Angel's Rest

On my drive back from Kanab to Las Vegas, I make one last stop at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary to drop off the water bowl and blanket which came with Monique on her sleepover and which I'd forgotten to return the day before. There aren't a lot of people at Dogtown's main building but the ones who are there look busy so I just leave the stuff behind on a counter, say "see you" to a recognizable face and walk out.

I drive around the road which rings BFAS for one last look and stop at Angel's Rest, the pet cemetery.

Generally, if someone had just described Angel's Rest to me, with its wind chimes and cutesy animal art, I would have relegated its sentiments to the same shelf which holds ceramic nursery rhyme figurines and pictures of puppies and kittens painted on dishes. I would have put it in the same league as diamond tiaras and pink tutus on teacup poodles.

But then I can be an idiot sometime.

I take a walk around the graves and and I quickly understand that there are no shallow sentiments here. And there is nothing in these grave sites that speak to filial responsibility or respect for the dead or religious tradition because people don't bury and memorialize their pets for any other reason than love.

There are hundreds of graves. Some are indicated by a strip of bent aluminum with the pet's name on it. Some have a photo, many faded, of the pet. Some are marked by carved stone memorials with some words of emotion and wishes for reunion one day. The majority of the graves are covered with one or more polished gems and stones left behind by people as acknowledgment of pets lost but remembered.

These pets have given abundant joy to their owners. This place then is a celebration of that joy and a mourning for the passing of that joy. It is the heaviness of ashes and bone but it is also the freedom of mountains and sky. It is a memory of that joy. It is the breeze that moves the chimes but it is the memory that makes them sing.

So, I listen to the chimes and then I leave.

Some lessons learned from Best Friends

I asked a lot of questions at Best Friends last week and I wasn't expecting any easy or ready made answers but I think I got a small sense of what makes BFAS different from any other animal sanctuary in the world.

The place is not without its politics and from the many sideways glances I saw whenever I broached the subject, I got the feeling there was a lot of it. Fine. You can't get two people in a room without there being politics. What's amazing then is that BFAS has succeeded, and succeeded in a big way, despite the politics.

I had intended the trip to be more of a vacation than a research trip but then the Toronto Humane Society arrests happened the day before I was to fly out of Toronto and all of a sudden there seemed to be a much more urgent need to start networking and gathering information for the now more likely reformation of the THS.

And because I thought it was just going to be a vacation, my questions were unfortunately ill-prepared, slipshod and all over the place as they were mostly to satisfy my own curiosity and not so much a serious attempt at starting to rebuild the broken pieces of an animal welfare agency.

Still, there were a lot of things discussed which pertain directly to what's going on at the THS and what needs to be done to get it out of its hole and other things things discussed which may only have a cursory importance.

I hesitate to post these incomplete thoughts because they are just that: incomplete. But then writing them down also helps and maybe can generate some discussion to pull them into better focus. So, here is some unfinished randomness.

1. The founders, there were 24 of them, placed equal value on developing and maintaining human relationships as well as animal relationships. There was definitely a spiritual, humanistic center to everything the founders did in the early days and I believe that's the binding force that saw them through the thick and thin.

2. All the people I've met at BFAS, the founders, animal caregivers, vets, media people, tour guides, not only have a primary concern for animal welfare but most of them also have very positive people skills. I asked if everyone's positive attitudes were due to the environment or the hiring practices or if the behaviour was codified in their job descriptions and it seems that it's a bit of each.

3. It seems most people here treat their jobs in a highly professional manner. I've never been in an organization where people were as proud to be doing what they were doing and worked so hard at it all the time.

4. Hiring seems to be based on positive personalities as much as experience or education.

5. Volunteers are treated with exceptional courtesy, appreciation and efficiency. The staff try to give volunteers meaningful work so that they walk away with a sense of having accomplished something. Volunteers play a huge role in the running of BFAS. I think it's safe to say that without them, BFAS would not have been able to accomplish nearly as much as it has. I'll have to check these numbers but I think there are something like 400 employees while 7000 volunteers helped out at BFAS last year.

