Kenny's Story

Good Morning/Afternoon/Evening... I think I got it all covered now.

I am writing to you from my desk, in my house, in my town... I am back home :)

My European adventure is over.  I cannot believe how fast the time went, I mean it went really really fast... have I mentioned it went by fast?  My, how time flies...

Ok I am running out of time on the time jokes :) hahahaha Ok, I will stop now, I am serious.

Anyways, when I got home, I was greeted with quite the surprise, Kenny.

Before I get to Kenny, a couple quick updates

12-12-12- event and Holidays around the world event's will be posted this week.  These will be photo event's so get your camera's ready!  :)

It is time to start thinking about what you will challenge yourself to do  in 2013.  I have an idea to help us all stay more accountable.  I am putting the finishing touches on it and should have something to share with you all in the next week or so.

My monthly newsletter comes out this Friday.  If you have not already subscribed to it, click here to do so.  It is free and full of good tips and information.  Who does not want FREE tips and information?  :)

 That is it as far as updates go, now, back to Kenny...

Meet Kenny:

When I got home, I walked into a house filled with the aroma's of Thanksgiving dinner, familiar faces, and a couple new dogs.  My housemate, seeing the surprise on my face, quickly told me that he was helping out a friend by fostering two dogs for a few days.  One of these dogs is Kenny.  As he told me Kenny's story, my heart melted.

Kenny,  was found abandoned in a field, lying in the freezing cold, bleeding to death.  Kenny was a "Bait Dog."  Bait Dog's are used in dog fighting.  This is the Wikipedia description of a "Bait Dog"

""Bait" animals are animals used to test a dog's fighting instinct; they are often mauled or killed in the process. Trainers obtain bait animals from several sources: wild or feral animals, animals obtained from a shelter, or in some cases, stolen pets. Sometimes the animals are also obtained through "free to a good home" ads. According to news reports compiled by the Humane Society of the United States, the snouts of bait dogs are wrapped with duct tape to prevent them from injuring dogs being trained for fighting. Their teeth are filed and their nails are cut until nothing is left.The dogs bite, and tear to subdue the opposing animal by incapacitating or killing it"

Bait animal, that's what Kenny was.  And apparently he had served his purpose and was discarded like a piece of trash, left to die.

When they first found Kenny, they were not sure if he would even live. He was so emaciated that his ribs were all protruding from his body.  He was covered in blood. And had dozens of scars all over his face, his neck, and the rest of his body.

I am not sure how the next part of the story goes, but from what I understand, word about Kenny got out and  a Facebook page was made about him which quickly got over 10,000 likes on it - people were trying to get him rescued before his set euthanized date which was 3 days ahead. People as far as Utah were posting about him on Facebook.  People wanted to save Kenny and help him find a home.

Kenny has been at my house for about a week now and he is one of the sweetest, most gentle animals I have ever met.  The idea of him being bound up and left defenseless while people are encouraging other dogs to bite and claw at him, breaks my heart.  I was talking with my housemate about this the other day and we both said we have not even heard him so much as whimper, let alone a bark or growl from Kenny. 

I have never known a dog that holds eye contact with you as long as Kenny does.  He comes up to you, very sheepishly at first because he is terrified he will get hurt, but despite that fear he still approaches.  Once he feels safe, he locks eyes on you and does not break eye contact, not even for a second.  You can see it and you can feel it, he wants so badly to connect with the person who is petting him.  He wants so badly to be loved and to be able to give love. 

Kenny was so abused, that he does not even know how to play.  I watched yesterday as my housemate through the ball for the other dogs and Kenny stood by and watched.  After seeing the other dogs fetch the ball, Kenny tried it himself.  The only problem, he is still not quite sure how to run, and he is still pretty weak.  So after a few laborious gallops, he had to stop.  I was amazed that he tried, and then that got me thinking...

Humans, as evolved as we think we are, we really are way behind our four legged friends, in a couple very big areas.

Kenny has experienced more pain and trauma than most people will ever experience in their lifetime.  His face and neck is nothing but one big scar.

Humans have this bad habit of taking painful experiences and giving a more painful meaning to the experience.  Dog's have a painful experience and want only the opportunity to move past it and love.  Humans hold onto the pain because the pain allows them to form an identity from it - this happened so I am not good enough, I am not loveable, I can't, I am a failure, I am stupid, etc....  You all know how that list goes.  Dogs want to let go and move past the pain because they want their identity to be as far removed from the pain as possible, they only want their identity to be associated with love.

Why do we do this to ourselves?  Why aren't we more like dogs?  What would our day to day life be like?  What would the world be like if we all acted a little more like dogs?

If you were Kenny, how would you recover?  How would you go on living?  Would you shut the world out?  Would you blame everyone and everything?  Would you fault God for letting "this" happen to you?  Would you use it as an excuse to justify why things just seem to never go right in your life?  Or, would you resolve to leave it in the past and move forward and do your very best to give love and be loved?

Kenny loves to cuddle, he loves to eat, he enjoys being around other dogs too.  He loves to hug, he likes to dance, he enjoys learning new things like learning how to play.  And, what Kenny seems to love more than anything, something he gets so excited about that he nearly wags his tail right off his body, is he LOVES to be loved, and he LOVES to give love.

Maybe that is the key for us humans - to simplify the world and focus on the things Kenny enjoys the most:  cuddling, eating, being around other people.  Giving great hugs, an occasional dance, learning new things and playing.  And, most importantly love... giving love without any expectation of it in return, and soaking up every ounce of it when it is given.

Here are a few more pics of Kenny,

I have shed quite a few tears spending time with Kenny the last few days, I think as he his healing, he is helping me heal a part of me that I did not realize, or did not want to realize, needed to heal too.

Enjoy the pics,

Carpe Diem,

Jesse

ps.  if you enjoy my photos, be sure to check out my photography site by clicking here.