{"id":4490,"date":"2014-11-20T12:29:12","date_gmt":"2014-11-20T17:29:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jennydeupree.com\/?p=4490"},"modified":"2014-11-21T10:14:40","modified_gmt":"2014-11-21T15:14:40","slug":"damien","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jennydeupree.com\/?p=4490","title":{"rendered":"Damien"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"damien\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Saturday<\/p>\n

I went to see Damien<\/a> again, hoping that if he gets a little familiar with me, the transition to my house won\u2019t be so hard.\u00a0 But it was a little disappointing.\u00a0 He was grumpy when I got there, possibly because I had to knock on the door and that set all the dogs off.\u00a0 He may have been triggered, not grumpy.\u00a0 But he\u2019s really a scruffy little dog with skinny paws and clicking toenails. \u00a0I remember Bella’s fluffy paws with a small ache.<\/p>\n

I sit on the floor as I did last time, so as not to scare him.\u00a0 I\u2019m also about four feet away.\u00a0 I toss a treat over near his bed and, hesitating a little, he comes out to get it.\u00a0 Then I put a treat a little nearer me and he comes for that too.\u00a0 Finally I did get him to come and eat from my hand.\u00a0 But he\u2019s really not attractive.<\/p>\n

His foster mother Karen told me one of her dogs started out fearful, but after she had worked with her for while she didn\u2019t want to let her go, so she kept her.\u00a0 She\u2019s also got attached to Damien, and is hoping he\u2019ll find a better home with me.\u00a0 I\u2019ll be able to spend a lot more time with him.\u00a0 I\u2019m a little worried now, because I don\u2019t really feel drawn to him at all.\u00a0 I had moments of fear in the pit of my stomach that I would have to say I can\u2019t take him after all.\u00a0 I hope that will change.\u00a0 I hope that I will be able to help him learn and grow and come to have a more normal doggie life.<\/p>\n

Sunday<\/p>\n

Very mixed feelings about Damien.\u00a0 He\u2019s ugly<\/span>.\u00a0 Skinny bowed legs.\u00a0 Scruffy fur.\u00a0 Can\u2019t imagine coming to love him.\u00a0 But I remember how Jo loved Biscuit, and she was an ugly little thing.\u00a0 She had character.\u00a0 I can\u2019t tell if Damien has character.\u00a0 Karen said he had an \u201cattitude.\u201d\u00a0 I\u2019m not sure I want a dog with \u201cattitude.\u201d\u00a0 Though I suppose you could say that Bella had \u201cattitude.\u201d<\/p>\n

Well, I\u2019m totally relaxed now, instead of terrified as I was yesterday.\u00a0 I don\u2019t love Damien, but I don\u2019t think I see enough to know who he really is, and that\u2019s what I need to be able to love him.\u00a0 I feel a little more certain that love will come, than that it won\u2019t.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been reading Rob Bell<\/a>, reminded that Jesus came to the poor and outcast, to the ugly, and traumatized, and fearful.\u00a0 So this may be my part of Jesus\u2019 work.\u00a0 Rescuing an unloved and damaged dog is no different than reclaiming a polluted river.\u00a0 It\u2019s all a part of Tikkun Olam<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m all alone with Damien.\u00a0 Karen has gone out.\u00a0 He\u2019s mostly on his bed, except when I put out treats.\u00a0 He\u2019s looking much more attractive to me this morning, his eyes are softer.\u00a0 He\u2019s also clear when he\u2019s had enough.\u00a0 When he takes the treat from my hand, after being coaxed with several treats on the floor between us, he goes back to his bed.\u00a0 Then I ignore him for a while, reading Rob Bell, and then I put out more treats.<\/p>\n

I got up to go to the bathroom, and while I was gone he came over to smell my bag and the other stuff I\u2019ve left on the floor.\u00a0 When I came back out he retreated to his bed.<\/p>\n

\"damien\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Monday<\/p>\n

Painfully lonely.\u00a0 It\u2019s hard waking up in a place with no people.\u00a0 No other living being.\u00a0 Funny thing, when I got home last night I missed Damien. \u00a0I go to pick him up next Saturday. \u00a0I’m hopeful, but trying not to have expectations. \u00a0It make take him a while to feel safe in a new place.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Saturday I went to see Damien again, hoping that if he gets a little familiar with me, the transition to my house won\u2019t be so hard.\u00a0 But it was a little disappointing.\u00a0 He was grumpy when I got there, possibly … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4490","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-present-day","category-trauma"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jennydeupree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4490","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jennydeupree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jennydeupree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jennydeupree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jennydeupree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4490"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jennydeupree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4490\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jennydeupree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jennydeupree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jennydeupree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}