Week 4

Tuesday
This morning while I was working in Puppy Preschool, one of the red pittie puppies got adopted! A young couple took Pepsi for an outing. She climbed right up in the passenger seat of their RV and looked at them expectantly, as if to say "Well, what are we waiting for?". They went straight to the adoption office to fill out the paperwork and sweet Pepsi never stepped foot in her kennel again.

This afternoon I watched another Intro with trainer Huck, and then attended a Loose Leash Walking demonstration.

Wednesday
Today is Dog Park day at the Garden, so I took Karina to the park and we played fetch. Karina LOVES her tennis ball. When she got tired or needed a drink of water, she'd put the ball under a bush and then break off branches with her mouth to cover it up. After taking a quite rest break, she'd go uncover the ball so we could continue playing. What a funny, smart girl!

In the afternoon I worked at Old Friends for the first time and it was so rewarding. Sad, too, that these older dogs have been overlooked for so long; but happy to see that they are so well-cared-for and loved by the caregivers there. Tagger had a vet appointment so I drove him over to the clinic. He needs a little help getting in and out of the car, but he sure does love to ride! Just look at this happy old guy!

I took Google for a sleepover and while he was excited to see me at first, he seemed a little "off" for the rest of the evening. He didn't drink any water, which is abnormal for him. He's usually a big water drinker. Later in the evening, we went for a short walk and saw a friendly Siamese kitty. She was about 30 feet away and when Google first spotted her, he just stopped and watched - no whining or barking or pulling on his leash. After a few seconds the kitty flopped over on her back and meowed, clearly asking for us to come over and give belly rubs! Google's ears were moving around like satellites. Then the kitty hopped up and started walking toward us, at which point I decided we should turn around (BF animals are not supposed to meet any other animals while they are away from the sanctuary). So I said, "Google let's go" and he just turned right around and followed! What a good boy!

UPDATE: Poppy, the young pup who bounces, has a pending adoption application! Go, Poppy, go! You deserve it, sweet girl.

Thursday
This morning I heard a howl that traveled all the way around Dogtown (many acres of space). It was a beautiful and spiritual experience! The dogs are usually pretty loud and amped-up in the mornings, because they are excited for breakfast. I was standing in the middle of Dogtown talking with Leesa when The Howl began and continued like a wave. It was so neat. The dogs all got quiet and seemed to be waiting for "their turn" to pitch in. I wish I had a recording to share with you.

Then I took Google to the park with this run-mate, Maiden. Whatever had Google in a "funk" last night has certainly cleared up! I have never seen him so excited to play. He doesn't fetch with me, but he throws the ball and Frisbee for himself! It's hilarious to watch: he bucks around like a baby goat, grabs the Frisbee and tosses it, then pounces on it and zooms off. The park is really big, and several times he went out of my sight. I only had to call or whistle once and he'd coming flying back, skidding to a stop at my feet and spraying me with sand. It was pretty warm out, so I filled up a kiddie pool for him and he jumped right in! Then he came right over and put his muddy paws in my lap  :o)

This afternoon I helped trainer Tamara with assessments. We assessed five dogs and it was quite surprising to see which dogs had which issues...I won't air their dirty laundry, but let's just say you sure can't judge a book by its cover! Vivian got re-assessed because she just graduated from red collar to purple collar...good girl, Viv!

Here's a picture of Google's other pastime (when he's not fencing)

He digs a hole and then puts his toys in it. Here's a close-up of the piggy...I can imagine her saying "Help me out of here!"

Friday
Started the morning off at a presentation on Quality of Life, by Dr. Frank McMillan and then participated in a Puppy Mill Socialization Class - both were very interesting! 

I spent some time with Google after lunch and once again witnessed his great self-control. A raven walked across the path about 15 feet in front of us and Google didn't even flinch. He stopped, watched the bird cross, and then we kept walking. Then a lizard ran directly under Google's nose and again, no response. Very different from some of the other dogs I've walked, who will practically dislocate your shoulder when they lunge into the bushes to catch a lizard!

This evening a lady staying in the same apartment building as me stopped by and asked if I would help her trim her sleepover cat's nails. The kitty was Juniper Blue, who is one of the 400+ cats rescued from the Nevada desert in the The Great Kitty Rescue of 2007. I helped clip Juniper's nails - she did wonderfully - and then she was SO happy that she could sit and "knead" on the bed without getting hung up. You can read about The Great Kitty Rescue here; note that there are 293 journal entries covering the story!!

