Week 5, Days 4 & 5: Is it really over?!

I cannot believe the internship is over. Everyone said it would go by so fast and they were absolutely right. The final couple days were pretty tough. I spent a lot of my time outside of work working on my projects. In the end, I ended up doing research for Dr. Frank, bonding rabbits, making a pamphlet about bonding rabbits, and making a silly little video of bonding rabbits. It was definitely a rush to get it all finished in time!

On Thursday morning, I actually was quite sick, so I had to call in to work and let them know I couldn't make it. I was so disappointed because I was scheduled to work in an area that I love. I was feeling a bit better by afternoon, but mostly I felt that I just had to go in to work because it was Pepsi's last training class and I didn't want him to miss it. He was a really good boy, despite the rain and construction noise in Tara's Run. He even did his new trick (spin) with a lure. I was so proud of him. He's come so far in 5 weeks and our bond is unlike any I've had with another dog.

On Friday, I worked from home doing research for Dr. Frank. I'm really excited that I was allowed to do this through my internship because it is basically my dream job. Dr. Frank is amazing to work with and his studies are really interesting. I'm sure I'll continue to do a little more work here and there for the project just because I keep receiving e-mails about it!

The interns had a pizza lunch and I think for a lot of us it was starting to slowly hit us that this was the end. We only had one more shift left!

For my last shift, I took Pepsi on an outing. He was a bit stressed and distracted, probably due to a major change in weather. Mostly, he just wanted to sit on my lap. That was fine with me. I hugged him a lot, told him repeatedly how much I loved him, and then had the hardest time in the world bringing him back to his run. His caretaker said she'll keep me posted on his status and I really hope that my goodbye to him was not an actual goodbye, but a see you later. I miss you, Pepsi!

We ended the afternoon by gathering in the conference room and each intern presented their projects and some of their reflections and thoughts on the internship. The general consensus was that it was absolutely amazing, life changing, and tough to leave. I think we probably had the best possible group of people in our internship session and it was really hard to say goodbye to all the friends who I'd shared this amazing experience with.

I'll write some further reflections later, but I want to give it a little space as I transition back to my life in Minnesota. Plus, I'm too sad to write about it right now because I miss everything and everyone so much!

Week 5, Days 1-3: Oh my heck!

This post is entitled "Oh my heck!" because that's my favorite saying around here in Southern Utah. And, oh my heck, have I ever been busy lately! So you're getting three days in one blog post...

Monday

On Monday, I had my last shift in Horse Haven. I am sad that I won't be working there anymore, but I had a fantastic last day there. I got to say good morning to Squeaky the office pig:

And then I headed out to help muck the pastures. This pretty much sums up life in Horse Haven:

The best part of the day was when I got left in charge of the volunteers and got to drive Ruby (the 4-wheeler-type thing) from pasture to pasture! It was a bit of a rough ride for my poor passengers at first, but I got the hang of it:

We also got to go on an amazing tour of the canyons, where I saw my first petroglyphs. It was just a wonderful morning.

I spent my afternoon in Rescue Village, bonding rabbits and working on my project, finalizing my informational pamphlet on rabbit bonding. It was a productive afternoon.

Tuesday

Tuesday morning was spent working from home on my research for Dr. Frank. I'm still so thrilled that I have the opportunity to assist on the exact type of research I've always wanted to do. I'm getting a really good response from my work so far, so I'll be spending Friday morning working on that as well. I headed into Rescue Village after lunch and bonded rabbits again. The fab four, as I liked to call them, were doing great at bonding in their small indoor pen, but that changed a bit today, which I'll get to in a moment. If you ever wonder what I do at work, I spend hours sitting in rabbit pens:

Wednesday

Today was a really great day. My morning shift was an outing with Pepsi. He's seriously the sweetest, cutest dog on the planet! Everyone loves him, and once again, I couldn't make it through town without getting stopped a few times because of his celebrity status. We had a really great time and I started teaching him his trick for tomorrow's obedience class. I decided on "spin" because he follows the lure of a treat really well. He had a gift for me when I got there today, which was the sweetest thing ever: he gave me a t-shirt with his big ol' head printed on it! Pepsi and I had a great morning and did a variety of things. Here he is fishing in the pond by the Welcome Center and then trying to eat his entire bag of treats!

