Compassion Fatigue

I have compassion fatigue. And, it is starting to affect how I feel about rescue. I feel tired a lot. Some days, it feels like all I do is work and take care of dogs. All I hear is barking. All I smell is dogs. Like there is no pleasure to watching the dogs eat their dinners. To playing ball outside with them. To having a cuddle on the couch. To training.

It is even harder to listen politely while people make stupid excuses for giving up their dogs. We are moving and can't take him/her. We don't have the time. We can't afford it. Blah blah blah. Every animal rescuer has heard all the excuses and we all know that most of them aren't true.

The hardest thing of all is when we ask for help from others and get no response.

So, since I feel myself getting bitter and tired, I am going to have to do something about this. The shelties rely on me. My own dogs rely on me. Holly and the other sheltie rescuers rely on me. I do not want to burn out and not be able to help!

Here is a good definition of compassion fatigue:

Compassion fatigue is what we feel when we've cared for others more than ourselves, when our sense of responsibility to others has become exaggerated or out of balance.

The Animals in Our Hearts website has some great articles and links for people who have compassion fatigue.