6. I can't help but think that the landscape BFAS lies within has a great effect on the people working there. The beauty of the place is awe inspiring but it's not just that I'm refering to.

The nearest town is Kanab which until recently, used to be, literally, a one stoplight town. This in the state of Utah where religion still plays a fairly major role in many people's daily lives. For someone to move to Kanab or a neighbouring town and to remain there long term to work at BFAS would require a very special personality. Many don't make it more than a few months or even a couple of weeks. The remaining, remain not just because they have the utmost dedication to animal care but also because they appreciate or endure or some combination of the two, their new environment. In a way, the environment at and around BFAS, sort of does this natural selection thing where the well-suited stay and work and the rest move on.

I also got a lot of more specific ideas directly related to the care of dogs (and other animals) but those are really scattered and wouldn't make much of a good read in a blog.

Bryce Canyon National Park

Am I trying to make you jealous? Yes, because I want you to go visit Best Friends Animal Sanctuary and even though Bryce Canyon National Park has got nothing to do with BFAS, it's a mere one and a half hours away so it can easily be added to your itinerary.

Monique, this mornng ...

... just before I had to take her back to Best Friends.

Best Friends Animal Sanctuary - Friday

I needed a sleep-in day and this was it. I didn't get to BFAS until about 10:30 and so only had enough time to walk a couple of dogs before lunch.

Here are Pepsi and Benson.

Pepsi

Benson

Along with tonight's sleepover dog, Monique, I have to say again that every dog I've met with here at Best Friends is highly adoptable and I wish we had a Star Trek transporter to zing some of these guys to TAS because they would get taken home fast. Most of these dogs know their basic commands, walk well enough on leash, are affectionate and not over rambuctious - at least not compared to some of the dogs that have gone through TAS and have still found great homes.

Monique

At lunch, Jana came up to me and introduced me to a couple of people, Canadian ex-pats from Toronto now working for BFAS and we had a very long conversation about the events at the THS which it seems a lot of people here are now gradually hearing about.

I couldn't help but feel a little bit envious of the two of them in their new lives, content in what they are doing despite some of the major adjustments they've had to make in moving here. Like so many people here, the both of them dropped their old lives to be here to work with and for animals. That's not something I could do - at least not right now.

Since today was my last full day at BFAS, I thought it only fitting that I try to get some photos of the stars of Dogtown since in one way or another, they are responsible for me visiting this place.

Unfortunately, John Garcia wasn't around today which was unlucky as I'd seen him around every other day but I did manage to get a few minutes with Michelle Besmehn, the co-manager of Dogtown. If you've ever watched the National Geographic show, you know who I'm talking about.

We talked a little about filming the series, about how nice the crew was, about the show's affect on BFAS and I could have gone on and asked a bajillion much more pertinent questions about managing successfully a home for orphaned dogs but I'm sure she was busy and I was just playing the part of a tourist.

Michelle Besmehn and Blueberry

Michelle is holding a puppy mill rescue dog whose name I can't remember but who I kept calling Blueberry because she's got one dead eye which looks like a blueberry. That's kind of a gross joke at the expense of the little girl but that's okay because you know dogs have a great sense of humour.

Best Friends Animal Sanctuary - Thursday

I guess sometime in the night Colt decided I was okay because this morning he was a real cuddlebug.


That's a pretty big change from last night when every little noise seemed to startle him and it seemed like he had ants in his non-existant pants as he got up every few minutes to check out some new thing in the room.

I wish I had videotaped him when he first discovered the mirror on the wall because I've never seen a dog so fascinated by one. He jumped up on his hind legs to get a better look into it and then when he saw my reflection in it, it was obvious he was quite confused about the whole thing. He then tried to climb through the mirror but that attempt didn't last long. Three more times over the course of the evening he jumped up on his hind legs looking into the mirror to see if the alternate universe was still there and each time he pawed at it to see if maybe this time he could get through to the other side.

It turned out that this was Colt's first sleepover which explained all his nervousness with everything. Poor guy. Well, next time I'm sure he'll be much better.