This afternoon, I spent my final shift at Rescue Village. I have really come to love the animals and staff there, so it was a difficult goodbye. The day was rather eventful as I took my four rabbits that I'm trying to bond outside for the first time into a bigger pen. It did not go well. At all. There were so many fights I couldn't keep track of it. I was disappointed that they all couldn't get along, but we were able to keep two of them out to see if they could bond together without the others. In order to assist in the bonding, I stressed them by placing them in a crate and driving them around on a motorized cart around the parking lot. They bond over their shared experience when that happens. Here they are in their cart:

Even though I didn't love the thought of stressing them, I have to say they were nearly letter perfect after that! I took them back to the indoor bonding area and they relaxed together. Luckily the rest of the afternoon was uneventful!

I can't believe I only have two days of work left before I leave here. I love it so much and I've met the most incredible people. I truly feel like I have family here now and I've been really enjoying my work and spending time with my Kanab family and friends after work. That makes keeping up a blog pretty tough, but I'll do my best for the final few days here. I'll have plenty of time to catch up on the plane ride home if I get behind again...

Week 4, Day 4: Maggie's and Pepsi

Today's been a great day because I got to work my morning shift in my favorite area of DogTown, Maggie's, and then work with Pepsi this afternoon. I love working in Maggie's because there is such a focus on training there. The caregiver is fantastic and the dogs are absolutely wonderful. I enjoyed getting to feed them while working on behavior and then walk several of them. They each get a report on how their walk went and any behaviors they exhibited.

There was one dog who particularly touched my heart today. His name is Peek-a-Boo. He's a recent addition to Best Friends, as he was found just months ago tied up in the nearby Peekaboo canyon. Worse than being tied up and abandoned, he also had severe blunt force trauma to his head. It was described to me as clearly intentional and the weapon was something like a baseball bat. This type of story makes me so sad, but so grateful that Best Friends exists. Peek-a-Boo spent the first bit of his time at Best Friends at the Vet Center. He was shut down to humans - not acknowledging our existence. He has come a long way in a couple months. He now interacts with humans and even knows "sit" and "down." He's an amazing and gentle dog. He is still very fearful if you try to touch his head (or in my case, put both a collar and a halter over his head). But he did not lash out at me at all. Once we got past putting things near his head, we enjoyed a wonderful walk together. Here he is doing sit and down on his walk:

He's skin and bones right now but he's finally getting the love and care that he needs at Best Friends. He will make an unbelievably wonderful family dog and I can't wait for him to have his happily ever after.

Thursday lunches are always awesome because different departments throughout the sanctuary share stories of what's going on in their areas. Today, the rabbit update was about bonding and they featured pictures of Benjamin and Fargo that I helped bond in the past couple weeks! There were great stories from every department, and it's always inspiring.

After lunch, it was time to pick up Pepsi and take him to his training class. I get so much joy when I see him and spend time with him. He did amazingly well in class today! He hardly barked at all, and if he did get distracted by another dog, all I had to do was say his name and he would re-direct his focus right back to me. We worked on "sit," which he now can do with only a verbal command, and "down," which he can sometimes do with just a verbal command, but still usually needs a hand lure. We had fun learning to do "Puppy Push-ups," where the dog goes into a sit, then a down, then a sit, and a down, and so on. Pepsi loved doing them! Next week for our last class together, I'm supposed to teach Pepsi a trick. I know he's amazingly smart, so I hope I can come up with something clever and teach it to him in time. 

Pepsi and I spent some quiet time together after class. We usually don't go out and do something very stimulating because class is already over-stimulating for him. We enjoy snuggling together and I tell him what a good boy he was in class and how proud of him I am. After spending some time with him, I put him back in his run. It hit me like a ton of bricks that I only have one more week left with him. I've fallen completely in love with him and formed a strong bond. As I was saying goodbye to him today and he was looking at me through his door, still wagging his tail in hopes I'd stay and play, I teared up knowing that I would have to say goodbye forever next week. I can't stand the thought of abandoning him. He's in a wonderful place at Best Friends, but this boy needs to be in a home! Somebody please adopt him! Here he is in his run as I said goodbye this afternoon:

It was a bittersweet end to my day, but I look forward to the time I have left at this amazing sanctuary!

