Marley's Mutts Dog Rescue

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I met Matthew a few weeks ago at the animal shelter, where he was trying to get his pitbull love, Jasmine back after he was arrested for being homeless (a result of his house burning down and him losing everything). The cost to release an impounded dog is over $300 and he burst out crying when he heard the astronomical sum he would have to pay to get Jasmine back. I am so glad I was there because we negotiated with my friends at the shelter and I covered the fee to help Matthew get his beloved Jasmine back. We have been checking in often, and some Mutt Militia even got him a huge gift basket to help him get back on his feet.

I don’t really know how to say this, so I’ll just say it… About 10 minutes after we took the evening pictures of snuggle time, Matthew’s dog Jasmine (the one kissing me) was hit by a truck and killed.

Jasmine has been Matthew’s (a wounded war veteran) best friend since this chapter of his life began— how do I begin to console him? Like a friend told me, all I had to do was be there and feel with him.

Matthew and I had met up at Starbucks, like we usually do, to check in with each other and make sure things are okay on his end, and mine. I had a coffee, he had a hot chocolate, and we shot the breeze for about an hour. About 5 minutes after I left, he called me, screaming hysterically, repeating that Jasmine was dead. I drove back and came upon him and Jasmine in the middle of the street, on Ming and Ashe — he wouldn’t let anyone get near her — traffic just drove around him as he whaled with grief. I pulled her off the road and we hugged for longer than I’ve ever hugged another man. We held hands and said a prayer over her body and said goodbye to her. The police came, which wasn’t necessarily a good thing, so I loaded her into the bed off my truck and put Matthew in shotgun.

I was just going to try and bury her up at the house but as LUCK (or GOD) would have it, a soft spoken angel named Donna appeared. She heard the screams from the Vet hospital around the corner that she works night shift at. She hugged me and said that we could take her there. WHAT A GOD SHOT! That way, we could take her there to be cremated and not have to try and dig a hole in the frozen ground up at the rescue. I took Matthew home, where he’s staying, and asked him to stay close and offered the little wisdom what I could— that I loved him, and Jasmine, and that things would be okay. Things will ALWAYS be okay.

I met Donna back at the Hospital and we unloaded Jasmine’s body from my truck. Thank God for people like Donna, how wonderful to have someone like that appear, just when you need them. It turns out she’s good friends with some Mutt Militia folks (our pal Nicole) that came up to the rescue and visited this last weekend.

Say a prayer for Matthew and for Jasmine. If you don’t pray, just float a little positive energy his way and hope that he grieves strong. I don’t know why these things happen but I do know that it could have been a lot worse; I could have been too far away to help my friend and people like Donna may not have been there— but i WASN’T too far away, just 5 minutes, and Donna WAS there.

I’ll tell you one thing, I sure was happy to see Baloo tonight, when I walked in the door. I hope that this hasn’t depressed any of you and that we can all look for the good in this situation. Thanks guys. With more LOVE then ever,
Z and the Mutts

Source: facebook.com