Shortly after returning Colt to his happy caregiver, I went back to Dogtown to talk to some group leaders, hoping to get some clues as to what makes the place work so well. Our conversation was all over the place and I won't bore you with the details, at least not right now, but maybe at a later date when I've got nothing else to bore you with, but we talked about hiring policies (attitude just as important if not more important than experience and education), animal admissions (in the beginning they used to take in all animals but can't obviously do that anymore), training methodologies (pretty well only positive reinforcement methods), aggressive dogs/long term stay dogs (while Best Friends is better than almost any shelter, it still can't replace a real home), where everyone came from (from all over) and a bunch of other things which I can't remember now.

One of the group leaders was nice enough to take me on a bit of a tour - probably thought that was the only way she could get rid of me - and she was probably right. She showed me around the grooming facility where every dog at BFAS gets groomed about once a month. In the photo below, the dog is having its third ever grooming session and it looks a bit anxious but that's a vast improvement from its first groom session when it had to wear a muzzle.


Next to the groomers is the hydrotherapy tank (jacuzzi with a treadmill at the bottom of it) where dogs go to get a water workout. The tank is quite the contraption and I think I want one in my house for myself. It would be like getting a spa treatment and workout at the same time.


I was then brought over to one of the dog octagons where I met Lucas again (from Monday) and was shown some of the reports the caregivers have to fill in. Each dog pretty well has a thick folder of information on them.

Here's an example of the behaviour form:


Look at how detailed that is and that's just the one form which gets updated as the dog progresses at BFAS. Other forms include volunteer observations, dog outings, daily notes and a host of others I can't remember.

After the tour, I had an hour to walk a couple of dogs, Rosco and Julep, both great dogs, both highly adoptable.

Rosco

Julep

Over lunch I sat down and had a conversation with Jana de Peyer who is one of the founders of BFAS and Barbara Williamson, a media relations manager for BFAS. I asked a bunch of questions about what it takes to run a successful animal welfare organization and Jana basically said that because it's not an animal problem we have, but a people problem, it's really important to focus on people and not just spend all one's time and resources caring for animals.

I got the sense from Jana and Barbara, as I had the moment I walked into the welcoming center at BFAS that first day, that from top management on down, how people are treated is just as important as how animals are treated.

Something else I got from that conversation was just how hard working those original 24 founders were. They all got their hands dirty and lugged buckets of water around to all the dogs when there was no plumbing on the property or they drove around the country and sat at tables in front of stores asking for donations or they built enclosures and the first buildings or they fed the animals and shoveled their shit. Now sure there may have been some exaggeration there (though actually I don't think so) but whatever embellishments may be attached to those stories of their first years, there's no doubt that starting an animal welfare organization is a spectacularly hard job and one that not only doesn't pay well, it usually sucks all the money out of the people pretty quickly. So, whatever it was they did, they could have only achieved it through long hard and at times what must have seemed like endless labour.

Every Thursday lunch includes a BFAS general meeting and so at about 12:30 the microphone was passed around to a member of each department at Best Friends and each person talked for about 5 minutes about the week's newsworthy events. Like most people, meetings are not on my list of fun things I look forward to but I have to admit that listening to all the stories from Horse Haven and Piggy Paradise and Dogtown and Cat World and everyone else was very uplifting and not in a syrupy sort of way but in a by bricks and sweat we build a house sort of way.

One impressive piece of news came from the outreach department which had recently organized a Super Adoption event in L.A.(?) where 72 rescue groups got together and in 5 hours adopted out 400 animals. He just talked about the final numbers and everyone clapped but everyone was also clapping in appreciation of all the hours put into organizing such an event. Again, so much hard work. This animal welfare thing just ain't for sissies.

In the afternoon, I went to talk to Whitney Jones, one of Dogtown's four certified dog trainers. We talked about training philosophies and behavioural issues and I won't go into all the details here except to say that I asked her what she thought was one of the most important things a time and staff limited shelter could do for their dogs and she talked about enrichment. That's keeping the dogs as busy as possible, as interested as possible. A dog locked up in a cage with nothing to do but listen and watch other cage crazy dogs is one of the best ways to ruin what could have been an otherwise perfectly good animal.