Week 4, Day 3: Pepsi, Clinic, and Bunny Bonding

Unfortunately, I do not have any good pictures from today, as my point-and-shoot camera has died. Well, the lens has died anyway, so it may not be working for a while. I'll do my best to post pictures from my iphone in the future and of course I'll bring my DSLR if I go anywhere particularly scenic.

Today's morning shift was an outing with Pepsi. We followed our usual routine and went to the training area called Tara's Run. Pepsi and I did some clicker training, he played on the agility equipment, and sniffed around. He loves Tara's Run! At one point, I was sitting on a table at one end of the building and he was at the opposite end. He decided he wanted to check in with me, so he launched into a full on sprint. Those strong little legs make him one very speedy dog! So I have a 70+ pound dog running full speed at me and he launches himself into a jump up onto the table and lands right next to me before gently crawling into my lap and slobbering my face with kisses. It was such an enthusiastic and loving moment. I know a some people would be frightened with a pit bull mix headed toward them at full speed, but Pepsi doesn't have a mean bone in his body. He's one of the gentlest souls I've met. He is proof that we should judge the dog, not the breed.

Pepsi and I spent the rest of our morning at the Welcome Center, where he met with his fan club and introduced himself to a ton of new visitors. He made friends with everyone. Some are cautious to approach him (he does have a very large head!), but as soon as they seem him sitting in my lap, giving out kisses, and calmly lying down, they all come around to love him. Most people walk straight toward him because he is so adorable and has a completely magnetic effect. I truly cannot wait for him to find his forever home.

Pepsi and I ended our morning a bit early because the interns had a tour of the vet clinic before lunch. It was very interesting to see the clinic and all of the wonderful staff and equipment that help diagnose, treat, and maintain the health of the animals at the sanctuary. On a personal note, it was a tough tour for me to take because I've had a lot of medical trauma, mainly stemming from surgical issues, so even though this was not a human hospital with humans on the operating tables, it reminded me way too much of my experiences. I prefer to stay out of operating areas whenever possible! This is why, as much as I love animals, I could never be a vet. Luckily, there are many other ways to help the animals.

After lunch, I headed up to Rescue Village to smoosh some bunnies (aka bonding rabbits). We pulled together the four rabbits that we started bonding yesterday and worked on them again today. They did really well overall. I was able to be outside their pen for the majority of the time. They ate some greens and groomed each other, and relaxed a bit from yesterday. There was one small tussle, however, that required me to squirt them with a water bottle and break up the fight. They all calmed down afterward, but I was a little disappointed in that setback. I just have to remember that bonding rabbits does not happen overnight and I need to be patient.

I was exhausted after work today and didn't feel the greatest because I'd hit my head really hard on a metal frame earlier in the day! Talk about a headache! So I've been relaxing this evening and enjoying the company of my host family. It'll be wonderful to get a good night's rest tonight and look forward to a day full of dogs tomorrow. I get to work in one of my favorite areas of DogTown in the morning, followed by training class with Pepsi in the afternoon. I am so grateful for this experience. How lucky am I to look forward to my job everyday?! The people are amazing, the setting is paradise, and the animals heal my soul. No wonder it is called a sanctuary. If it weren't for a few things that I miss a lot while I'm here, I would be applying for a job at the sanctuary right this moment with no hesitation. I know it will be a big part of my life from now on.

Week 4, Day 1: Bonding

Well, I was supposed to be doing some rabbit bonding today, but that ended up not happening, which I'll get to later. Luckily, I still had a great day and bonded with others in the process.

My morning shift was spent entirely with Pepsi. He was super excited to see me this morning and I was beyond excited to see him. I just adore this boy! First, we went to Tara's Run, the training area, because he loves it there and he can run around and play on agility equipment and get some energy out, all while feeling safe and not distracted by other dogs. We had a blast in there today, going on the teeter-totter, the dog walk, the a-frame, through a little tunnel, over a hurdle, and jumping on on all the tables. Sometime in the middle of all this fun, I pulled him aside into a smaller enclosure to work on our homework assignment from last week's training class, called "101 Things to do With a Box." Basically, we were assigned to just clicker train our dog to pay attention to the box and then gradually shape a behavior out of it. Pepsi did great: by the end of our session he knew to put his front two paws in the box in order to get a "click" and a treat!

