February 16-20, 2009 Kanab, Utah
"Until one has loved an animal, a part of one's soul remains unawakened." - Anatole France Day One We met with Fredi, the Volunteer Manager, and she gave us an overview of our week. Basically we would do all things dog in the morning and evening! We took a two-hour tour of the sanctuary, met some of the other volunteers and had lunch. In the afternoon, we headed to Old Friends to do some kennel cleaning. Night One 
Best Friends Animal Society is guided by a simple philosophy: kindness to animals builds a better world for all of us. Best Friends is the largest no-kill animal sanctuary in the United States . They are also featured on the National Geographic show "Dogtown" . We have a soft spot for Pit Bull Terriers (we have a 1yr old Pit Bull/Boxer puppy, Kona, who we adopted from a local shelter) and after watching the episode on how this organization set out to care for and rehabilitate the dogs seized from Michael Vick's dog fighting ring, we knew we had to visit Best Friends.
We arrived into Kanab, Utah Sunday evening and settled into our hotel. Kanab is a charming little city in Southern Utah with one stop light. The nearest Starbucks is 80 miles away. Reception (mobile or wireless) was splotchy. It is dubbed " Utah 's Litle Hollywood" because Western films were shot in this city back in the day. We drove up to Angel Canyon , home to approximately 2,000 dogs, cats, pigs, horses, bunnies, etc. What a scenic drive! The red rock trails were slightly covered with last night's snow. I am glad we rented a SUV to handle the terrain! For four days we did some honest hard work. Best Friends has several cottages spread out over 3,700 acres owned by Best Friends, with an additional 33,000 acres leased from the United States Bureau of Land Management. The dogs are grouped based on their age, personality and activity level. We have two young, active dogs at home so we decided to work at the Old Friends cottages. This is where the older, less active dogs stay. We walked the dogs up the hills and through the snow, fed them, cleaned their beds, swept and mopped the floor. Most importantly, we just spent quality time in their run with them. We often get asked, "How could you not cry and didn't you want to take them all home with you?!" The answer is: we did cry (a lot... it was therapeutic!) and yes, of course we wanted to take them home! However, when you see how majestic and peaceful the sanctuary is, you will see that they are home. They have an indoor room and a large outdoor run. Depending on the dog, they may have a roommate or two.
In the evening, Best Friends has a Doggie Sleepover program that allows visitors and volunteers to take a dog back to their RV/house/hotel for the evening. It is a great experience for the people and the dogs! We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express Kanab and made sure they would allow us to take a dog in for a sleepover. You pick up a basket with everything the dog will need for the night (blanket, treats, toys, etc!) and then pick the dog up at their cottage. 
Day Two We packed up Dozer and returned him to Old Friends. (Of course, we had to wake him up...) How would we give him up?! As soon as we pulled up to Old Friends, we were greeted by Joyce, the other caregiver, and immediately became happy when we saw how excited Dozer was to be "home" (it was also morning feeding time!) She asked us about his gas. No comment.... Night Two Day Three We started handling Snowy, a two month old black and white Australian Shepherd mix. Every time we put his collar and leash on in, he would slip right out and run. Puppies are high-energy escape artists! We quickly grabbed hold of him again and started teaching him his name. Their attention span is pretty short (think two syllables, that's it!) before they are onto the next adventure. One of the pups whizzed by with his leash in his mouth so his handlers could not take it. Snowy quickly learned the same thing. Wow, so adorable yet so exhausting! Advice for next time: drink three or four cups of coffee before entering puppy socialization. You will need it. Also, bring hats, glasses, gloves, etc so that the puppy becomes accustomed to all types of people and their accessories. We then headed to lunch and ate, in Jill's words, "like construction workers." Honest, hard work makes meals all the much better! At that moment, a soup and salad San Francisco style would not suffice. Night Three
We headed back to Doggie HQ and got our volunteer assignment for the morning. We headed to New Friends cottage, home to dogs more comfortable in a run on their own and do not always get along with other dogs. We took a golf cart to their cottage. We walked quite a few dogs on the trails! It had snowed the evening before so the red rock trails were blanketed in pure white. The tractor was still going through paving the road. We came across Pinky Bear, a beautiful female brown and white Pit Bull mix. Her coat felt like mink! She had a large sign on her run: "My philosophy on walks is this: never rush, always take your time to smell everything!" How cute! A dog with a philosophy :) While walking her, we ran into another volunteer who had taken her on a sleepover just the night before. Confirmed: she is a wiggly love bug! 
Luke, one of the staff, told us that these sessions were probably some of the most instrumental in a puppy's life. A few years ago, they started seeing that one in three puppies would get returned not too long after getting adopted about. As Luke said, "I could go to the front of a Wal-Mart and give away all these puppies within in 30 min and come back in time for morning coffee." But those people that would so willingly take these pups, would just as soon return them once the puppy started bad behavior. Since putting all puppes through ten socialization sessions, they have had zero returns! 
In the afternoon, we headed to Kitty HQ. We know nothing about cats and Joyce (from Old Friends) thought it would be good for us to go there and learn about cats. We entered Kitty HQ and asked the staff if we could ask them a few (ok, a lot) of questions about cats. It was Kitty 101 Q&A. Are there different "breeds" of cats? What is a feral cat? Do cats know their names? If they go outside, do they know how to come back home? Why do they drink and eat from the same bowls? The staff was so gracious and answered all of our questions. We even played with two cats, Stetson and Andrew. They are rescues from a hoarding situation. 
Day Four We packed up Tipper and dropped her off at Old Friends. We asked Joyce about adopting her. Asking that question is like putting your heart out there! Our hearts were racing. Joyce asked us about our other two dogs. We have Kona, a female 1yr old pit-bull/boxer mix and Pogi, a male 4yr old coonhound mix. How active are they? Ummm... we tried to downplay it, but who are we kidding -- Kona and Pogi are extremely active! That sealed our fate. Joyce told us that since Tipper was older, she needed a quiet home. Our two dogs would probably stress her out. Our hearts were broken, but we understood. Plus, she is queen bee at Old Friends. Who would want to leave that?! Now for one of the more exciting parts -- the gift shop! Here, we stocked up on jackets, books, bumper stickers, etc! We even signed up for a one year membership each. We have our mom's and best friend's birthdays in March so we each got them gift memberships. They have a map in the lobby and we were able to put four pins on the state of California ! They just started the map that week to commemorate their 25th anniversary and already California had so much representation! We hope to return soon enough and see even more pins. We drove back to Las Vegas to catch our flight home. The minute we entered Las Vegas, we missed the scenic and peaceful drives through Utah . We were heading back into reality. We are so grateful for the opportunity to take the time off work and do this trip. It would not be possible without the Foundation! - Jill David and Joanne David 