The best enrichment is people time with the animals and since there will never be enough staff to go around regardless of the organization, that means volunteers and lots of them.

She also showed me a couple of food toys which I'd not seen before including this home made one, a pipe with both ends capped and holes drilled into the caps. It lasts longer than a food kong and is way cheaper:


I followed Whitney around a bit as she did some training with one dog to alleviate its dog aggression issues and then after that she supervised a first dog encounter between a newly arrived piggy looking Pit Bull named Ivy and her own dog Rio.

Whitney and Rio

Both sessions went by without any problems.

I've got the sessions on video but can't post them because I don't have the software on this laptop so it'll have to wait until I get back to Toronto.

And that was Thursday. No sleepover dog tonight because I needed to get a bunch of stuff sorted out and also I wanted to get caught up on the latest THS news.

Best Friends Animal Sanctuary - Wednesday

Snowman snored contentedly in the armchair last night and this morning as soon as the alarm went off, he was up and butt wagging for a good ten minutes all ready for the new day.

I dragged my feet a bit because I could tell it was going to be a cold morning and for half a second thought about going back to sleep. I didn't know Snowman's bladder control, though, so I put on my several layers and harnessed him up and walked out the door into the very chill dry air.

Snowman happily noticed no such thing or at least didn't seem to care and he stuck his nose to the ground and away we went. Around the first corner and I'm still somewhat groggy but then I look up and see the falling full moon nestled within a dip in the hills by the edge of town. The silver disc fit comfortably in between the hills and looked as if it was going to snuggle in there for a day's sleep. I wished I had my camera with me but it was one of the moments when I knew if I did have my camera, I'd be too busy trying to take pictures instead of just appreciating the moment. Tomorrow morning I'll bring my camera with me just in case there's a repeat performance but if not, well, some things are more beautiful just as a memory. I have Snowman to thank for this.


I may be reading too much into it but I got the feeling that just as we were going to head to Best Friends to bring Snowman home, he realized he wasn't going to be staying with me and he jumped back into the armchair, not wanting to leave, and gave me his "how could you?" look. Whatever disappointment he may have had, though, I think disappeared when we got back to his home at Dogtown Heights and he smelled the meatballs they were spooning out for the dogs' breakfasts.

I then went over to the Old Friends area of Dogtown Heights and walked Tenny, Amos and Isaiah. The dogs were all fine and, again, surprisingly well leash trained but the woman I was partnered with was having problems with the altitude. I hadn't even noticed any differences but we are at something like 5000 ft and for some people, that's enough to make them short of breathe or give them headaches and possibly nausea.

Anyway, we all survived.

Tenny

Amos

Isaiah

Next I went on a tour of the Wildlife rehab center where I learned that certain types of crows and ravens can live to 85 years old and, like parrots, can mimic human speech. The information on the tour was very interesting and the birds in rehab included several hawks, owls, and ravens and I think there were others but because the idea is to keep them wild, the public isn't allowed to see or otherwise interact with them. Makes sense.


I was going to go back to Old Friends to walk some more dogs before lunch but the guy doing the parrot tour was there at the end of the wildlife tour and I felt kind of bad skipping out on his tour so I changed my plans and went and saw the parrots and I'm glad I did.


I'm not much of a bird person but I have to admit, I'm kind of impressed by some of their abilities. The bird guy took us to meet the cockatoos warning us that they scream louder than jet engines and I think he might be right. I think my ears are still bleeding a bit from that experience. The birds were mostly screaming for attention and as soon as they got it, they stopped, thankfully.


These exotic birds face a great deal of hardship in captivity simply because they are in captivity. According to the bird guy, they're never really domesticated, always wild in heart and mind and so when they are caged with nothing to do all day, everyday of their lives, they tend to develop sometimes severe obsessive compulsive behaviours like pulling their feathers out or being extremely destructive. Or they just shut down. For a bird that can live to 80 or more years, being in a cage can be a real long life of mental anguish.


Several of the birds at BFAS were left there when their owners got too old to take care of them and of course that's the other problem with these "pets". Often because they live so long, they outlive their owners.