After our weekly visit to the Welcome Center, where Pepsi goes to see his fan club, we headed into town. He did very well in town and visited with several people. One staff member even pulled off the road to come get her "Pepsi fix" when she saw us out walking. I swear, there is not a single person I meet who does not love this dog! We met man in town, who Pepsi really took to immediately and this man really liked Pepsi. I thought for a moment I might have found his match. It was love at first sight for them both. Unfortunately, this man has a cat at home and Pepsi doesn't do well with cats. I was really bummed out because they seemed like they'd make a great team.

Next, Pepsi and I decided to take a hike together. He's a very athletic dog, but this hike was much rockier than I expected, so we both were scrambling! The views toward the top were amazing though!

We bonded deeply during this hike because we had to watch out for one another. Sometimes he didn't know how to navigate the rocks, so he'd look back at me, asking me to go first and show him. Other times, he led the way through narrow paths, with a drop off just to the side of us. He was always very careful to not pull me. For example, when he would get momentum up while going down a bunch of steep rocks, he would stop at the bottom so that I could go down the rocks too before we moved on. It was really an amazing partnership. We were both in a situation that was rather harrowing and dangerous in retrospect, but we were 100% there for each other. 

At one point, the trail split, and I let Pepsi decide which way to go. Unfortunately, the decision was not the right one because after walking for a ways, the trail suddenly ended in a sandy cliff that we both began to slip down! It was really scary. After we started sliding down a few feet, we slowed a bit and I just told him to hold very still. I started to slowly move back up, without causing an avalanche of sand and then told him to slowly follow as I was able to help pull him up back onto a flat surface. He acted perfectly and I could have cried as I hugged him and told him what a good boy he was for staying calm and listening to me. 

So we ended up getting out of our scary situation with no problems. Well, there was one tiny problem in that we ran into another dog on our way down. We pulled off to the side of the narrow trail to let it pass, but Pepsi is in love with other dogs, and though I was hanging on to a significantly sized rock to brace myself against his inevitable pulling on the leash towards the other dog, Pepsi was stronger than my rock and I stumbled and cut up my hand on some rocks. No big deal though: two bandaids later, I'm as good as new.

We were both exhausted after our adventure, so we headed home just in time for lunch. This was Pepsi on the ride home:

Thank you, dear Pepsi, for all the dog fur, slobber and paw prints that now adorn my rental car! I put him back in his run when he got home and after a big drink of water (I did have water with us on the hike for him to drink), he flopped down on his side and settled in for what I presume was a very good nap. I wish I could have napped with him!

After lunch, I headed up to Rescue Village to do my bonding with the rabbits, or as I like to call it, smooshing bunnies (because sometimes you literally have to smoosh them together!). However, they were way understaffed today, so Meghan (a fellow intern) and I ended up just helping out however we were needed. It was actually a really fun afternoon. Usually there aren't two interns working in the same area, but Meghan and I both happen to be doing projects up there, so we worked together and bonded while cleaning, feeding, and watering the rabbits. Having her there made the time go by so much faster!

I was happy to see that my first pair of rabbits that I did bond are doing great together. Someone even made them a special sign:

I got home from work today and, after an exhausting day with a not-so-great night's sleep last night, I lay down on the living room floor to greet all the cats and dogs that I live with. They all piled on top of me and I ended up falling asleep! I woke up in time for dinner and I'm looking forward to going back to bed tonight!

Week 3, Day 4: Dogs, Dogs, Dogs

I haven't felt very well today. I've been having a flare up all day of some of my chronic illness issues, including an upset stomach and really bad fatigue. I didn't feel too bad this morning when I started my morning shift at the Fairway in DogTown. But the first thing I did was take a little chihuahua on a walk, and I could hardly make it through the walk. Luckily, a lot of the rest of my morning was spent socializing shy dogs, so that did not require much exertion on my part. It was really rewarding to work with a couple of dogs who would not allow me anywhere near them a couple weeks ago and watch them start to make progress. Two dogs in particular got to the point where they'd take food from my hand and allow me to pet them. I could tell it was hard on them, but I'm so proud of their progress.

