Reflections on DogTown... and a couple of tips from the experts.

While at Best Friends Animal Society, we spent quite a bit of time in DogTown. With about 500 dogs at any given time, we were impressed and it warmed our hearts to discover that each dog is treated as an individual. New dogs are fully vetted and evaluated and then carefully placed with a dog who is considered likely to be compatible with him or her. Over several days, the dogs are put together during the day while a caregiver is monitoring their relationship and then they are separated at night until they prove to be a good match (or not in which case a new match is tried out). The enclosures are huge with a heated/cooled indoor area for each run. Some dogs are housed singly if they are not able to live closely with another dog. In the Old Friends area, dogs live in groups of up to four dogs. In one case, Layla, one of the Vicktory dogs (rescued from Michael Vick), was uncomfortable with other dogs at all. She has been moved to the Feathered Friends area of Best Friends where she lives as a companion to the caretakers there. She is very happy and loves people and the attention she gets.

A picture of us with Layla. We visited her a few times. She is as sweet as can be.

The folks in DogTown are the experts on dog care. They work within a sensible budget as all of us in rescue do in order to make the money go further in order to give each dog the best care possible while leaving funds for expansion and emergencies. They have found the best ways to deal with some basic problems in dog care. Here are three tips that we got that we have already used or will use soon at OFSDS.

1. Front clip harnesses: Most of the DogTown dogs are walked by volunteers, many even by young volunteers. I don't know about you all, but we have been through just about every type of harness that we can find and nothing is exactly right. They are either too flimsy, the dog can climb out of them or they are difficult to put on the dog. Most of the dogs that we walked at DogTown had a front clip harness, it pulls from under the dog's chin and keeps the dog from pulling because when the dog pulls it tends to turn them to the side. The harness doesn't have to be super tight and is extremely easy to put on. It is made of standard leash materials and is thus very durable. We bought one for Gracie and have tried it out. It works like a charm. Here is a link to the one that we got for Gracie: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0009ZBKG4/ref=oh_details_o02_s00_i00

Zeus, modeling his Easy Walk front clip harness.

 

2. For the food inhalers in your family: Simple, simple, simple solution for the dog who eats their food before you even put it down. Take a $5 stainless steel anti-tip bowl and flip it over. The food goes around the center and the dog has to slow down to get to it all. We have already started using this for Bandit and it has made a world of difference. The meal that took him three seconds to eat now takes a minute or more. Another solution used at Best Friends is to spread the food out in a muffin tin.

Slow feed dish

Bandit eating more slowly than before

3. Raised bowls for larger dogs: I thought that this was very clever. We will use this idea whenever we have the need for a raised bowl. It is a cutout plastic bucket with a stainless steel bowl set in the hole.

A taller or shorter bucket could be used depending on the dog

 

 

 

 

 

The Best Friends Animal Society Experience....

It's not easy for us to leave all of our Old Friends, and we sure don't do it often. If we leave, it's got to be for something really special or we aren't going to go. Last April, we planned that something special and have been waiting (im)patiently ever since. Last week we sent the Princess on a spa vacation of her own, packed Arty and Benny off to the resort, got a whole family to take care of our remaining Old Friends and headed off to Kanab, Utah and Best Friends Animal Society for a week long workshop on starting and running an animal sanctuary.
Let me tell you.... it was worth every minute of the wait.
Kanab, Utah is a very small town (population around 5000) far from anywhere else but nestled in the midst of some of the most beautiful scenery in the world.

The view from the dining/workshop area in Angel Village

Best Friends Animal Society has been in it's current location since 1984 and started on a shoestring budget with a vision that has grown into it's present day mission to "Bring about a time when there are no more Homeless Pets". This mission spreads far beyond their Sanctuary in Utah. Best Friends has discovered that the way to fulfill this vision is to build a network of partners throughout the world that each does their small part. They have called this the No More Homeless Pets Network. Through education, which includes workshops like the one we attended, the folks at Best Friends share the knowledge that they have gained in the past 28+ years to help others to build their own sanctuaries, rescues and other types of organizations dedicated to supporting the Best Friends Mission. OFSDS will be eligible to join this network in April 2013.
When we registered, we were excited when we read that founders of Best Friends would be giving some of the presentations during the workshop. We were overjoyed when founders Faith Maloney and Jana de Peyer were with us for nearly the entire workshop. They generously and openly shared their experiences and details about Best Friends throughout their growth and as it is now. There were also many other workshop presenters who work in various rolls at Best Friends. All had valuable information to share. We came away at the end of the week completely overflowing with ideas, new tools and tons of energy and enthusiasm.
Our week started with a two part tour of the Best Friends Sanctuary. They house about 1700 animals, comprised of dogs, cats, birds, horses, pigs, bunnies, wild animals for release when possible and other various animals. Throughout the week we had sessions on strategic planning, fundraising, finding and keeping volunteers, adoptions, talking with the veterinarians, dog training and evaluation and much more. We also spent two mornings in Dogtown and the Old Friends section of Dogtown working with the caretakers and walking dogs. It was an amazing week. While this workshop in no way made us experts in any of the areas we covered, it has helped to steer us in a more well defined direction.

This post is the first of a short series of posts over the next several days about some of what we took home from the workshop. While our mission and goals have changed very little, we will be refining our strategies and setting a more defined plan while the workshop and our thoughts are still fresh in our minds. I will share that with you all as we progress.
Below are some of the pictures from animal areas other than Dogtown. I will go into more detail about the dog areas in the next few days.

I was fascinated by the pigs - here's a potbelly

Cute but BIG

The birds were beautiful - they live for 80-100 years. More than a lifetime commitment

Horse fields