For the afternoon, I went to Piggy Paradise to do some volunteering. The pot bellied pigs there don't get enough exercise in their pens so they also need to be walked and the easiest way to walk a pig is to throw a trail of popcorn on the ground.

Hogan

Cherry

Nanuie

The pigs definitely had very individual personalities and Cherry, Hogan and Nanui were all fairly good walkers but Jake was a bit more independent minded and I couldn't get him to go back to his pen at the end of his walk. Instead, he meandered towards the kitchen building and snuffled around outside despite my best popcorn tossing efforts. Finally, I was presented with his supper dish by one of the staff and as soon as he saw that, he sprinted - and I mean sprinted - back to his pen where he knew he would be fed.

Jake

Finally, at four o'clock, I went to pick up my sleepover dog. This time it's Colt who's a young Pointer/Hound(?) mix. He's somewhat anxious and hand shy. It's been a few hours now back at the lodge and I think he's finally starting to feel a bit more comfortable and able to relax. I'll soon find out how well he sleeps.

Colt at Angel's Landing

Best Friends Animal Sanctuary - Tuesday

Another beautiful morning at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary. It's getting below the freezing mark here so there's often frost and a slight dusting of snow in the mornings.

First thing is more puppy classes and then some dog walking.

Below is River who is a fab Brown Lab. I couldn't quite figure out why he was at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary since he was such a well behaved dog in a very popular breed. It turns out he was sent here because he kept getting heartworm (four times!)despite being on heartworm preventative so he was sent to Best Friends because here it's too cold for the heartworm cycle to propagate.

If River were at Toronto Animal Services, he'd be adopted the first weekend.


This girl is Opie and she's a Katrina dog. She's quite shy so they think she may have been feral before being caught and brought to BFAS. She's shy but not too shy for snacks.


BFAS has a cafeteria which makes $5 lunches. Not bad considering the view.


After lunch, I went to tour Pig Paradise which is where BFAS has something like 19 pot bellied pigs. It's stupid the thousands of PBPs which were bought and then dumped as part of that fad that went on a few years ago. The whole thing with pigs is that they don't stop growing until they're 4 or 5 years old so all these fadists were tricked into thinking the 8 month old mother of the piglets they were buying as pets were full grown at 40 pounds. A hundred and forty pounds later, the trend conscious pig owner suddenly doesn't know what to do with such a large animal and dumps it or sticks it in a cage in the backyard.

And now there's some equally inane micro pig thing going on with Paris Hilton leading the charge. Micro pigs are the same as pot bellied pigs except they've been starved to keep them small for longer but eventually, they still get big.

I'd like to see Paris carry one of these guys around in her handbag.




This last one was abused by her previous owner. He used to beat her with a shovel resulting in severe injuries to her legs. BFAS rescued her and brought her into surgery to try to fix her issues but unfortunately, she still has a lot of arthritic type problems. When the weather started getting cold, she walked into the office and decided to spend her time indoors.

She loves belly rubs.


Something a lot of the volunteers at BFAS look forward to is this:


That's right: sleepovers.

And this afternoon, I signed up and got my guy.

His name is Snowman. I don't know why he's called that but he seems okay with it.


Snowman's been on several sleepovers already and it's easy to see why. He's a really well behaved, lovable dog. Ostensibly, the sleepovers are to help socialize the dogs to different experiences and I'm sure that it helps but I think the sleepovers are almost as much a hoot for the volunteers as it is for the dogs.

I took him for a long hike in the lower valley where Snowman was quite enthralled by the scent of deer.


Now that I've brought him back to the lodge where I'm staying, he's started following me around everywhere and won't leave my side. When I was taking my shower, I thought he was going to jump into the stall. It's a good thing I've got a small, hardened heart otherwise I'd be packing him up and taking him home with me at the end of my stay here. And by the way, he's the type of dog that Ontario still wants to kill.



Dec. 5: I found out Snowman is called Snowman because when he was rescued just after Katrina, he was found carrying a toy Snowman. Snowman really loves his toys.