One dog I worked with is named Mocha. She is such a sweet dog! I have never been able to get near her. Today I sat outside with her on a leash and I tried to feed her peanut butter, just to associate being outside with me with something good. This was how she was when we first got out there: lying as far away from me as the leash would possibly allow!

She would not eat the peanut butter from me, but if I put some on the ground near her, she'd eat it when I walked away. By the end of our time together, she ate one single lick from the spoon of peanut butter in my hand. Later, I worked with her in her run. This is when we really made progress. She flinched the first time I touched her, and tucked her tail as I pet her, but slowly over time, she started to get more comfortable. After a while, she was giving me kisses!

Success! It was a really satisfying morning. Too bad I felt sick for most of it. After lunch, it was time to pick up Pepsi for training class. He was excited to see me, which was really nice. Last week's class did not go very well because he gets too excited and distracted when he's around other dogs, but this week we worked really hard on not barking and on staying focused. He did a great job! We also all worked on loose-leash walking, which he is very good at. But I found that when he was on the road with cars, and all the other dogs from class, he struggled and wanted to pull. Every time he pulled, we stopped walking. By the end of the walk, he was doing great again.

At the end of class, a lot of what we were doing was just sitting and listening to the trainer. Pepsi has trouble with this because he wants to be doing something, especially if it involves greeting the other dogs. But we sat through the whole thing and he didn't make a peep. Granted, I was feeding him a million treats, but hey, whatever it takes! He was getting so slobbery from the treats and dirty from the dirt flooring the he got himself (and me!) totally caked with slobbery muddy dirt. Look at his paws!

After class, we have the opportunity to take our dogs on outings. Pepsi gets very stressed during class, so I personally think the last thing he needs after class is more stressful stimulation. So instead, we went somewhere quiet and sat together. He was on my lap of course. This was also good for me because I really wasn't feeling well by this time.

I was hoping to go to the Blessing at Angel's Rest tonight, which is a blessing of animals who have crossed the rainbow bridge. I actually donated money in honor of my last dog, Soda, to Best Friends and had her commemorated at their Blessing last year. So it's an emotional thing for sure, but I really wanted to go. Unfortunately, I'm just not up to it. I hate when I have flare-ups of my illness and I don't even know what really caused them. All I know is that I need to rest in bed, eat the right foods, and hope my stomach doesn't start to feel even worse! Hopefully a good night of rest will make me feel better.

Oh, and to end on a positive note: I checked in with Rescue Village this morning and my first two rabbits that I helped bond spent the night unsupervised and it went really well! They were cuddling all day today and continuing to groom each other. What a success!

Week 3, Day 1: Pepsi Explores Kanab

My morning shift today was at Dulcie's, which is the octagon in DogTown where Pepsi lives.

Because dogs in this area were rotating in and out of the dog park all day, I got to take Pepsi on an outing all morning! I was so excited to spend hours of quality time with him, in which we could bond and work on behavior and manners. Our first stop was Tara's Run, the training area right near Pepsi's run. I know he loves going to Tara's and we were lucky enough that no one else was there. I let Pepsi run around and get some of his wiggles out. Here's a video of when we first got there. Please note: I do not always talk with such a high-pitched, enthusiastic voice (oh, the things we do for dogs!).

After Pepsi explored to his heart's content, I worked with him on some of his commands. He knows "sit" very well and does it nearly every time (you can guarantee a sit if you have a treat in your hand). He does not know "down" as well, since we just started working on it last week. But we worked a little on it again today and here he is getting it right!

Pepsi loves to climb around on the agility equipment, but I had never tried to get him to jump through the hoop before. We gave it a couple tries and here's one of his attempts. Not too bad!

After resting on my lap at Tara's for a while, we decided to move on to our next stop: the Welcome Center! Pepsi just loves it there because all the staff and visitors adore him. He gets constantly petted and given lots of treats. Everyone comments on his looks and how sweet he is. I hope to take him there often so that he might meet his match for a forever home! He was much calmer there today than yesterday, despite more distractions. He even took time to stop and smell the flowers:

Next, Pepsi and I left the Sanctuary together for the first time. He's really good at riding in my car! We headed into Kanab to walk around town. Our first stop was Critter Corner, the local pet supply store. Pepsi went shopping and wanted to buy one of everything. The owner was incredibly nice and completely fell in love with Pepsi.

