Best Friends Animal Sanctuary - Monday part 2

The cats at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary have their own neighbourhood called Cat World where several cat houses house several hundred cats. The rooms in each cat house look pretty cozy and quite befitting a cat and there are several cats in each room. Every room also gives the cats access to the outside enclosed patio where even more eclectic cat furniture is plentiful. I asked our guide about the vast assortment of cat furniture and she said, "It's all about the choice."

You'd think with all this furniture, it would be difficult to keep everything clean but all the rooms are scrubbed clean daily and I have to admit, the cat house we visited smelled cleaner than my house.

Patio furniture

Cat cubicles

>

Double doors to the outside

The cats might have it cushy but the horses definitely get the best views and the largest spaces. Various Hollywood movies have been filmed in these valleys and it's no wonder given how big and dramatic everything looks.




Just before lunch, I took a walk to Angel's Rest which is where many hundreds of BFAS animals have been laid to rest (people can also request to have their own pets buried there as well). I've been to a lot of cemetaries all over the world but this one is by far the best. The beauty of the surrounding valley, the chimes ringing out - it's more a place where spirits roam than a place where ghosts haunt.

I may have gotten some sand in my eyes here.






My volunteer time didn't start until after lunch. First thing is signing in at Dogtown at the volunteer center. If you've ever seen the National Geographic series about Dogtown, you'll know that it can be a pretty bustling place with dogs mixing with people.


I was shown a volunteering video specifically geared to Dogtown and then sent to work helping train puppies. Serious business that. No, really.

Before BFAS started the puppy classes, they were getting a 35% return rate on puppy adoptions. Since they started the classes where the puppies are exposed to all sorts of things by all manners of people, where they are poked and prodded and picked up and examined, where they are taught basic commands, the return rate has dropped to almost zero.

Puppy mastering leash techniques

After puppy classes, it was off to Amra, one of the areas in Dogtown where some of the slightly more rambuctious dogs are kept. Of course the dogs I ended up walking weren't rambuctious at all. In fact, so far, in my two days here, none of the dogs I've walked have been anywhere near the average level of rowdiness of TAS dogs.

The first guy is Tigger and the second is Avalon.



And that's the end of day one at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary