Saturday, August 29, 2009

Furry Friday (plus one day)

Oy, what a day yesterday...between my bastard computer and random dog adventure, the post just wasn't happening.

Also...I have no pictures for today because Thursdays dogs at the shelter were just not cooperating with the camera. Usually I can get at least one of them to look at the camera, but that so was not happening. There is one dog there named "Slack Jawed Joe"...seriously, who names these dogs? Anyway, he's the cutest/funniest looking dog you will ever see. I"ll try again next week if he is still there.

Anyway,I got an email at some point during the day yesterday that said this rescue group had arrived from Louisiana with over 100 dogs they were trying to adopt out, and only 3 volunteers. OY! So I wandered over after work, and I gotta say, I've never been to Louisiana, but I am kind of obsessed with it. I love their accents, the people I've met from there, their authors, their food, and their dogs. Sweetest bunch of dogs ever! It was kind of like that scene from Gilmore Girls where Loreli ends up buying Paul Anka. Just rows of cages stacked on cages...big guys on the bottom, little guys on the top. And a surprisingly little amount of barking given the excessive number of dogs. Geez, sometimes in the shelter there are only like 10 dogs and you think you are going to go deaf.

Anyway, apparently these dogs have been picked up from various shelters around Louisiana, and as I understand it, there are still tons of homeless animals roaming around due to Katrina. You can tell too..these dogs are so random looking! Definitely the offspring of stray dogs. They were all so cute too, and so lovely! I overheard the woman telling someone that a lot of them came from a kill shelter where they just gas the dogs, and at that point I had to put my hands over my ears and be like "lalalalalalala". I suspected it, but now I know how good our shelter here is compared to others.

I think they had adopted out about 40 dogs yesterday, and they are there all day today too. Whatever dogs don't get adopted go back where they came from, which is kind of devastating, and I'm hoping I heard that incorrectly. It was hard to get any information because it was a little chaotic. I'm hoping our shelter ends up taking any that don't get adopted. Anyway, all the dogs that I walked were so great! Not the best at the actual physical task of walking on leash, but really great dogs none the less.

I kind of left there with the feeling that I'm really not doing enough. I looked at these people who drove 100+ dogs down in a huge trailer from Louisiana so they could give them a chance at life. They were sleeping outside in the trailer with the dogs, and were working 16 hour days trying to adopt them out. What I do is diddley in comparison. Not sure how I"m going to remedy that as of yet, but I'll see what I can come up with.

This group, B.A.R.K is AMAZING! I am in complete awe that they do so much for these dogs, and I am so thankful there are people like them in the world. Visit their website here . Amazing, amazing people.

2 comments:

Emily said...

You know, I've been thinking about volunteering at our local animal shelter for awhile now, and just have never quite made the commitment; I'm going to now - I'm going to their website right now and signing up. I have the time, the willingness, the heart ... I love your Furry Fridays (no matter what day they come on!) It's a great idea - keep 'em coming!

Meg said...

that's awesome!! I can't wait to hear about your experiences at the shelter! I definitely find it is always one of the best parts of my week!

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