We kept the car parked at Critter Corner and continued to walk a few blocks into town. We passed several shops and restaurants. As it turns out, Pepsi is quite the Kanab celebrity! We could hardly walk a few minutes without someone calling out his name and wanting to say hi! There are lots of sanctuary staff and volunteers around town, so he can't go anywhere without being recognized. We also met lots of locals and tourists from all over the world and they all wanted to pet him and say hello. He was so good walking on a leash with all the distractions of town!

Our final stop was a trail right by where I'm living. I decided to take Pepsi on a walk there to stimulate him with a new environment, since I'm sure he's very familiar with the trails around DogTown.

Pepsi and I took turns leading the way on the narrow path, and he had great recall if he ever got to the end of his leash.

Before we left the trail, we stopped to rest on a bench (and of course he crawled right into my lap!) and we just enjoyed the beauty of the day and our surroundings. We were both happy to snuggle up, and Pepsi snuck in some big slobbery kisses to my face. We headed back to DogTown right before lunch and I think we both had a really great morning.

So after seeing all this, you probably want to adopt Pepsi, right? If you're interested, click here!

My afternoon was spent working in another area of DogTown and it was pretty typical. The one cool thing that really stood out in my mind was that I got to go to a vet appointment with the caregiver and one of the dogs. Best Friends is very holistic, so this dog was headed to a vet who performs chiropractic work. It was wonderful to hear how much progress he'd made since the last time she saw him. His back, hips, and neck were all doing a lot better and he only needed one small adjustment. He had gained a really healthy amount of weight since last time and his coat was gleaming. I felt really lucky to get to see all that in person.

I'm really looking forward to tomorrow, since I'll get to work with Parelli horse training, visit some special dogs, and work with rabbits in the afternoon!

Weekend Photo Blog: Zion and Pepsi

Zion National Park

Last week, the interns decided that we would go hiking in Zion National Park on Saturday. Best decision ever. It was beyond stunning and the hike was so fun (although a bit longer and more strenuous than the guidebook had led me to believe!). It was definitely a day I'll never forget. I plan to post more pictures of the hike and my entire time here in Utah on my facebook page when I've completed my 5 weeks here, but here are a few favorite pictures for now:

At the trailhead

Stunning view. I think the peak on the left is the one we summited.

We took a break in a cave. Ryan, Me, Japhy, Meghan.

Steph, Me, and Meghan

Getting ready to hike the tricky part ahead!

The options are pretty much hold on to the chains and climb, or fall off the cliff!

Gorgeous views made the climb so worth the effort!

Hard to believe we hiked all the way up from that valley!

At the summit! Ryan, Amy, Meghan, Me, Japhy

Pepsi Time

After Zion on Saturday, I thought I would be too tired and sore to go hang out with my project dog, Pepsi, on Sunday. I definitely was tired and sore, but after resting in the morning, I really wanted to go do a little work with my project dog. You know you love your job when you want to go there on your day off! So I headed over to DogTown and picked up Pepsi. I didn't know how he would do in my car or with other people, so we started out small. I took him to Angel's Overlook, which is not far from DogTown and has a nice trail and even a labyrinth. Pepsi jumped right into the backseat of my car without even hesitating. He did not like that I tied him into the back seat (he was very excited and really wanted to be in the front seat). But he calmed down quickly and I think he enjoyed the car! We took a walk along the trails and then over to the labyrinth. I was shocked at how good of a walker he is! I'm used to him pulling on his leash to greet other people or dogs, but when we were by ourselves, there was slack in the leash the whole time. He was the perfect walker! He even walked the labyrinth with me, but he did step out of bounds a few times. I don't think he quite understood the concept! Here's a picture of him sitting at the center of the labyrinth next to a rock that says, "Angels gather here."

Since he did so well with the first part of his outing, I decided to take him down to the Welcome Center in the lower canyon, so that he would meet more people. Again, he did great in the car after an initial period of excitement. We went in the welcome center and all the staff came to say hi to him. They just loved him! He made it his mission to welcome every visitor as well. He did so well! He never jumped on anyone, and I gave some people treats to give to him when he sat for them. He did it every time! I'm so proud of my boy! 

