People have to communicate with each other. It’s not simply a platitude. It’s part of why our society is breaking down. We are becoming more and more isolated from each other, more withdrawn into our own private worlds. Addicted to our 2×4″ screens, sucked into following URLs & forever clicking on hyperlinks. Texting, never calling, to hear the voice of another human being, unable to appreciate the tone or emotions underlying.

Loneliness, anxiety, depression, and all forms of afflictions are on the rise. The Corona virus is emblematic of that separation and tendency to divide into I-mind. I think, I believe, I alone…

You get the picture.

There is an entire We, however, not I, that embraces this embodiment called Life. Buddhist precepts teach that we are all interconnected, that there is no separation between all life forms. We all affect and are dependent upon each other, whether we want to acknowledge it or not.

Part of that interconnection necessarily entails communication. We long to connect with each other, as mammals, as an intrinsic aspect of living.

If you have any doubt as to what I’m sharing, let me cite a few recent examples derived from my work in animal advocacy. I believe it’s important, as all of life right now is struggling.

Today a 3-year-old shepherd husky mix named Charlie sits isolated and misunderstood. His life is now in the hands of  the will of his captors in a South LA Shelter, who are all sufficiently afraid of the outward effects of his kennel stress so as to schedule his death.

In another corner of the world, a lonely young woman aches for the need of human touch and that feel good hormone oxytocin. It’s been six months since the pandemic began, and I can only suspect she never gets to hear the voice of another but rather, resorts to reading words on a screen and images on a computer for any indication of human existence.

I also think of a fellow friend in advocacy, a burly, tattooed animal lover rescuing pitbulls in Texas alongside the company of his own pittie by his side, crying out in frustration for the lack of help for three feral kittens coming across his path.

It’s my own believe that we are all suffering in our own ways at this time.

In all this suffering and transformation emblematic of our time, I feel my own disconnect and frustration lighten when I simply pick up the phone and start talking to someone. I relish the tone of voice of another, feel heartened and less stressed when I can hear the words coming from the other end of the phone. A certain reassurance flows in and my mind calms where it once erupted in volcanic, Armageddon-like images.

We need to start talking to each other.

Speaking of which, this morning I called the South LA shelter on behalf of a dog in harm’s way by the name of Charlie. It was my third call in 3 days, and after 20 minutes of holds and transfers, I got through to a guy directly in the kennel area. Charlie, a three-year-old Shepherd/Husky mix is literally an approval away from death by shelter. Staff, who are unable to handle this 87 lb confused and terrified dog, are refusing to even remove him out of his kennel for playgroup and exercise, so now he’s being held captive in a place intent on killing him for want of other options.

Has anyone communicated this fate to  Charlie himself? No, but I believe he knows what’s coming full well. Dogs communicate with scent, sound, sight and intuition. He is well aware of the room down the hall from which no dog ever returns.

Despite his status of Last Call, I begged my friend to give Charlie more time. I asked that he note his account for the powers-that-be. I asked he share with his would-be executioners that all of us in our rescue advocacy group were networking and trying to find a rescue to pull him. That we were trying to find an experienced foster with an empty kennel, a rare and valuable finding during the pandemic and economic downturn replete with evictions.

My friend listened sympathetically, as I asked if Charlie could be transferred to another kennel with more resources, to give us more time to continue reaching out. I asked if the trainer visiting him before could come back once again take him out for a walk, let him be a dog for a time.

Despite 39 other calls after me and 19 dogs in equal harm’s way, my friend was willing to listen. And I know from yesterday that the South LA shelter is getting owner surrenders daily, that these once-beloved family pets are being dragged to unfamiliar / strange places and abandoned there with dozens similarly situated. And I realize that the shelter is understaffed, under-resourced and overwhelmed.

People are using shelters as dumping grounds. Whether they realize it or not, many of their pets will never make it out alive.

And all of these dogs, including my friend Charlie, who was gifted to his owner as a puppy, then tossed out when a landlord tenant issue a rose, are being marked / branded, ” behavioral.”

I know all of this because I reached someone with equal regard for the intrinsically human trait of voice communication. It not only helped dispel any frustration, disappointment and anxiety I’ve been living with for two days and running for Charlie’s plight, but gave me an opportunity to speak further on Charlie’s behalf.

When a dog has an advocate willing to speak up for them with the powers-that-be, it gives that dog a fighting chance.

As for his notable bad behavior, anyone familiar with dog psychology will understand that the dog’s mind calms with familiarity of environment, sounds, voice and sight. They know their people — who is safe and not — a dog untrained without someone familiar nearby will react to strangers until they realize they are of safe origin. When strangers are overwhelmed and stressed and rushing about in a shelter environment, there is no way for a dog to calm in such circumstances.

Lump the pack of them in together, taken from familiar homes and rituals, crowd them in against each other, inundate them with the noise of stressful wines and cries from their suffering companions in a cage nearby, and I ask you,

How would you be feeling?

I believe that the situation with the dogs getting dumped in these high kill shelters is yet another failure in communication. In Charlie’s case, did his person even want a dog? It’s never a good idea to hand over a conscious, feeling, vulnerable and dependent life to another, unless there is clear communication on both sides.

And yet, who can resist the cuteness of a puppy?

But, did Charlie’s former person get permission from the landlord? Did anyone really know he’d eventually grow up to be nearly 90 lb and that most landlords have policies against larger dogs, justified or no?

I’m going to assume, No. Because during Charlie’s 3 years with his people, it also became apparent from his fear of others that they were hardly acting with his best interests in mind. The best interests of the dog should always be considered. A fallacy or luxurious thinking? I think, No. 

And, I’m also guessing having learned of his situation in the shelter, that he was hardly socialized to know that other people weren’t a danger (for the most part) nor trained with even a few basics.

On all levels, Charlie has been done a grave disservice; the ultimate consequence may well be death by his present captors. And while it’s always easy to blame someone, it must be said again, that the good people at the shelter are often under-resourced and overwhelmed, in need of more funding to hire educators and adopters and counselors. Perhaps what’s needed is more people to volunteer their talents to help those like Charlie, strong, energetic, healthy, young dogs with full lives ahead of them. To communicate with them, to teach them good canine citizen behavior. Charlie, as with others, doesn’t know what’s expected of him.

It’s critical, so that Charlie and his friends don’t find themselves caged in suddenly by strangers, waiting for rescue by an equally overwhelmed human or quite possibly, greeted by that other person who grabs control of him by way of an animal control device and takes them down that hallway of no return for his final walk.

Namaste, and thank you for reading.