Saturday
This morning I helped caregiver Jacquie and volunteer Nicky film some short videos of the Maggie's residents. Maybe some of my work will be featured on the website soon :o)

After training class this afternoon, Summer and I took Google for a golf cart ride! He LOVES riding in the golf cart. I had heard that about him, but since interns are not allowed to drive the carts, I had to wait for a time when a caregiver could join us. Here he is with the wind in his hair:

 Don't you think he has great ears? I do.

Little Red, a Vicktory Dog

Week 3 weekend (Sunday & Monday)


I didn't take Google home with me this weekend because I had a bunch of errands to run, and Best Friends pets are not allowed to be left alone (in the car or hotel) for any amount of time. So, in order to do laundry, grocery shopping, hair cut, thrift store...I thought it would be best to leave Google at the sanctuary for these two days.

So instead of reporting on Google's progress, I thought I'd share a different kind of information this weekend...

Little Red is a small, reddish-brown dog who one of the 22 Vick dogs taken to Best Friends after the Bad Newz Kennels fighting ring bust in 2007. She and Google were best buddies for about two years. Then Little Red got adopted by an amazing family. (Google missed Little Red terribly and that's when he started doing this all day.)

Click here for more information about the bust, and here for a slideshow of the dogs who went to BF.

I've met a new friend, Summer, who is one of Google's caregivers at BF. She loaned me the book titled The Lost Dogs: Michael Vick's dogs and their tale of rescue and redemption, by Jim Gorant. I'll spare you the details of the first few chapters, which describes the horrific life and death of a fighting dog. But I do want to share some other surprising facts:

• Dogs can hear a heartbeat from a distance of five feet, which gives them insight into the mood and disposition of the people and animals they come in contact with.
• Dogs can detect odors 100 million times more faint than people can.
• If two mammals are placed side by side in boxes and the first one is given electric shocks, just by listening to the suffering the second animal produces identical brain waves and nervous system activity.
• Eighty percent of dogs, even those raised in a professional fighting operation, won't even "scratch". That is, they won't even cross the line to engage with the other dog.

That's all for now. I'm sure I'll have more to share as I read more of the book. 

Week 3

Sunday & Monday
Had a relaxing weekend with Google. He told me that he likes squeaky toys the best :o) It has taken a couple weeks for Google to start playing with toys while he's with me. But his caregiver, Summer, says that he loves toys when he's at the sanctuary. She says that he digs holes and puts all the toys inside, like he's herding them all together. Here he is with a squeaky ball between his front feet and squeaky plushy between his back feet, and check out his frog legs! I snapped this picture really quickly, while he was still focused on the squeaky ball...

Monday
Worked in Puppy Preschool this morning - what a treat! SO many puppies, all cute and sweet. Messy, though! The morning cleaning routine at Puppy Preschool is much more involved than it is at the other (adult) dog areas. Check out Pepper and his siblings Shasta, Pepsi and Sunkist, the soda pop kids! They are beautiful red pibbles, with soulful hazel eyes.

Later in the morning I attended the weekly Moves meeting, during which the caregivers discuss which dogs need to be moved to a different area or run, depending on their personality and/or special needs. The meeting made me realize just how dedicated the Dogtown staff are to making sure each and every dog has the best life possible while at the sanctuary, and the best chance of having a successful adoption. The caregivers work diligently to pair up shy dogs with outgoing dogs (the shy pups learn confidence from their more outgoing run-mates); big dogs with little dogs (helps them learn that they can play and be pals with dogs of all sizes); and girl dogs with boy dogs. This detail-oriented attention ensures that the dogs are well-rounded and can live with all other types of dogs.

I had the honor of having lunch with one of Best Friend's founders, Faith Maloney. Faith is such an interesting and genuine person. It was nice to put a face and personality with the name that I've heard so often and read about in the Best Friends media.

This afternoon I shadowed trainer Huck while he did some "Introductions", during which new arrivals meet their potential run-mates. It was very informative and interesting. Huck possesses the valuable ability to accurately interpret a dog's mood and take the necessary actions to avoid fights or bullying.

