It just gets better and better

I had yet another fantastic day, but I am super exhausted, so apologies if this entry seems hurried.

I had my first "real" shift in the Parrot Garden today. I've had a shift there before, but I was only there for about an hour and a half before I had to leave to get instructions for the Colorado City cats, so I didn't do much that day. I shadowed Kevin, one of the caretakers, around for a while to feed and water the birds, then I did some dishes and cleaned some cages. The birds are really pretty and some talk, which is great, but I didn't feel a connection there the way I have in other areas. There's also a dog that lives in the Parrot Garden. Her name is Layla and she was one of the Michael Vick pit bulls. I got to meet her today. She's super sweet and currently wears a purple collar, which could be changing. Next week, she's going to be taking a mock 'Good Citizens' test. It's the assessment they use here to determine if an animal would be safe as a pet and goes through things like stranger tests and other dog tests. I hope she does well!

Every Thursday the interns take their project dogs to a training class at Tara's Run. With how anxious Sharkey was last time and being that our 'focus' training didn't go awesomely, I didn't know how this session would go. Sharkey did AMAZING! He only have very brief moments of disruption but otherwise I was able to keep his focus most of the time. I did what one of the trainer's recommended - keeping a treat out while he was in a sit or down and rewarding him every 30 seconds or so (and building up) while he was focused/quiet. One of the other interns said she couldn't believe how well behaved he was and it was like he was a whole different dog! I was so proud of him! We did some loose-leash walking exercises and he did really well with that, too.

After training class, I took Sharkey on an outing to town. We just walked up and down the main street and everyone that met him loved him; he's quite the charmer. I just want him to find a home now. He was really good on our walk, of course, and just an absolute sweetheart.

This is where the Sharkster prefers to ride in the car on our way back from training. Only from training though, not to training or to an outing. Usually he'll sit nicely in the passenger seat or lay down in the back.

When I got Sharkey back to his kennel, I was met by a pleasant surprise. Huck, the awesome trainer Josh was telling me about, was there to work with Sharkey on his tennis ball guarding and I got to watch. It was a really great session for Sharkey and super interesting to see how Huck's methods differ from what you'd normally think to do. It's so crazy to me how he can immediately focus on the dog's behavior and uses that solely to come up with a plan for them. It was really great. I asked Huck if I could shadow him some afternoon and he said it'd be fine with him, but I need to ask the team leaders if it's okay first, so I will be e-mailing them after I finish this entry.

The more time I spend with Sharkey the more we bond. He's at the point now where he gets really excited when  he sees me, which is great, but it's going to be near impossible to leave him in two and a half weeks. Anyone interested in adopting him? I'd be happy to transport him back to Wisconsin! I'll also be happy to work with him on tennis ball excitement for you...

The last Thursday of every month, they have a blessing for pets that have crossed over the rainbow bridge. It's held at Angel's Rest, the pet cemetery that is on-site at Best Friends. The animals that pass while at Best Friends or even people's pets that they'd like to be placed there are buried there. It's really a very pretty place with gorgeous wind chimes. It's a very sad ceremony, but also a happy one as people share details about their pets. I cried, along with probably 95% of the people there. You get there and see a whole bunch of people and one of the founders, Virgil, plays a violin before the ceremony starts. Then one of the employees reads a little blurb that makes you think about all of the animals that have passed through your life. He asked us to close our eyes and look into the eyes of our animals, past and present, and then describe what we see. That made me lose it. Thinking about Tucker's little eyes makes me miss him sooooooo much. And then trying to remember Rachel's (Rachel was a collie I had growing up - we got her when she was 9 months old and I was the same age. We lost her a little over 10 years ago). After that, they list the animals that have crossed in the last month that resided at the Sanctuary, which included 3 cats, 3 rabbits, 5 dogs, and 2 parrots (I think). Some of their caregivers were at the Blessing and said a few words about the animals. The next segment was called "Celebrations and Concerns" where anyone can stand up and share remembrances of their pets. It made me laugh and cry. These pets are people's families and they aren't forgotten. We had some more reflection time, followed by some music and then a closing. Some interesting things I learned was that whenever they bury an animal, at least one wind chime always starts even if it is a completely windless day - there's never been a placing without a wind chime (and usually the one nearest the placement) going. There was also a time when they were placing a dog named Honey Bee and her caregiver looked down and there was a honey bee climbing on her (which is a rarity around Kanab!).

These are cards people send in for the ceremony. They have stories and/or pictures on the back. I think he said there were about 3,000 of them there for this ceremony alone. They were hanging from trees and wind chimes.

Like I said, it was a really sad ceremony, but it was also very comforting.