Making a Difference: How Dog Welfare Work Taught Me to Stay in the Game

BADRAP has expanded its focus to include harm reduction. photo: BADRAP

If I had to guess, I’d bet most readers have a long list of holiday errands but are newsfeed grazing instead to distract from the angst that’s been gnawing at the belly. Am I right?

You aren't alone. Most every animal lover we know is hand-wringing about the times. The animal shelter/rescue world is navigating a growing wave of pets who are homeless or on the brink of becoming so. Because we care so deeply, the sheer volume feels overwhelming. 

What to do?  Socio-economic issues and housing shortfalls look too big to solve. Even trying to address them seems burnout-making. But before you give up on making a difference, let me share an approach our organization uses to stay on task while still maintaining some much-needed emotional resilience. 

We're a Pit Bull-focused nonprofit, deep into pet retention work, dog owner support, and general triage through BADRAP's Keep’Em Home program. Because our work includes responding to some very sad situations for both animals and people, burnout is always threatening to nip at our heels. This means we have to stay vigilant - and practical.

Our MO for staying on task during challenging times is inspired by the work of the Harm Reduction movement, whose street-smart activists work tirelessly to reduce the harm caused by drug addiction in our communities through practical programs such as needle exchanges. This may seem an odd match - drug addiction work and animal welfare woes - but hear me out.  When facing insurmountable odds, the Harm Reduction folks instruct us to focus on the effort rather than the outcome, an approach that can be usefully applied to animal welfare work or any other seemingly overwhelming challenge.

Instead of believing we have to repair every bad situation we encounter, we stay grounded by withholding judgment and taking each troubling situation at face value. We observe, we listen, and we brainstorm. And we set our sights on a different kind of goal: small but substantial improvements to reduce the harm that can follow when larger problems go unaddressed. In short, we acknowledge that, while we may not be able to fix the whole situation, our best changemaker power is in finding ways to make it a little less awful. 

Duchess got some training, gained new manners and, with them, a new home. photo: BADRAP

Here's a simple example involving the dog in the photo. Her person had planned to surrender her because she was moving to a country that bans the import of dogs who look like Duchess, causing immense heartache. We couldn't take Duchess ourselves, but we responded with a message that we wanted to help (you aren't alone, we care about your situation). But we needed more info. What's your deadline? What are your options? What are your obstacles? 

Then, we cued the deep listening. During our chat, she revealed that a friend had talked about taking over as her dog’s new mom, but that Duchess's leash reactivity was a bad mix at the friend’s apartment building so that seemed like a dead end.

Bingo! She had the solution all along. She just needed a way to click it into gear. We brought Duchess into training classes with her potential adopter to work on her reactivity. Much to our delight, Duchess gained new manners and, with them, a new home. 

You might not have bigger resources at hand, but your own individual problem-solving skills can be more effective than you know. A bag of dog food gifted to an elderly neighbor whose SSI check is late. Supplies and support for a homeless dog owner who's waiting for housing. An eye-catching Instagram page that you build for a frustrated foster caregiver who had despaired of ever getting that pup placed. It's all about the small stuff.

The world desperately needs your empathy and creative spark right now and we need you to stay in the game. Burnout generally comes from repeated disappointments when the perfect solution doesn’t arrive. But perfection can be the enemy of the good. 

To be effective, we need to stay nimble and detached from big expectations. Our job is to stay engaged as much as good personal boundaries allow, and breathe our own brand of calm compassion and service into the unhappy situations we encounter. It's as simple as that.

Screaming into the void about a FUBAR situation, especially via social media, is a huge turnoff and will send people running. But like attracts like. When you start the process of helping, other helpers notice and lend their own TLC to the situation: a donation, a special skill, a lead. Suddenly the wheels start turning, collective problem solving bubbles up, and the burden is lifted. 

This approach isn’t dependent on maxed-out nonprofits, and it's not all on you. Shared compassion is a force to be reckoned with. Once you experience it, the angst starts to lose its grip, replaced by new energy and a sense of purpose. 

As the new year dawns, we hope your heart stays protected, your inner muse brings you guidance, and that fellow helpers lean in to help keep your power banks full. If this resonates with you, please drop us a line at BADRAP - we'd love to discuss, trade notes, and collaborate. Together, we can make a difference.