Wednesday
This morning I worked in Octagons 1 & 2 in old Dogtown. I walked a couple of dogs and then took Kylie for a car ride. We drove out to Angel's Overlook and saw the Labyrinth.

Kylie loves car rides! She sits very politely in the back seat and watches out the window intently. You can't tell from the pictures, but she has one light-brown/gray eye and one dark brown eye.

Later in the morning I attended a Puppy Mill presentation by Dr. Frank McMillan. Again, I found the presentation very informative and inspiring. Click here for a great article regarding puppy mill dogs.

This afternoon I worked at Dulcie's, where I experienced my first injury at Best Friends. While walking Bentley, or rather while he was walking me, his chain leash (because he chews through fabric leashes) got tangled around my hand and ripped my pinky fingernail away from my finger. It didn't look too bad, but oh-my-gosh did it HURT!

I couldn't get sweet Kylie off my mind, so I took her for a sleepover. I know you guys are probably getting tired of hearing me say this, but what an awesome dog!! When Kylie came to Best Friends, she had a severe case of mange and heartworms. She's been treated for both, but her skin is still pretty itchy and scaly in places. Her belly is completely bare, but she's not shy about showing it to you - she loves belly rubs!

Thursday
This morning I worked in Deja Lodges, which is the "sister" area to Angel Lodges, where I worked last week. Like Angel Lodges, the Deja dogs all live alone and many are red-collared. Caregiver Josh was a pleasure to work with, and he introduced me to his project dog, Yuma. (She looks a lot like Kylie, but as far as we know, they are not related.)

This afternoon I worked in Octagons 3 & 4, which is where Google lives. Today was their Park Day, meaning they are allowed exclusive use of the off-leash park in Dogtown. It was so cool to take the dogs to the park and let them be off-leash. Once they realize they are untethered, they zoom around, playing with each other, and bringing tennis balls to be thrown.

I took Google home for the night, and we worked on our camera exercises (i.e., trying to get over his fear of the camera). I put my camera in a Ziploc bag, and put it in the bottom of his food bowl. He had to eat his dinner while looking at the camera. Then I gave him high-value treats (jerky or pepperoni) on the camera. He very hesitantly ate his dinner and treats this way, but at least he did it! Remember the last picture of him looking at the wall? Here he is, after a teeny bit of progress; notice how his ears are flattened and his head is lowered, both signs of stress  :o(

Friday
This morning I worked at the Clubhouse again, where caregiver Tom was in charge of two buildings by himself; with 10 runs and about 25 dogs, that's a daunting task! Two volunteers and I helped Tom with the morning feeding, cleaning, and dog-walking. Tarlton was one of my most memorable walkers; his profile picture perfectly capture his charming, nonchalant personality. After our walk, we chilled in the back of my car while a visiting group finished their tour of the building. (He wears the muzzle harness to prevent pulling; he gets a bit over-excited at walk time.)

This afternoon I worked at the Fairway and then took Puppet (from the Clubhouse) for a sleepover. Puppet is a Boston Terrier mix, full grown adult female. She looks like a 3-month old lab puppy, though! This adorable girl had cherry eye (third eyelid prolapse) in both eyes when she arrived at Best Friends. One of the vets here did surgery to repair the condition, but unfortunately the sutures failed in one eye and the prolapse returned. I believe (hope) she's scheduled for a second surgery soon, because the condition causes the eye to be chronically inflamed and painful.

Just look at this profile! Doesn't she look like a puppy!??

Puppet weighs about 15 pounds. These photos don't do her justice. She is a very happy, very outgoing girl (she looks a little sad in these pics). Puppet was sleeping on my bed while I was sitting at my desk, and she hopped down, came over to me and politely asked if she could please sit in my lap? Puppet will fall asleep and snore softly if you give her chest and belly rubs.  Here's another photo with my flip-flop beside her, just to give perspective.

Saturday
Woke up to snow this morning! Puppet was shivering in the cold and asked to be carried to the car in a blanket  :o)

Started out as just a slight dusting but it continued throughout the morning and until about 4" had accumulated. It was pretty windy, too, which turned the snow into sideways-blowing little zingers that really sting the eyes. I worked at Maggie's again this morning and thankfully, the doggies said "no thanks" to their regular walks. We did take them on short walks up to headquarters, though, just so they could have a break from their run and meet new people in the headquarters lobby.

