Lo's Journal Entry #2: A Doggie Dawg World (10/09/2005 - 10/12/2005)

Before heading out towards Pasado's Safe Haven in Raceland, we dropped off supplies at a shelter located just South-East of New Orleans in a Parish (county) where the United States Army has set up shop equipped with numerous camouflage humvees, huge carrier trucks-equipment and very very large rifles being supervised by very very young American troops.

Are we in Iraq, or New Orleans? Are we in a time of war, or peace? Demolishing, or rebuilding???

For the last few days we have settled into our volunteering routine.

It's hard work – physically and emotionally. We wake up each day at 5:45am Bayou Time (3:45am PST), quickly get ready which includes grabbing all of our grubby gear, and head out the door. We commute approximately 8 miles from Gray to Raceland, although I'm not too sure how many different races are actually represented here.

We drive down the white picket fenced driveway into an incredible ranch that has been donated to Pasado's to use as a pet sanctuary. The gentleman who allowed this all to happen must be the most noble person on Earth, allowing hundreds of dogs to pee and pooh all over his ranch, or he had no idea what he and his ranch were in for. Regardless, he will always have a spot saved for him in Doggie Heaven.

The sun in rising at this point, casting itself across the southern skies lighting up the ranch and awakening all our new, and hopefully temporary, furry friends. Our chosen shift is the morning shift, which runs from 6:30am-2pm. This shift includes a morning walk, followed up by breakfast, followed up by an early afternoon walk before the heat settles in to melt the constant barking into a southern afternoon slumber. The evening shift runs from 2-9:30pm, which includes 2 more quick walks and feeding them supper

The day begins with frantically getting the dogs out of their crates to relieve themselves, thus limiting the wonderful task of cleaning pee and poop filled crates -- ohh boy! Per shift we each walk and prepare a fine mixture of kibble and grub for approximately 20-30 dogs, and then have the pleasure of cleaning 10-15 soiled crates and many many water and food bowls throughout the day. As much as you avoid the 'poopy crate' syndrome, you can't get around pee and pooh for more than a couple of minutes – since that's what all the walks are for, and after many futile attempts, the dogs still do not manage to clean up after themselves.

The dogs that we are helping care for come in all shapes, sizes, colors, breeds, mixes, and temperaments. But all the dogs here are bonded by a few elements….1) they are all survivors, 2) very few of them have known names, so 'good boy' or 'good girl' is about as specific as it gets and works for all of them, and 3) they all want or need homes.

While they are all similar in this manner, they fall into 5 distinct categories. There are the fortunate ones among the lot whose owners have been positively identified, contacted, and hopefully want to pick them up. Then there's the next fortunate lot who are the very cute, tame ones, whose owners have not been identified but have already been adopted, usually by volunteers, but some times by locals. Then there are the Unusual Suspects. This is a dislexic bunch with a lot of personality, most of which traits are good, and often have some distinct physical features, again, most of which are good. This lot, which is the largest of the lots, is available for adoption and will hopefully be distributed out across the country to find their perfect match – doggie meets master.

Then there are the 'Aggressives'. Obviously, these dogs have be identified and appropriately separated from the rest of the dogs for their nasty temperaments. These dogs are usually extremely dog, food and crate aggressive – a.k.a, stay way from these guys unless you’re equipped with some serious gloves, have good medical insurance, have a decent amount of dog handling experience, and have a desire for some thrill seeking action. The final lot is a cross section of these four but they have some type of disease, like derma or tape worms, so they are separated from the rest of the kids so that they don’t spread their germs.

Hmm, it makes you wonder, if you were a dog, what lot would you be placed in?????

But let's get one thing straight – even the dogs that are non aggressive are not just lovely docile cute pets. At least three-quarters of the dogs are obvious Pit bull mixes, none of which are neutered or spayed. Many of these Pits have nasty scares on their faces and necks from dog fights. Many of the dogs have probably never been so well treated and card for. And most of them will remain unclaimed by their owners.

This is just a reality in the doggie dawg world, where some dogs may be better without their masters.

But again, kudos to Pasado's for working so diligently to get al of these dogs placed in foster/adoption centers all over the country, including the aggressive ones!!! All of the Pasado's Safe Haven volunteers will have a place saved for them in Doggie Haven as well– and hopefully I will have a spot too!?!?!?!