Since we are Wiley’s fourth home, he is a unique case. Friends with Four Paws Rescue in Oklahoma found him as a stray; he was fostered there before being transported to Brooklyn, where he was fostered once more.
The president of the animal rescue, Leah, gave me a call, and we connected right away after I met one of the group’s other available animals and sent an email expressing how I didn’t feel the connection but would want to keep trying.
She emailed me Wiley’s image and the next day she texted me and said they had an unusual, emergency situation: they had a “return.” It struck me as a sign.
So, without first meeting him, we proceeded to pick him up from his old house and bring him to ours. He was anxious in the car and left a small gift outside the building when we arrived, but he adjusted like we were his first parents and that he was still a puppy.
He seemed to have an instant connection with me. Two days later, we signed the adoption paperwork. Because Wiley and I both experienced a lot of hardship in our formative years and are both incredibly resilient, I think Wiley and I relate to each other in a unique way.
We met at a moment when we both experienced a sense of security in the outside world. He is aware that we are a unit and that I won’t be leaving.
I came to understand how similar rescue dogs and rescued people really are as I wrote about him in my memoir, After 9/11, and it strengthened my support for the rescue movement as a whole.
COURTESY HELAINA HOVITZ