By the afternoon, the snow had stopped and the melting had begun...I'm really glad I'm off the next two days so that I'll miss all the red mud that will result from the melt-off.

After lunch we had our third training session with Huck and our project dogs. This time, we brought each dog in for a short training session separately, so they could be off-leash. It took Google a few minutes to "warm up", but then he really had a great time zooming around the training arena. I have to be careful, though, because he tends to start humping when he gets too riled up. Oops.

At the end of the day, my shoes and pant legs showed the results of walking in snow and then training in the sand:



I can't believe week 3 is already over! Time flies when you are having fun!

Week 2

Sunday
My first weekend during the internship...and I'm sick :o(  With the change in climate, altitude, and getting used to "working" again, I guess I overdid it. Woke up this morning with chills, aches, coughing and sneezing. I got up to let Google out for a potty break, and to give him breakfast, and then we went back to bed! This was pretty much what we did all day...eat, sleep, potty break, repeat.

Last night, Google woke up with a start and was panting fairly rapidly. He seemed worried or anxious. I could hear a dog whining in the yard behind my apartment (not in a painful way; in a puppy-ish way) and I figured that's what Google was hearing. He calmed down pretty quickly and went back to sleep.

Today Google showed a little more personality. Several minutes after he had finished his breakfast, he came back to check his empty bowl again, and turned it over with his foot. He seemed to be amused by the racket it made while spinning upside down on the floor. When I didn't look at him or respond to the noise, he walked over to the closet area and picked up one of my flip-flops. He dropped it immediately when I just looked at him - I didn't even have to say anything! He seemed to be just trying to get my attention. After I petted him and talked to him for a few minutes, he hopped back on the bed and napped.

Monday
I'm still sick, so I spent most of the day in bed again.

Early this morning, Google woke up and growled two small growls. I couldn't hear anything out of the ordinary, and he settled down quickly.

While I was on the phone with my mom, Google decided to play with a squeaky toy! Again, it was like he was trying to get my attention. When I continued to talk on the phone, he picked up a shoe. He's definitely got a mischievous streak!

Tuesday
When I returned Google to his caregiver this morning, I finally saw his "happy dog dance". I hadn't seen it previously and was beginning to wonder if there was actually a happy dog in that skinny little busy-body. He whined and jumped up to hug caregiver Betsy, and wagged his little nub-tail. It was super cute and it made me happy to witness it.

Betsy gave me an update on Jango and it's not great news. Jango is anemic and refuses to eat, so he's probably going to need a blood transfusion today or tomorrow. He's still recovering in the clinic. Of course this news made me cry again...I just can't imagine that my sweet Google, who just did a happy dance, could have hurt another dog.

I was still feeling very weak and sore from being sick, so I took the day off and went back to bed after returning Google to the sanctuary.

Wednesday
Today I worked in Conrad's & Leopold's, which is another area of Dogtown. Caregiver Marla was great to work with, and I met lots of dogs! A fun but exhausting day. I decided to go straight home and eat chicken noodle soup and get more rest, so I didn't take Google with me tonight.

Thursday
This morning I worked at Angel Lodges, where all the dogs have their own run because they do not get along with other dogs. Several of the Michael Vick pit bulls are there; they are affectionately referred to as Vicktory dogs. Many of the dogs at Angel Lodges are also red-collar, meaning that only staff members can interact with them. (Green collar means anyone can interact with them, and purple means only people 18 or older.) Despite the red-collar restrictions, I was still able to meet several very sweet dogs, including Garbanzo. He's a 12 year old pit mix who loves people but cannot live with other dogs. His joints are worn-out and loose, so he's quite wobbly.

This afternoon I worked at the Clubhouse - met many great dogs and caregivers!

Picked up Google for a sleepover and he was excited to see me! He did his happy dance again, and whined when I hugged him. I tried to take a video of him, but he would have nothing of it. Here's what he does when he sees the camera:

Friday
This morning I attended a presentation on Best Friend's Trap-Neuter/Spay-Return (TNR) program. It was very informative and inspiring. Click here for an article on the TNR program.

