Dogtown at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary

Emma (our greyhound) was so sweet to let Dan and I volunteer at Dogtown for a whole week to share our love with other dogs. It was an experience of a lifetime! Below are some pics from our trip - Enjoy :-)

Checking in at Dog Headquarters to sign up to volunteer each day. The volunteer program and staff were awesome!

Below are the Dog octagons where some of the dogs are housed with indoor and outdoor runs. There are about 20-30 dogs per octagon. Dogtown had about 450 dogs there while we were visiting. Each volunteer session, we usually started off by taking the dogs on long walks. All in all, we probably worked with ~100 dogs over the entire week.

The awesome cottages we stayed in on the Sanctuary. What a view!



We really had a great time with our sleepover dogs - Ruth, Aurora, and Brie. They all did great and would make wonderful pets. Aurora (black dog) was a little shy around men. After each sleepover, we filled out an evaluation form for the sanctuary so they could evaluate each dog's progress.




If you watch Dogtown on the National Geographic Channel, you should recognize the folks in the following pictures - John and Ann. The sanctuary staff are super friendly and helpful including everyone you see on the TV show. Ann helped us get Aurora into our vehicle for our doggie sleepover.



We were able to see some of the Victory Dogs while visiting. Below is Curly. He was too shy to stand on his own for us so one of the caretakers carried him for us to see. Volunteers are not allowed to touch or work with the Victory dogs per court order in the county. Only staff are allowed to work with them.


There were several classes and demos to attend also - like puppy class and a water fitness demo.

A Birthday Wish Come True

As you can see, I am the happiest girl in the world. Tomorrow is my birthday (I am turning 2 years old), and my birthday wish has already come true. I have found my forever home :-) My foster parents are now my parents! Apparently, all of my parents' friends said there was no way my parents could foster me without adopting me and they were right! I do plan on helping my parents foster another dog, and this time we will actually just foster. So the next blog will be written by the next foster dog. I will just give tips to the new dog on how to pose pretty for pictures. Oh yeah, I will always keep my racing name Mighty Mite, but my everyday name is now Emma. I like my new name, especially because it has two letter 'm's for Mighty Mite.

Greyt Playdate

Mighty Mite here. I just returned from a very fun and very exhausting playdate with two really sweet big boy greys - Bettis and Myokie. My foster parents were so proud of me at the playdate. Introductions and romping in the yard went well. After a little while, I fell asleep while the other playdate participants enjoyed chatting and hanging out on the deck.

Mighty Mite Day 3

Mighty Mite checking in. Today I really enjoyed relaxing in the shade under a big tree. There is nothing like a warm summer breeze carrying great smells through the air and I do not have to move to sniff all of the scents. Several neighborhood kids dropped by for a visit and I was so grateful for all of the attention. I really enjoyed romping in the yard with them. I had plenty of kisses to go around. Today I also met a couple of non-greyhound dogs, and apparently I have to work on my manners a bit. I am eager to please, so I am going to work very hard. I am getting ready for my nightly walk now, which I am very good at. What a greyt way to end the weekend.

Mighty Mite Day 1 & 2

Hi, my name is DC Mighty Mite. I am full of kisses when I meet new people, and I think my foster parents fell in love with me from the first second they met me. Late Friday afternoon, I happily hopped into their car and they took me on a nice ride to my foster home. I may be small enough to sit in the front seat but the back gave me plenty of room to stretch out. I really enjoyed the wind in my face from the two open windows. When we arrived at my new foster home, I ran in my fenced in backyard and sniffed all of the new smells. Within less than 48 hours, I was able to navigate longs stairways (up and down) one step at a time. At first I skipped multiple steps which scared my foster Mom and Dad, but they worked with me and now I am a one step at a time girl. I am really excited to play with the many, many stuffies I found both upstairs and downstairs. I have so many, I try a new one each time. Oh yeah, I also found a bone with some sort of peanut butter inside I enjoy chewing on. The most startling thing I discovered was something called a 'mirror' which seemed to have dog in it that I couldn't get to. I was told that was just my reflection, but I am not sure I believe it yet. One more thing about me, I enjoy lots of affection and give plenty also.