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Wednesday, 12 September, 2007 11:52 PM
What Can an Injured Stray Dog
Teach You?
Rescuer Reveals the
Life Lessons 10,000 Unwanted Dogs Taught Her
They were the dogs no
one else wanted. The dogs with under bites and knock-kneed hind
legs. The dogs who were old or sickly. The injured or abused dogs
that some vets said were simply beyond help. They were the dogs
that taught a high-energy, Type-A personality how to tame her simmering
impatience-- along with a few other crucial lessons about success,
attitude and the overall belief that there’s a greater power
at work in the universe.
Meet Randi Berger. Her fiery red hair, headstrong determination
and precocious nature set her apart from the crowd when she was
a kid. She picked her first puppy from an animal shelter when she
was just 7 years old. Little did Berger know how she would later
look back on that day as a pivotal event in her life, fueling what
would later develop into a full-blown addiction to soulful eyes,
scruffy fur and canine kisses.
Berger, author of the award-winning book, “My Recycled Pets:
Diary of a Dog Addict,” returned to that same animal shelter
as an adult, to pick a replacement for her original dog after he
passed away. She was horrified to discover how many dogs were euthanized;
particularly the ‘unadoptable’ dogs who were older,
homely or shy. Compelled to save them all, Berger started in small
steps, rescuing dogs from shelters and bringing them home to nurture
them back to health or teach them how to trust people again. When
they were presentable, she’d arrange adoptions for them.
Sounds simple enough, right? Not exactly. You see, Berger didn’t
believe in caging the dogs. So she had to make sure the menagerie
of dogs could get along with each other. Plus, never one to shy
away from a challenge, Berger had a knack for choosing the most
difficult or unattractive dogs; which meant they’d be the
toughest to place.
“If they had buck
teeth or a broken tail, I couldn’t resist,” says Berger.
“I found that dog adoptions really honed my salesmanship skills.
My goal was to describe a dog’s personality to a potential
adopter over the phone and make them fall in love before they ever
laid eyes on the dog. And most of the time, it worked.”
Salesmanship wasn’t the only skill Berger sharpened by founding
one of the most successful animal rescues in Southern California.
She managed to reign in her sarcasm and temper, all in the quest
of achieving a goal.
“There were times I’d go to shelters and encounter uncooperative
people,” says Berger. “My natural reaction would be
to knock them down a peg with some type of biting comment. But in
trying to help the dogs, I learned how to mask that irritation.”
While anger management is a skill most of us can use, some of the
most valuable lessons Berger learned from the dogs themselves. Of
the more than 10,000 dogs that Berger rescued, she worked with many
dogs that were initially timid, hyper or unfriendly. Through her
perseverance and uncanny ability to determine the cause of the dog’s
behavior, Berger wound up transforming many ‘worthless’
strays into canine actors. Her training and obedience work paid
off with movie and TV roles for some of the dogs that shelter workers,
vets, or trainers deemed prime candidates for being put to sleep.
“The dogs would actually try to express their feelings,”
says Berger. “I had to learn to listen to them and understand
if they seemed withdrawn, it’s because they were grieving
for their owner. Some dogs that seemed destructive would change
their behavior once I started working with them and demonstrating
that I believed in them. That was a really powerful lesson about
the energy of our thoughts-- it showed me that through our thoughts
we have the ability to create a better reality for ourselves and
our pets. If I believed in them and worked with them, they believed
in themselves too. In my mind, that’s a lesson that transcends
all areas of our lives. That belief in not giving in to the negative
diagnosis that these dogs were worthless showed me that we can all
transform some part of our lives for the better.”
About the Author:
Randi Berger is the founder
of Recycled Pets Rescue, an all volunteer rescue which has saved
the lives of more than 10,000 dogs and is celebrating its 20 year
anniversary this year. She is a graduate of California State University
at Northridge with a degree in Psychology and Theatre. Determined
to save as many unwanted dogs as possible, Berger launched one of
the most respected, private, cageless animal rescue organizations
in Southern California. She also developed a unique concept that
was unheard of in her area at that time- holding open house dog
adoptions at popular local attractions. Berger also found herself
learning many of the technical veterinary procedures that the animals
required for proper care. While helping abused dogs overcome their
fears, Berger fell into a successful career of training dogs and
cats for movie work as well as for obedience training. My Recycled
Pets: Diary of a Dog Addict received a Writer’s Digest Inspirational
Award.
Source: Event Management
Services, Inc.
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