After the presentation, I had a free hour to spend with Google. I picked him up and we went to the Welcome Center, where we just sat and people-watched. He greeted several people and then sat contentedly with me until two children (a boy about 6 yrs old and a girl about 10 yrs old) came running through the lobby. At that point Google completely shut down. He pulled against his leash to get behind the front desk, where he laid down and stared at the wall. The children did not attempt to come over to meet him, but if they had, I would have stopped them. Google was not acting aggressively at all; he just seemed very wary of the kids' presence.

In the afternoon I worked at the Garden, where I met Poppy. She is a young Pointer mix who survived both distemper and parvo as a puppy. She sustained neurological damage that makes her "bop" or bounce when she's standing still. She doesn't really seem to notice that it's happening, and therefore doesn't seem to be in any pain at all. But to watch her "bop" is absolutely the CUTEST thing I have seen at Best Friends so far. I wish I had a video for you [UPDATE - click here for a video!]. Poppy is the sweetest girl; loves people of all ages and has great doggy manners. She reminds me of my sister and brother-in-law's dog, Tinky (don't you think, sis?).

Since I spent time with Google this morning, I took a different dog for a sleepover tonight. Bastian is an awesome dog, and such a clown! Bastian's goal is to do whatever you want him to do. He constantly looks to you, asking "What next?". My friend Kari would say he has "people eyes".

Bastian LOVES stuffed toys, but unlike most dogs his size, he doesn't tear them up to extract the squeaky. He picks them up gently and sucks on them, almost like he's nursing. It seems to be a source of comfort for him, so who am I to stop him? Here he is, in a blissful trance:

Isn't that an adorable spotted nose? So cute. He also knows sit, down, and roll over! Click here for a video of his tricks.

Saturday
This morning I worked at Maggie's, where training is the name of the game. There are only 11 dogs here, and each one has a specific training need. Rango is very shy and "spooky barks" if you make eye contact with him. Tahiti is a beautiful sweet girl, who needs to learn that she's not the only doggy in the world (jealousy issues). I really enjoyed working with caregiver Jackie and all the dogs here.

This afternoon we had our second training session with trainer Huck and our project dogs. We worked on "leave it" and "come". Google's doing great! After the session Google and I went home for our second weekend together.

Week 1

Our internship work-week is Tuesday through Saturday, so our first day of internship was Tuesday, March 27.

Tuesday
We started off with a driving tour of the whole sanctuary, followed by more in-depth walking tours of the animal areas. The driving tour was very informative and a great way to get the "whole picture" of how the sanctuary is laid out on the acreage. The walking tour started at cat headquarters (a new building just completed in 2011), where we met Rio, a sweet little female tabby who is rehabilitating her hind quarters.

From cats, we headed over to Horse Haven, which shares facilities with Piggy Paradise, and also houses the goats and sheep. Here we met Lambert, a humongous sheep who lives with the goats in the new barn (also completed in 2011). Lambert's head comes up to my rib-cage when we stand side-by-side. And with his 5+ inches of wooly hair, he's pretty intimidating! After he head-butted Leesa (intern coordinator) in the hip and knee a couple of times, I decided I would admire him from outside the fence. He must have sensed my apprehension because he came right over to the railing and sneezed in my face. Slimy, black, gritty snot, on my clothes, face and sunglasses. Thanks, Lambert.

Wednesday
Started the morning with puppy socialization class - so much fun! Not for the faint of heart, though. It gets really loud and chaotic in the puppy classroom! I worked with a little blond gal named Dollie, who was shy at first but warms up really quickly. She is so tender and sweet and gentle with taking treats.

After puppy class, we had lunch at Angel Village. Check out the view from the cafeteria! Breathtaking!

This afternoon I worked at the Fairway in Dogtown Heights. There I met sweet, shy Mallory, and decided to take her on a sleepover with me for the night. Mallory reminds me of Katie and Missy's foster dog, Shelby, and also of my parents' dog, Sioux.

Sadly, I don't think Mallory had much fun on our sleepover. She huddled on the bed all evening, shivering whenever she heard a new noise (the faucet running in the bath tub terrified her). She finally did relax a little after I turned off all the lights and went to bed. Poor thing didn't eat, drink, or use the bathroom the whole time I had her.

