I know many wonder how we come up with the names that we do for the dogs. We try to make each one special and unique with lots of meaning.

I am calling this girl BHRR's Salem and for a number of reasons, 1) Salem Witch Trials and 2) that we are around Halloween and, 'witches' are very much part of the vocabulary during this time also.

The Salem witch hunt began in January 1692 and many were “trying to survive". Starting from that moment when the group of young girls accused three women of bewitching them, the Salem witch trials left a long paper trail, including transcriptions of dramatic examinations; false confessions, after people realized that confessing was the only way to avoid the gallows; indictments and death warrants; and petitions by friends and family members of the accused. With the additional recent small pox epidemic and the threat of attack by warring tribes, this created a fertile ground for fear and suspicion.

BHRR's Salem's own story can run a parallel journey to the above:
1) She was just trying to survive herself
2) She was falsely accused of being aggressive and, then convicted of said crime by being placed in a terrible rural high kill shelter
3) She was being sentenced to death for a crime that she did not commit
4) She was the one wrongly labeled as the 'witch' in this witch-hunt of trying to pass on to others, what her O.(s) should have been held accountable for
5) She was given this false label and death sentence for her byber to save face with friends and family
6) The fear and suspicion of dark dogs being evil and, mean was being kept alive with her falling under the BBDS
7) She was abandoned by the very system and people that should have been there for her, protecting her, taking care of her
8) Her basic needs were neglected and, she was abused….and tortured.
 

**The court was disbanded by Governor William Phipps in October of that year. The Superior Court of Judicature, formed to replace the "witchcraft" court, did not allow spectral evidence. The new court released those awaiting trial and pardoned those awaiting execution. In effect, the Salem witch trials were over.**
1) BHRR's Salem's 'witch trial' is now over thanks to her angels and, she was 'pardoned' by the shelter.
 

***As years passed, apologies were offered, and restitution was made to the victims' families***
1) It is my commitment to BHRR's Salem that I offer for the duration of her whole life my apologizes for how she was treated and kept her past – the victim of greed and neglect and abuse.
2) It is this same commitment plus dedication to BHRR's Salem that I will spend my life making restitution to her and, to all those I can that are equal victims plus their families(pups, siblings, parents, grand-parents etc.)

****The parallels between the Salem witch trials and more modern examples of "witch hunting" like the McCarthy hearings of the 1950's, are remarkable.****
1) AND, there are equal similarities through history of dogs over and over and over again, being falsely accused of being vicious, evil, aggressive and, labels also attached to their colour or size.
2) AND, there are equal similarities through history of dogs over and over and over again, being used for greed and, what should be their fundamental rights of deserving proper food, shelter, protection, love instead of neglect, abuse and deprivation.

BHRR's Salem's name is one of strength, survival, remembrance of what truly should be a priority in our lives, to seek, question and search out the truth, not to blindly follow or simply believe the accusations that are made by others. AND, that said truth be garnered through proper means, and, that said truth to be the real truth, and, nothing but the truth. That appearances are not indicative of the real nature of one. That prejudices against colour, age, size, race, religion is wrong……..

I could keep writing a Gwennie Novel on this one, yet, I think and hope, that people 'get it'.