CAP Puppy Wash

Recently I experienced my first CAP puppy wash. I was a little apprehensive because two cats reign supreme in my house. Plus I haven’t had any real contact with dogs since my kids grew up a long time ago. Seventeen pups were listed to be washed, towel dried, nails trimmed and smelling ready to meet their new families. The puppies were tagged to go.

Since I was the new volunteer not knowing just what to do, I picked up the pups one at a time from the incoming pen, held them, petted them and generally calmed them before placing them into the bath. Two people that knew what they were doing took over.
I think that each pup was happy to have personal touch and soothing since most of these were abused or abandoned animals. Sometimes both. If holding these pups reassured them that someone cared, it put me back in touch with how loving a puppy can be. My heart went out to a particular few that looked into my eyes with expressions that made me want to take them home with me. Alas, they were spoken for.

I graduated from holding to towel drying. Ah. There’s something special about towel drying a dog, like towel drying a young child after a bath. An invisible bond forms that lingers in my thoughts after the dogs have been loaded up into the van, ready to leave North Carolina and I’m home playing with my cats. But I’m thinking of those pups tugging at my heart.