Thursday
After returning Mallory to the Fairway, it was time to select my project dog! Huck, one of the trainers, had put together a list of adult dogs who he thought would benefit from some extra one-on-one work with an intern. There were five dogs on the list and my co-intern, Michelle, immediately new which one she wanted to work with. Brindie and Blain are both beautiful young dogs who would be a lot of fun to get to know. However, they both seemed very 'normal' to me and have the very likely possibility of being adopted quickly (indeed, Blain has an adoption application pending!). Keystone is a lovely, beautiful girl, who's been known to break up fights between other dogs. Such a sweetheart. Her main "issue", however, is that she is a very skilled escape artist. This scared me, since I'm staying by myself in an apartment located right on a busy highway. So even though I would have loved to work with Keystone, I felt that her flight-risk (and potential injury risk) was too great for me to comfortably take on at this time.

Google was the last pup on the list, and when we met, we just clicked. He greeted me with licks and ear-nibbles and Leesa said, "Google's it! He's choosing you!" Google's main issue is that he obsessively "fences" all day long. He runs back and forth at the fence line of his area. His running has worn a 2-ft-wide by 1-ft-deep rut along the length of the fence. His toenails are worn down to little nubs, and he's missing one back toenail altogether. More on Google later, but now, on to the rest of the day...

Later in the morning we toured Wild Friends and Parrot Garden. While I really respect the work that goes on here, I have to say, I'm just not a bird person. The parrot houses were SO LOUD, I seriously needed ear plugs. The coolest wild animal is a little black mink...I forget his name...but is was pretty cute.

After lunch I worked at Horse Haven. I spent the afternoon riding around in an off-road golf cart with horse caregiver/cowboy Ron and his huge white lab, Cody, shoveling horse poop in all the pastures. Ron's a super easy-going guy, and after we were finished mucking, he took us to see some native ruins and a cool hidden lake. Neat stuff!

When it was quittin' time at Horse Haven, I went back over to Dogtown to pick up Google for our first sleepover. A bit later, Google and I attended a blessing at Angel's Rest. It was very emotional. I cried a lot. A few nice folks tried to introduce themselves and chat but I just cried, thinking of all my pets who've passed away: Rascal, Bigfoot, Chelsea & puppies, Blinky, Star, Brows, Calico, Sandy, Kojak and Norm. Rest in peace, my sweet friends.

Here's a picture of a very small portion of Angel's Rest. The cemetery covers at least a couple of acres, if not more. Each one of the green tags marks a pet's grave. The wind chimes are hung throughout the cemetery and make a beautiful, peaceful song in the breeze.

Google seems to seek out men for attention. There were many people at the blessing, but he specifically picked out several tall, bearded, older gentlemen and asked for pats and belly rubs from them. There were a few dogs at the blessing as well, and Google noticed them but didn't seem to be very intent on meeting them.

After the blessing Google and I came back to my apartment and settled in the for the night. I quickly learned that he is very wary of my camera. As soon as he sees it - whether it's on or off - he just shuts down. Looks away, moves away if he can, and stares at the wall.

Poor little guy is super skinny. He runs off all his calories fencing all day. Hopefully I can help him learn how to relax a bit! We had a pretty uneventful first night. He did sleep well, but didn't drink any water or go potty  at all.

Friday
Today was stressful and sad. After I dropped Google off at his area this morning, I headed over to Cat World to work in Colonel's Barracks. Mid-morning, Leesa showed up to tell me that Google had been in a really bad fight. Google seemed to be okay but Jango was in really bad shape and was in the clinic. I'm devastated that my sweet Google could have been in such a bad fight, and I feel terrible that Jango got beat up so badly. The fight happened while no caregivers were in the building, so nobody knows exactly what happened or "who started it".

Later in the morning I attended a Parelli Natural Horsemanship demonstration back at Horse Haven. It was an incredible learning experience! I've ridden horses a handful of times in my life, and I always had the feeling that the horses' behavior was dictated by fear. It was super neat to see the Parelli demonstration, in which the horse and the trainer communicated with each other so effectively and calmly.

After lunch I worked in Piggy Paradise, which was fun but also a bit ridiculous :o) The pigs are huge, and stubborn, and slightly bratty. I walked a few different pigs, including Sprocket and Scott. Took us about 45 minutes to go 1/8 of a mile, and it took two buckets of treats just to get them to go that far! I'm pretty sure they consumed more calories than they burned on that walk! Scott's run-mate, Lizzy, was not feeling well and she opted to stay in her pen while Scott walked. It was pretty cute to see Scott deciding between going for a walk or staying with Lizzy.

