Week Two: Complete!

       Two weeks down, three more to go! Like I've already said a million times, I thoroughly enjoyed my time in pigs and I'm kinda sad that I have to move on to cats!! Hopefully I'll have just as much fun in cats (although I doubt it...). The weather wasn't too great today, unfortunately, but I still had fun. I spent a lot of time just hanging with the piggies, and taking pictures of course :)

This is Nick & Holly! (Nick has the tusks). Nick & Holly are brother and sister, and they are different from the rest of the potbellied pigs. They are half Hampshire Hog, half wild boar. You can't really tell by these pictures, but Nick & Holly are much bigger/denser than the other pigs. They weigh between 700-800 pounds! For as big as they are, they are ridiculously fast... They can run up to 30MPH!! Since Nick & Holly are so much bigger and agile than the rest of the pigs, they are kept totally separate within a 5 acre enclosure. So they have plenty of room to run free! Some of the caregivers were telling me that they used to ride around the enclosure on ATVs and Nick & Holly would chase them! Sounds like so much fun!!! These guys are so cool... Going to miss the exhilarating/scary feeling of going into their pen!

And this, yet again, is another picture of my girl, Mazie! Taking a nap in the hay :). She's definitely getting more publicity than the rest of the piglets, lol!

       On a different note, I forgot to mention yesterday that the interns got a tour of the brand new vet clinic at Best Friends that opened in March! I was beyond blown away. Everything is state-of-the-art... All of their operating rooms, the isolation ward for sick animals, the testing lab, the ultrasound and x-ray machines, the computers, everything! it seems like they managed to think of every single thing they could ever possibly need, and it's all in one clinic. The vet tech who was giving the tour, Sam, said everyone is over the moon about the clinic and it's a drastic improvement from the previous one. The craziest part about it all, is that this clinic was built strictly from donations! In my opinion, this clinic would be any vet or vet tech's dream! It's absolutely amazing, and I'm so glad we got a chance to go on this tour.

       I just want to throw it out there that every single pig at Best Friends right now is up for adoption! I'm sure all of you will fall in love with pigs just like I did! It is important to know that Best Friends requires pigs to be adopted in pairs; simply because they like have to a friend, and they tend to behave much better if they are not alone! Here's a link if you'd like to read up on any of the pigs :)

http://bestfriends.org/Adopt-a-Pet/Sanctuary-Animals/Search/Pig/

      So I'll finish up this blog with my favorite picture of the week! From the top left corner to the right, there's Mazie, Maggie, Elliott, Doogie, and Gene! This is how I spent most of my week... Sitting in the dirt, petting pigs. And I had way more fun than I probably should have! I'm going to miss them so much!!!

Piggy Personalities

       Today was yet another fun day in Piggy Paradise! It's awesome because they've given me so much responsibility there, that I basically just do my own thing all day... I love it! I've really started to learn everyone's names now, and for the most part, it's so easy to tell who is who just by their personalities! It is absolutely amazing how distinct and unique all of their personalities are... Some are very sweet and affectionate, some are anti-social, some love to be brushed, while others won't let you near them. As similar as they are to dogs, they are much more independent. As many of you know, when you call a dog's name, they acknowledge you or they run over to you, etc. (except for my butthead dog), but pigs feel no inclination to please people! They do their own thing, and they do it on their name. As intelligent as they are, they don't feel the need to showcase it. I am totally fascinated by all that I've learned about pigs... I've really grown to love them! Although I'm a vegetarian now, I will tell you that after working so closely with pigs, I am definitely NEVER going to eat ham or bacon ever again!!! Not after seeing these adorable faces all week...

This is baby Gene, one of the piglets! He is so soft and loving... If you pet him a few times, he just flops over so you can rub his belly and his armpits! Too cute :)

This is Gene and his best bud, Elliot, taking a nap together! Gene and Elliot have been adopted as a pair!!! YAY!

This is Dozer. He and I have a love-hate relationship. Out of all of the pigs, his personality is the most distinguishable. He gets super jealous and territorial if anyone is petting/brushing another pig over him. He just comes up, bites the other pig in the butt, and moves in so he can get all the love. He's such a jerk but it's pretty entertaining to watch! He even nips his own piglets and kicks them out!! And today, Dozer was being naughty and he nipped me a couple times. I know he looks cute in the picture above, but he looks pretty mean in this one...

He is such a piece of work...

And this last picture is of the shy, little piglet, Mazie. This is as close as I could get to take her picture before she wanted to run off! Hopefully she'll warm up to humans sooner rather than later!

