Starlight's journey

Starlight is a two year old sheperd heeled mix who came to the sanctuary after being surrendered to a shelter. This girl was over corrected as a puppy and as a result came to best friends completely shut down. When I started in feb all it took was one look at her sweet face and I knew that I was going to help this dog learn to trust again. At first she was so timid all I did was sat in her kennel and talked to her for about 3 weeks. Once she got more comfortable she started sniffing me and we worked our way up to petting. Once she got more comfortable with me we started working on leash skills. The first time I came into work and got a tail wag I was ecstatic! We continued to work on meeting new people and in the beginning she would simply shake and hide. Over time she has started shaking less. Each day she trusts me a little more so I. Decided to foster her. I figured it would be good for her to get used to going places and doing things but I was worried my very obn obnoxious dog might be too overwhwlming. As soon as they met they loved each other! Trinity immediately licked starlights face and tried to play. The girls are inseprabable T home. They eat together, they sleep together, they chew stuff together. But perhaps my favorite thing is that they play together! Starlight confidently throws trinity on her back and. Bases her throughout the house. Today she chased her tail and played with a toy for the first time in months. Last week she had enough confidence to chase a golf cart!! She barks at cars passing by the house! Each day she makes more and more progress. I could not be more proud of her! But our work is not done yet. I cannot wait to see what strides she makes next. It is an honor to see the dog she is becoming, the dog she was meant to be all along. To sponsor starlight and support her progress please visit www.bestfriends.org and find her in the adorable adoptables section. Together we can save the world one dog at a time.

Unexpected Endings

Where to begin. Today is the one year anniversary of Christina Gencko's death. I went for a bike ride today and reflected on the whole experience. I knew when I signed up for Bike & Build that riding was dangerous but hearing news of Christina's death was shocking. It was a much needed slap in the face. It really put things into perspective. It made me evaluate the things that are important in life. You truly never know when your last day will be. That reminds me to make every day count. Don't leave things unsaid. Don't go to bed angry. Love passionately with your whole heart. And pursue the things that make you happy even if they will never make you rich. Christina was passionate about affordable housing and that is a passion that she carried until the day she died. Her death has impassioned me to fight harder for cyclist safety and road laws. Her life has forever impacted mine. Today I road for Christina and it was a beautiful ride. Ironically enough yesterday was filled with tragedy as well. I received news that during one of our staff meetings two of our dogs got in a dog fight and Stella, a newer deaf pittie mix who reminded me so much of Sahara from the Michigan shelter, died. Again the news of her death was shocking. It wrecked me actually. What I can say is that I am glad that I had the honor of knowing her. I am glad that she was healthy and happy for a while and I hope that she knew just how much I loved her. I may have only known her a short time but in that time she captured a piece of my heart and it will forever remain hers. Stella's death, tragic as it may be only reaffirms the importance of the work that I am doing here. Many of these dogs have been damaged by us humans and I am more determined than every to shower them in love and compassion. To be patience and positive. To be a part of their healing instead of their brokenness. One thing that is very clear to me these days is that every life has an impact. Every life is significant animal or human. We must choose how we want to live. We must choose how we want to impact others and then we must have the courage to live that impact out in our daily lives. I hope that my impact is to be loving and compassionate,to seek peace and pursue passion, to leave the places I go and the people and animals I meet better than when I started. So I will continue to love until it hurts and then love more. And Stella will forever be a part of me just as Hoss remains. Peace & Love, Summer