5/1/11, Day 3 at Scooby - 2nd Full Day of Work

Welcome to another day at Scooby!
Photo by Saskia Bijkersma

Awoke early to "the Wave" serenade of hundreds of singing dogs.  I sure will miss hearing this, as there is truly nothing like it.  Put on my gear and headed out to clean up the Quarantine pens.

By now, I've gotten it down to a pretty efficient system. Couple of tricks to the cleaning: drag the hose over the fence (more flexibility), drag the poop bucket and supplies into the pen before you begin working, use the tile squeegee to drag the full bucket out to the waste area. The process: 1) scoop the poop, 2) hose down the pen, 3) fill the water, 4) remove work gloves, sit on the tile and ask, "Who needs some loving?" From there, the dogs come out and crowd around, each waiting to be petted.  There were a couple of very shy ones that actually shook if you tried to get near them.  I tried very hard to get them to come to me for a pet, but they just couldn't trust. Heaven only knows what they've endured, prior to coming to Scooby.  From the others, I got so many kisses, hugs and leans. Could have spent days with each and every dog and it wouldn't have been enough.

It rained a bit, on and off. The dogs cried and ran into their shelters.  Galgos don't like the rain. They like laying out in the sun on their clean patios, and my aim was to get those patios clean as soon as possible for the sun bathers!

Galgos love to bathe in the sun, and they don't like the rain.
Note: Hazel sighting in this photo.

After finishing the 12 pens, I walked the Quarantine area for a final check, and wouldn't you know it, my masterpieces were ruined with more poop and pee.  I became a bit obsessive about it and did a second round of scooping and hosing.  The dogs seemed to appreciate it too.

Once again, all of the volunteers took guard in each paddock and pen, as the food was distributed, to make certain that everyone was getting along, playing fair, and had a chance to eat.  We hand fed a few of the shy ones who didn't even seem to know how to get their food from the feeding troughs.  It went well on this day, which made everyone happy.

Two new, shy Scooby dogs that we need to beef up.  Before long, they will gain weight, be much healthier, and hopefully, have forever homes with loving families, like our Bless does.

My routine was to clean the Quarantine pens, eat a nice little microwave omelette for lunch (break an egg in a cup, stir w/veggies and herbs, and micro for about 1-2 min.), then take a break at the dorm. After that, see what else needs to be done.  That day, I also cleaned the medical rooms, mopped, did some dog laundry (blankets).  During my down time, I loved to enter the Quarantine pens and paddocks to visit the dogs.  This was my favorite time of day!

Galgo Love. My favorite part of the day!

We all cleaned up and then went out for a late pizza dinner, once again, at the great little restaurant in Medina del Campo.  The wonderful volunteers from the Netherlands, Saskia, Ricky, Nicky, and Roy joined us for dinner.  We had some good conversation and laughter, and then turned in for the night.

Nicky and Ricky, Wonderful volunteers from the Netherlands. Ricky celebrated his 21st birthday with us. 

Roy, Saskia and Ricky. Our Netherlands volunteers put their whole hearts into their work. Thank you all!

What a great day it was, indeed!

Thank you for reading my blog. More to follow.

Hasta Luego!

Bless Easter
Isn't she gorgeous?