to serve God by helping our four-legged babies.