       This week went by pretty fast! I'm sad that tomorrow is my last day in pigs :(... I'm going to miss these little piggies so much! I found out that I am in cats next week, so we will see how that goes! I'm going to go out tonight with one of the other interns and a couple other people from Best Friends... I'm looking forward to getting out of the house and having some fun :).

Mazie & Millie

       Today, I don't have too much to blog about! The events of today were practically the same as yesterday: morning feedings, socializing the piglets, tour of Jeffrey's, lunch, afternoon feedings, mucking the pig pens, walking Tobias, and going home early since I completed all of my tasks in the afternoon! (The staff was at a meeting all afternoon, so they left me alone with the pigs. But I wasn't complaining!)

       The tour of Jeffrey's House, one of the Dogtown builidings, was a really cool tour. It was lead by Carissa, who is a trainer at Dogtown. Carissa specializes in dogs with severe fear-aggression, and she's also worked with feral dogs. At Best Friends, they use a color-coded collar system to classify the dogs. Green collar means anyone can handle the dog, purple collar means the handler must be 18+, and red collar means staff only. Majority of the dogs that are kept at Jeffrey's are 'red collar dogs', and basically all of the dogs at Jeffrey's have some form of fear-aggression; whether it's guarding their food, or meeting new people... These dogs are extremely unpredictable and capable of doing serious harm. So for the tour, Carissa took us around the perimeter of the fenced-in runs and talked to us about each dog. I won't go into detail because the stories of some of the dogs are pretty horrific and infuriating. But overall, Carissa said that all of the dogs at Jeffrey's have made tremendous progress and have come so far! A lot of the dogs will live out their lives at Best Friends, but some of the dogs are able to be adopted (to the right home, and the right person).

       Socializing the piglets is always a fun time! I worked with Mazie and Millie again today. And I managed to capture some pictures of the cutie pies! Not sure why, but Mazie is my favorite! :) They're still super shy and afraid of me, but hopefully by the end of the week, we'll be able to see some progress!

This is Millicent AKA Millie :)

And this is my girl, Mazie! I just think she has the sweetest eyes :)

       Out of the two of them, Millie is definitely more outgoing than Mazie. Millie can tolerate being touched and pet, but Mazie still jumps each time you touch her! The process of socializing pigs is super similar to that of dogs. Shelters and rescues both care about socialization for one reason: the more social and friendly an animal is, the more likely she is to get adopted! So, the task of socialization is very important, and I will do whatever I can to make these little angels more adoptable! As the days go on, the hope is that Mazie and Millie will start to recognize my voice and my presence, and in turn, they'll get more comfortable with me! I will let you know how it goes :)

Second Week: Pigs

       As many of you have probably predicted... I love pigs!!! :) They are so similar to dogs, it's unreal. At Piggy Paradise right now, they have 25 pigs -- almost all of the pigs are potbelly pigs, except for a few that are mixed with other breeds --  that they split up into different 'communities'. There's a senior community, a special needs community, and a regular community. A pig's average life span is about 20 years, so the pigs in the senior community are suffering from things like arthritis, deafness, blindness, and even dementia. Pigs in the special needs community may have neurological problems, physical limitations, and weight issues. And the pigs in the regular community are in fairly good health. The senior community is kept totally separate from the special needs and regular communities. The special needs pigs and the regular pigs are all kept within the same enclosure, but there are gates to keep them separated if need be.


       We started off our morning by preparing all of the piggy food. The pigs eat a diet of hay pellets, frozen veggies, and heads of lettuce. After we divvied up their food, we walked around to each community to feed the pigs... And they went nuts for their morning meal! Pigs can be very impatient and pushy when you're trying to place a handful of food into their troughs. We walked into the special needs community, and it was my job to give RB his pan of food. He is a BIG boy!

       This is another pig that's a part of the special needs community, Buckaro. He suffers from mechanical blindness. Since he's overweight, his skin and "chub" cover his eyes, which limits his sight. But I think it makes him even cuter!

        After the morning feeding was done, my supervisor (and the primary caregiver of the pigs), Adria, told me to take Tobias for a walk. Tobias is kept in his own cage, away from all of the other pigs, because he does not play nicely with others! But he loves people! Also, Tobias has a broken jaw right now, and he is in a great deal of pain :(. Poor guy... But he still enjoys eating treats! Pigs' favorite treats are fig newtons. Tobias is a pretty cool piggy... not only can he 'sit' on command, but he can also 'shake'!!! It's so adorable. I'll stop blabbing and just show you a picture of him already...