After giving him a well-deserved hug, we headed back to his home in DogTown. I will work with him again tomorrow morning. I'm really excited to continue his work with focusing on me while there are distractions. If we can make progress on that, he'll be pretty much the perfect dog. As long as you're okay with a 70 pound lap dog who will smother you with kisses! 

Week 2, Day 4: Walking dogs and the catwalk!

Today was a day full of wonderful dogs. I started out my morning in DogTown, here:

My morning was full of walking as many dogs as possible! It was a ton of walking! The dogs all had different personalities (some like to chase lizards, some want to go as slowly as possible, etc.). They were all wonderful. Here are some of the dogs I walked today (photos courtesy of Best Freinds):

Cinderella

Keystone

Aleah

Beetlejuice

Blondie

One of my most fun walks of the morning was with Diesel, a handsome, energetic, and super friendly little guy. He's still relatively new, so he needs to put on some weight and get adjusted, but he's a doll. What made me very sad about him was seeing the hack job done to his ears. A lot of dogs have their ears cropped (which I am against), but when it's done at home with scissors and no anesthesia, it makes me sick. How awful and traumatic an event that is for a dog to go through! And to top it all off, he spent the rest of his life prior to Best Friends in a crate. I want to cry for him, but then I see how happy and friendly he is now, and I am really reminded of how forgiving, resilient, and beautiful dogs really are. They have an abundance of strength within them, and I hope that someday I have even a fraction of that amazing strength in me. Here's Diesel:

After tons of walks, a volunteer and I helped to socialize a dog named Chopper, who has most likely never lived in a home environment, and is scared of people, especially if they touch him. We had a great time giving him treats for coming to us and I even got to pet him for a brief second around his collar (that's a big deal for him)! Here he is coming towards me:

After my morning shift, it was time for lunch. Given that it's Thursday, select departments throughout the sanctuary get to give updates during lunch. I love Thursday lunches. Well, this Thursday, the Welcome Center/Gift Shop got to give an update and wanted to update everyone on some new apparel for sale, so I modeled a lovely Best Friends shirt. I believe it was the biggest (and only) fashion show in Kanab, so I'm pretty sure my modeling career has officially taken off! As you can see, I chose to sport a look that shows I've been working with dogs all day, I haven't brushed my hair, put on makeup, or even put in my contact lenses. Just you wait, next season, that look will be all over the runways of NYC and Milan.

Here's a shot as I was getting ready to walk the catwalk (which included a walk around the cafeteria and a special loop around the salad bar), followed by one of me actually walking:

I also carried a Flat Buster with me down the runway to promote Strut Your Mutt!

After lunch, it was time to go pick up Pepsi for our first training session together! He is such an exuberant dog and was barking and pulling for most of class. It was a success just to have him focus on me momentarily and stop barking. He seemed to do best when his mind was engaged, rather than focused on the other dogs, so I did a lot of sits with him and even started him on down. He actually started understanding "down" really quickly, so he's a very smart guy. He just needs a little help with manners and focus. He's just so excited. His tail never stops wagging. After class, both of us were completely exhausted, so we sat outside his building and snuggled for a bit. He loves to snuggle.

After class with Pepsi, I headed to DogTown Headquarters to watch and record information for dog assessments. We saw three dogs (including Diesel) go through assessments. Many shelters use assessments as a way to test the temperament of a dog, his or her adoptability, or safety around certain situations or people. Unfortunately, many shelters use this kind of test to determine if a dog will get to live or if it will be euthanized. What's really a shame about this is that it really doesn't give a full picture of the dog. It gives a snapshot view of how the dog reacts to various stimuli while being tied up in a brand new environment with strangers. The dog could be frightened, or having a bad day and end up "failing" the test. Or there could be human error, in which, for example, a dog burps, but it is heard as a growl, and the dog "fails" again. These dogs are usually euthanized. 

At Best Friends, we are a no-kill sanctuary, so the dogs don't pass or fail the test here, and it is not used to determine if they get to live or not. It's simply one tool used in helping the caregivers and trainers see where the dog might need some help or if they're shy or scared of something in particular. All three dogs assessed today did a great job. It was really fun to watch and take notes on the dog to help the caregivers in the future.

Overall, it was an interesting and fun day and I got a lot of walking in! Luckily, I brought a ton of water to rehydrate!