Of course there's an encore! Animal SOS is such a great place, especially because our little harbor puppies are there. The walk to the boat definitely feels emptier without them.
In the days between visits, I had some time in which to gather a few toys. Adam is quite good at breaking flip flops, and the remaining flops had just been taking up space on deck. They were now soon-to-be puppy toys. On one of the last crossings Matt spotted a ball floating in the middle of the ocean. He turned the boat around and we picked it up. That was also to be a puppy toy. Finally, I spent some quality arts and crafts time making monkey's fists out of spare line on board. I imagined the puppies playing tug-of-war with each other and figured this particular knot would be difficult for them to untie or destroy with their sharp little teeth.
I felt like Santa on Christmas morning when I entered the puppy pen with my plastic bag full of goodies! The puppies were excited just to have a visitor, let alone one who brought them fun things!
The ball was first. They seemed a bit confused when it kept moving on its own, but they all pounced on it anyways. It's too big for the puppies to bite but that's probably a good thing. For now they can just awkwardly try to climb on it!
The flip flops were also very popular, because they are small and light enough to be carried around! But, I fear they will soon be in pieces.
Finally, the monkey's fists. These were very popular and excellent for tug-of-war; four puppies can all tug on one at once! Plus, watching a tiny puppy try to carry a big rope toy up steps is very comical.
The puppies were very excited with their new toys and played for awhile. They ran all over their pen, growling and barking at each other and chewing on everything (sometimes even my shoes, which were NOT puppy toys). Eventually, they grew tired and all they wanted was a lap on which to take a nap. I had such a lap, but could only fit three or four puppies at a time.
Here's Coffee Black, who is looking very much like Mama dog! She's still very sweet and smart, and Debbie (the shelter's manager) told me that a Sri Lankan family recently came to find a dog and applied to adopt our own Coffee Black!
These puppies certainly aren't the only dogs at Animal SOS, and while I did spend a lot of time with them, I also hung out with the other dogs. Animal SOS sits on a big chunk of very pretty land, and there are well-worn paths through the grass that mark the dogs' favorite paths.
Even though there is a lot of space to run around, the dogs still prefer to lay around the shelter's buildings, because that's where the people are!
My last trip was a day trip only, but this time there was room for me to spend the night! There are plans for Animal SOS to rent a house, which would allow the full time, long term volunteers to have a quiet place to go to each night, and would also free up space for shorter term volunteers to stay on site. I was warned that it could get loud at night, especially because it was almost a full moon. The dogs did bark a bit, and a couple times put on lovely howling concerts, but I was able to get some good sleep. Plus, when I woke up in the morning I was greeted happily by the pack!
This is George. He's my favorite, other than the puppies, because he is super clever and laid back. He snuck into the kitchen on my first visit and was eating out of the big bowl of food before it was dinner time! He's very good at slipping past you as you open the gate to go inside, and once inside is also very good at seeming innocent. When I let him into my room on purpose, he immediately jumped on the bed and curled up. His tactic for trying to stay inside is a good one: when I tried to pick him up to put him back outside, he rolled on his back and went limp to make it more difficult!
George again!
This is Fraggle. He's a small pup with huge ears, and even though he's a little guy he bosses the big dogs around! Somehow he ended up in the puppy pen (probably snuck in at feeding time for a late night snack) and spent the night trapped with the harbor puppies!
Some dogs get to stay in the apartments with the staff. These two live in Debbie's rooms. The black one (Funny Fing) she brought in as a puppy because he was battling a bad virus and was in rough shape, and he needed the extra attention. The tan one (Blondie), was living there when Debbie arrived and refuses to leave!
When feeding time rolls around, mayhem begins. The dogs must be put in cages according to size and behavior. This is Nanda's specialty. He's the resident dog whisperer and knows which dogs to put where. The dominant dogs get put in individual cages. The younger and smaller dogs get put into one big cage together. Smaller groups of adult dogs that get along go into the sheds to await their dinner. Nanda hoists dogs into the air and deposits them into the correct pen, or instructs others to help by pointing to dogs and motioning which cage they go in (it's too loud with all the dogs barking for talking to do any good).
Here's a pack of younger dogs waiting for dinner. It's a challenge trying to put a dog in, because while you're getting one inside three will escape!
The dogs get dry dog food (biscuits) for breakfast, and a veritable feast in a bowl for dinner. Seriously, their food smelled delicious! Every day a giant pot of rice is made in the morning so it has time to cool before dinner. Along with the rice, a pot of ground chicken, pumpkin, onions, cassava, lettuce, garlic, and more dry dog food is prepared. Every dog gets a bowl of this mixture, still warm from the stove! Nandini and Latta are the chefs, and you can tell the dogs love their meals based on how quickly they eat it!
Here is Doc, eagerly awaiting dinner.
The dogs at Animal SOS are awesome to hang out with. They're all friendly and just want to be loved on, and maybe sit on your lap for a bit. The people who run this dog haven are equally as awesome. It takes a lot of work to just take care of the dogs day-to-day, let alone work every day to accomplish their mission: educate people about animal welfare, provide medical attention including surgeries, spay/neuter and vaccinate street dogs, and rescue even more puppies and kittens and provide a safe place for them to grow up. A big task, but certainly a very inspiring and significant one for Sri Lanka. Check out the Animal SOS website and the Animal SOS facebook page!
