"You can't save them all"

One of the hardest parts of volunteering at an animal shelter--apart from trying to get certain pit bulls with heads the size of bowling balls to walk nicely on a leash--is accepting the fact that you can't rescue every dog that tugs at your heart.

With only two dogs in the house, we aren't at Arvada's three-dog legal limit. I'd passed on adopting the puppy mill dog the week before. But when I spotted Fawna, a tiny stray, while I was volunteering at the shelter last week, I offered to adopt her. A wise shelter worker suggested that I "foster to adopt" instead.

We renamed the five-pound mutt with the sweet face and huge ears "Orphan Annie." She proved to be smart, mostly house-broken, and a world-class snuggle bunny. She was also determined to be the alpha dog.

From the start, Annie tried to put herself between the humans and the other two dogs in the house. She literally attempted to shove Buzz and Jenny aside, a move that worked with nine-pound Buzz, but was futile with 70-pound Jenny. If Buzz was in my lap, Annie would leap on top of him to get him to move. She took toys and food right out of his mouth. Then, two days ago, while I was tossing balls for the two small dogs, Annie turned the competition to be the first to retrieve a ball into a terrifying dog fight. I couldn't get them apart by yelling, "Stop!" Finally I grabbed Annie around the hips and hauled her off Buzz.

I was stunned. In all the years of having multiple dogs in the house--our own and friends' dogs that we were dog-sitting--we've never had a dog fight.

I cried when I returned Annie to the shelter yesterday.