      How can you not smile when you see that face?! When I was walking him, I didn't have him on a leash, so I used something called a "carrot stick". A carrot stick is basically just a long rod that I use to "steer" Tobias if he's not going the direction that I want him to. I didn't use it too often though... He was a pretty good walker! Every so often he would look up at me and beg for a fig newton! (Hence, the adorable little face that you see in the picture above!)

       In addition to feeding, I brushed a bunch of the pigs! You wouldn't think that pigs like to be brushed, but they really enjoy it. I basically used a scrubber brush, like a brush you would use to scrub the kitchen floor. And once you start brushing, the pigs just flop on their sides. Kinda like this...

This is Oliver! He's one of the few white pigs they have at the sanctuary.

       The two pictures above are of a 9 month old piglet named Gene! He has three other siblings at the sanctuary right now: Mazie, Millie, and Doogie! Not all of the piglets are as friendly as Gene, so I spent a lot of time in the afternoon socializing with the pigs. In order to socialize a pig, you have to try to get the pig to take fig newtons right out of your hand and from your lap while you're sitting down. I did this exercise with Mazie and Millie -- since they don't really like to be touched. So once they got close enough to take the fig newton from me, I would rub their backs and their sides. The goal is to get them used to human touch, and to show them that humans aren't bad! Here's another picture of Gene, falling asleep with a friend! (Whom I can't remember his name!)

       We also got to meet some of the goats! They do piggy-goat play dates, which is pretty hysterical, might I add. Where the goats are kept, one of the caregivers has set up an agility course! A few of the goats really enjoy doing agility, it's so awesome!

This is Steve the Goat. He's quite the character!

 And this is Billy the Goat! 

       Hopefully I'll get to know more piggies and goats by the end of this week! I really enjoyed my first day at pigs, they are such cool animals!! As the 4th most intelligent species, I'm intrigued by all that they're capable of. As the week goes on, I'm sure I'll witness many instances of their intelligence. I'm already so impressed by Tobias! Anyway, I'm sure this week is going to be tons of fun. Looking forward to it :).

Zion National Park

      Today, Rebecca and Margie (2 other 5-week interns), and myself took a trip out to Zion National Park! For this blog, I'm going to let the pictures do a lot of the talking :). It was breathtaking! (all pictures will be extra big so you can see them better!)

As we drove through the park, I took some pictures out of the car window! And unfortunately, these pictures don't even do Zion justice. At one point, we drove through a long tunnel that basically went underneath a mountain, it was so neat!

We just keep driving down these winding roads... There were way too many photo ops!

These next pictures are from our hike on the Pa'rus Trail...

This is the Virgin River that runs through Zion.

Beautiful cactus flowers! These were all over the place...

       Woohoo, one national park that I can check off my list!!! It was such a fun hike! But yikes... on our way back, a huge yellow snake slithered across the trail, we ran and screamed like hell! And no, I did not capture a picture of him! It took us about 3 and 1/2 hours to complete the Pa'rus Trail, and I am definitely exhausted now. I'm struggling to keep my eyes open, but I'm  trying to not nap so that I can fall asleep early tonight! I want to be well-rested for my fist day in pigs tomorrow!!! :)

Cooper

       My first Saturday off! I enjoyed sleeping in until 8AM! I didn't do much this morning until getting ready for my volunteer shift at Dogtown in the afternoon. I went over to the sanctuary at about 12:30 to check in, and then after check-in, I made my way over to Dogtown Headquarters. Amongst other volunteers, I waited in line to find out where I would be assigned for the afternoon. They put me in a section called The Fairway. Here, they basically have young adult dogs. To give you some background, Dogtown has at least 10 different octagon-shaped structures where they house the dogs. These structures have an an inside enclosure as well as an outside run so the dogs have some room to stretch their legs. Within "The Fairway", there's two octagon structures that are named after dogs who passed away. 


        Since it was so hot this afternoon, the caregivers did not want us to take the dogs out for long walks. So for the most part, I did a little bit of cleaning, and socializing with the dogs. Sadly, a lot of the dogs had come from bad situations, so majority of the dogs were very shy and standoffish. I'm glad I could be there for the dogs and spend some time with them... But being around dogs today made me pretty sad. Not only did I feel sorry for the dogs because I can't even imagine what they've been through, but it really made me miss Lola. When I was at The Fairway today, trying to connect with the dogs, I found myself longing to hug and hold my own dog back home. So I'm sad to report that my day in Dogtown wasn't all that great. It made me feel like the next four weeks is going to be an eternity.


