Christmas goes to the dogs

 More notes on the progress at the new canine center. We are not calling it a shelter because a legal shelter requires a special license in Mexico, involving mountains of mind-numbing paperwork. Kristin is jubilant over response from local supporters:


Christmas has come to the dogs in a big way this year! They will be having a very nice Christmas dinner thanks to the generous donations we have received. Canned food is such a rarity and I think those shiny cans are just beautiful. They have cookies, rawhides, and new toys as well as new rugs and bedding! They are quite comical to watch when a new toy or bed comes in. It's a mad dash to lay claim to the treasures. 
 After experimenting with various dog beds, Kristin came up with generous-size steel frames, stretching burlap sacks over them and securing them with heavy-duty plastic ties. Blankets are laid on top. "These hold up better than anything we've tried, and we can just hose them off," she says. Ten of them have been constructed so far.

...and here's a bittersweet story about a chocolate lab and her litter. She has been scavenging from garbage cans because the neighbor who had more or less "adopted" her refused to feed her.


We have been feeding that poor skinny street lab every morning. She came dragging over today with her feet and legs FULL of cactis. I had one of the construction workers hold her down and I pulled them out with pliers... Kiko went over to the owner to get the puppies only to find out they are all gone... Later the workers told me he threw them in the garbage can. They took all of them and they are all in homes. One man said his is eating canned food and the other guy said he has two of them and he and his wife are bottle feeding them. 

I dosed the mother with a worm/parasite treatment and hit her with a big shot of vitamins and minerals. She is emaciated and very stressed without her babies... Later she managed to exit the center. I just let her go as she always returns in the mornings. I will get a better hold on her tomorrow. In any event, someone has already spoken for her and she is considered adopted. I have her on a medical hold and she is not going anywhere until she is spayed. I do not spay any animal that is in heat or nursing so it will have to wait a couple of weeks. She should fatten up a little by then. She is a sweetheart. The "owner" claims she isn't really his. He said she just showed up after hurricane Jimena (September 2009), and that is also her name...

 Ho, ho ho! Someone delivered hefty bags of kibble yesterday, along with cases of canned food, a real treat for these foundlings

The best news is that today and tomorrow Kristin and her husband Kiko will be able to stay home and celebrate Christmas, after having hired a caretaker over the holiday. 
  

...I am speechless in regard to the support, compassion, and friendship we have encountered this past week. I can't tell you the joy I feel when I look up and see a smiling face at our gate, holding a bag of dog food or a dog bed. It's been a while since these dogs have had a cookie and I laugh out loud at the site of them enjoying them so much.