Back at the Shelter

After a year of herculean effort, the friends that I used to volunteer with at the animal shelter were successful in their bid to turn the shelter into a non-profit organization. As of yesterday, they are now officially in charge! They have huge dreams for making the shelter a beautiful, streamlined organization, and I know they can do it. There's a lot of work to do, and I hope to be able to help in my small ways. My time is super limited these days, made evident by my lack of posting--but I love going there to work with the dogs. I have no say in the matter--the dogs just suck me in.

I walked into the volunteer room at the shelter this morning and was surprised by this...dog. I hesitate to call him a dog because he can fit in the palms of your hands. Is he a hairless chihuahua? I don't know--but I'm naming him Google because just look at those googly eyes. He's like a craft project gone awry!

I walked this terrier mix and fell in love with her. She looks like a granny with a mohawk, but she's the sweetest thing ever.

This beautiful German shepherd girl won't be at the shelter for long. She is gorgeous, loves getting wet in the baby pool (what?), and is calm for being in a shelter environment.

There were a number of pitbulls at the shelter, as is always the case. Cookie has been there much too long already, which is surprising because she's such a lovebug.

I may not have any self-control when it comes to volunteering at the shelter, but I've been very disciplined about not taking any of them home on a permanent basis. But in all honesty, that's because I have a husband with a strong voice of reason. And I am still much too much of a neatnick (sp?) to have more animals. Shallow though I may be, I'm just not ready to give up on having a clean(ish) house!

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Dog Rescue Heaven

Lately, with all the political mess going on at the city animal shelter, I have been disinclined to continue volunteering there. The training volunteers that I worked so closely with for the past several months have had to stop coming, due to verbal threats made by some of the shelter staff. While I feel badly for the other dogs there, Francie was the one that I had the most connection with, and now that she's out of the shelter system, I decided to check out another local rescue. Big Dog Rescue is not far from our house, so my husband and I went for a volunteer orientation there yesterday.

Even though the name is Big Dog Rescue, this sanctuary houses much more than just big dogs. There are little dogs, too, along with horses, emus, goats and birds.

Here are some of the resident dogs. It's not clear to me whether these dogs are for adoption or if they just live here permanently. There doesn't seem to be much distinction between the two. Among them were two Mexican hairless dogs. The brown one at the top of this rise is Elvis.

And appropriately, this one is Priscilla. I was curious about how it felt to pet them, and boy, do they feel strange! It feels like you're petting someone's knee...that's the best way I can think of to describe the texture.

Most of the adoptable dogs live in large pens with 2-3 other dogs, depending on their size and temperament. I got to walk this sight hound mix, Jag, who shares his pen with two other dogs and has plenty of room to run.

My husband walked lab/shepherd mix Lucas. Isn't he adorable? Cabana would love this little guy--he's the perfect size and so playful. But no, we're not shopping for dogs to bring home! Need to refocus and stay on task here....

After walking the trails for a while, we let the dogs run in this huge arena. The ground looks like it's covered in gravel, but it's actually made of recycled shredded rubber for shock absorption.

My husband reminds me of a taller version of the Dog Whisperer here.

We were blown away by the beauty of this place! Dogs must feel like they are already rescued and entered heaven here. But as the owner of this rescue says, beautiful grounds and lots of space are great, but they're not a substitute for a home and a family. Maybe not, but I can think of worse ways to spend a few months while waiting for the right person to come along.

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