Turning Into an Animal Rescue Softie

They have a support group for everything these days.  How about a support group for people who have become addicted to doggie rescue videos on You Tube?  

One of the channels belonged to a woman who rescued puppies.  She would bring them back to her home and give them a bath in an attractive, old-fashioned ceramic bowl.  The little dogs were usually filthy of course.  As warm sudsy water dribbled over the little dog and splashed into the bowl, gentle and melancholic solo-piano music would start.  That got me every time. 

Sometimes the grooming videos have the biggest effect on me.  When non-shedding dogs go "forever" without a haircut, they become quite a sight.  The dog can barely move, and its hindquarters are filthy.  A good hair-clipper works miracles in a few minutes and it shows up so well on camera.  Sometimes large sections of hair come off the dog all at once, somewhat like the farmer tries to do with a sheep.  

Once I saw them do an emergency cut on brother and sister poodle-like dogs.  Afterwards they took the two dogs out to play on a grass yard.  The brother ran around joyously.  The sister tried too, but all she could do was flop around, like a fish.  After two days her leg muscles came back and she could chase around with her brother.

Of course, the best meme is a mother dog and a nursing litter of puppies.  The mother dog is weak and hungry.  The puppies are shivering in the cold.  Perhaps a couple of the puppies are dying or are already dead, lying off in the bushes somewhere.  Videos like that can slay you.   There is something special about them, something visceral and existential.

It brings to mind a quote I like to recycle on this blog, from Joseph Wood Krutch's biography of Samuel Johnson:

Many men, oppressed with a sense that most of life is [mere illusion] and trivial, have sought in various ways to make contact with "reality." To some, that has meant hardship in remote places; to some, as to Thoreau, solitude and simplicity; to still others, it has meant the search for God in mystical experience.  To Johnson it meant reminding himself of the struggle for existence on the most elementary level, refreshing association with people who knew, as he did, what it was to be close to illness and to want.

Enjoyable as it is to watch these doggie rescue videos, we shouldn't be naive.   You Tube is full of charlatans and frauds, trying to make a buck off the viewers.  The rescue videos can seem overly manipulative and formulaic if you watch enough of them: "Mother Wolverine Stops Traffic and Asks Truck Driver to Save Her Freezing Babies..."   That does not necessarily mean they are dishonest.  The rescuer probably does have expenses to pay, especially at the veterinarian.

Yes, the videos could be staged.  Yes, photo-editing and AI can accomplish a lot of deception.   So try to choose well, and only donate money that you can afford to lose.  

Once again, it comes down to preserving some Hope, simply because human life is too grim without it.  But be careful about your Expectations.