The vet instructed Google to rest at the sanctuary tonight, so he wasn't allowed to come with me for a sleepover. I'm still torn up about the fight. It's so upsetting.

Saturday
This morning I worked with Rabbits at Rescue Village, home to several hundred bunnies from The Great Bunny Rescue in Reno, Nevada. Click here for a video about life at the village and here for the story about the rescue. Sadly, many of the bunnies have paralyzed back legs, as a result of having a fungal infection called Encephalitozoon Cuniculi (E. Cuniculi).

After lunch, we had our first training class with trainer Huck and our project dogs. Unfortunately, our dogs are not allowed to interact because 1) they do not live in the same area and 2) Google is not allowed to meet any new dogs for a while since he just had a fight. The session went great; Huck introduced us to clicker training and we practiced a few basics including "look at me" and "sit". Google is very treat-motivated and intelligent, so he learns really quickly :o)

After the training session, we met with Leesa to "de-brief" and then our first week as interns was over! Google got to go home with me again, and he'll be staying with me until Tuesday morning.

Back to the Start

So. Here I have created a blog as a tool to document this journey. But where to start? Really, this journey started in May of 2010 because of...facebook. Good ol' facebook.

Wait. Let's back up another 30 or so years. I have loved animals, of all kinds, all my life. My family will attest to this. I grew up on 100 acres in a rural Alabama town (population 1,160 in the year 2000; so small and rural that the 2010 census results have not yet been published). My family's acreage is surrounded by forested land owned by Weyerhauser, a big wood/pulp/paper company. Weyerhauser leases their land to hunters throughout the year, so at any given time, there were people hunting various wildlife on the land surrounding our homestead. On multiple occasions during my childhood, we heard bullets whizzing over our heads while we were outside playing. Dad made us wear neon orange knitted hats whenever we went outside to play, in the hopes that hunters would not mistake us for shootable wildlife.

Deer season is the major hunting season in Alabama. Up until just a few years ago, it was legal for hunters to use dogs to "help" them during deer hunts. What they would actually do, was to drop off their dogs on one side of our property, drive around to the other side of our property, and shoot the deer that the dogs ran out of the woods. The dogs were valuable during deer season but often became worthless to the hunters on the day deer season ended. I cannot even begin to remember, nor do I care to remember, how many hunting dogs ended up abandoned on our property. It was like the hunters just drove away on the last day of hunting season, with their last "trophy rack" strapped to the truck, and never looked back for the dogs. I petitioned my parents to keep every single abandoned dog that ended up on our property. I (with the help of my siblings) succeeded in a few cases. I'll spare you the story about all the cases I didn't win. Thankfully, dog-assisted hunting has been outlawed in recent years.

I moved to Seattle from Alabama in December of 1998. Two gals named Katie & Missy have worked with my sister in Huntsville, Alabama, for many years. They are real rocket scientists, just like my sis. I met them a few times during my visits home over the years. In May of 2010, Missy & Katie visited Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Kanab, Utah, and posted pictures of their trip on facebook. I saw the pictures, read about their adventure, went to the Best Friends website and read all I could about the sanctuary and organization as a whole. I knew immediately that I had to visit the sanctuary, and experience for myself what it might be like to work for the largest no-kill sanctuary in the world.

It took several months to "get my ducks in a row" but I finally made the trip to Kanab in March 2011. I fell in love. Within 6 months of that trip I quit my dead-end job in commercial real estate, sold my house in Seattle, and began to aggressively pursue employment with Best Friends. Unfortunately, such big changes also led to the dissolution of my nine-year-long relationship. Fortunately, I have a wonderful family who welcomed me back to Alabama with open arms.

This is the view from my parents' house (the house I grew up in). It's a great place to relax, re-group, heal, and gear up for a new life-phase. Which is exactly what I did :o)

After several months of rejuvenation, with the help of my Mom's fantastic southern cooking, I felt ready to spread my wings again. I applied for a five-week internship at Best Friends and was accepted.

And so it happened, almost exactly a year after that catalytic first visit to Best Friends, I set out driving from Millport, AL to Kanab, UT. I arrived on March 25, 2012.