       Once I got home from volunteering, I made myself a crappy dinner (noodles out of a bag, woohoo....). Later on, feeling like I really needed to clear my head, I decided to go for a run. I ran all the way down Powell Drive, which is a dead end street. At the end of the street, there is some kind of man-made water source that's surrounded by a fence. I stood there for awhile, listened to my music, took in all of the scenery. I took a moment to ground myself, which I definitely needed after this long week. To give all of you an idea of my scenery...

       After taking it all in and catching my breath, I turned around and ran back home. As I neared home, I saw a big, black, shaggy dog on the side of Powell Drive. He was just sitting there, minding his own business. I started walking towards him. He was across the street so I whistled at him and said "come here boy!". He happily got up, wagged his tail, and ran over to me as if he'd known me his whole life. Once he got over to me, I knelt down to pet him, and he instantly flopped on his side, letting me know that he really wanted a belly rub. Here's proof...

       So as I'm petting this sweet boy, I notice that he doesn't have a collar on. Not knowing what to do, I decided to keep walking and beckon him as I go. He stayed right by my side as if I had him on a leash. As I approached home, I told him to sit and stay as I went inside to get Amberly. He didn't move a muscle. When we came back out, we put a collar and a leash on him, and then we put him into her fenced-in backyard. We managed to find a phone number for Animal Control, and they said they would come out and pick him up. As I waited for Animal Control, he sat right next to me, even on my foot at some point. He laid down next to me, he seemed very comfortable. Every so often, he would look up at me or give me a kiss on the cheek. Needless to say, I was quickly falling in love with this pup! When Animal Control arrived, the officer recognized the dog right away and said, "Cooper, how did you get out boy??". Turns out, Cooper lives right up the street from where I'm staying, where he nonchalantly just left his yard to tag along with me. Although I'm glad he has a home, it still worries me that he doesn't have a collar and that he can escape his yard so easily. (I've noticed that people aren't too bright out here...). I walked Cooper back up the street, put him in his yard, gave him a hug and a kiss, and returned home.

       Once I got home, I couldn't help but think that it was no coincidence that Cooper found me today. I think Cooper knew that I was sad and missing my own dog, and he decided that he would cheer me up. And he definitely did. Cooper reminded me of the beautiful, kind nature of dogs, and their extraordinary ability to make even the worst day better. As he gave me kisses and gave me his paw to "shake", I could tell that he knew exactly what he was doing, and he knew exactly what I needed... I needed the love of a dog.

Week One: Complete!

       I apologize for not blogging on Friday night... It may shock you all to know that I had plans! Michele, a member of the bunny staff, had invited me over to her house for happy hour! So after work, I went home, got changed, and went over to her place. We went for a walk and then we just sat on her porch, talked, and had a few drinks. I'm so glad that I met her... Michele is such a sweetheart and a really cool person. I'm going to miss her next week! I'm probably a little bit too happy to have had Friday night plans... It's been very strange to have no social life whatsoever while in Kanab. 


       Anyway, my last day in bunnies was fun and easy; I cleaned cages and hay boxes. In the morning, the interns were scheduled to attend a presentation on puppy mills. The presentation was given by Dr. Frank McMillian, a veterinarian here at Best Friends. Growing up in Reading, PA, just half an hour away from Amish country... I was already pretty familiar with the prevalence and severity of these horrific businesses, but Dr. Frank has conducted multiple studies in order to study adult breeding dogs that come out of puppy mill situations, as well as, the puppies that come from puppy mills, and I learned so many new things from his research alone. What he found were some very staggering and significant statistics when comparing the behavior/personality of a puppy mill dog vs. a private breeder dog. Unfortunately, I cannot remember the statistical numbers from yesterday, but I do remember that the level of issues that puppy mill dogs have, compared to dogs that are not from puppy mills, is astronomical. Overall, I found his research to be extremely compelling and very vital to the cause of eradicating puppy mills altogether. As an undergrad in the very beginning phases of conducting qualitative research on the human tendencies to anthropomorphize their dogs, I was very intrigued by Dr. Frank's research. Not only because it's fascinating, but he managed to quantify a qualitative study, and basically make it objective. I would love to add a quantifiable, or objective component to my own research one day (as minuscule as it is). Lots to think about in the future!


      This afternoon, I am volunteering in Dogtown! I definitely need to get my "fix". Not that bunnies aren't adorable, but I'm in desperate need of the love and affection that you can only get from a dog! I'm sure I'll have a blast this afternoon! Speaking of adorable bunnies... I'm going to post the last adorable bunny picture today, and to be honest, I think I saved the best for last.

This is Patrick (but everyone tends to call him Patrick Ol' Boy, lol). He is the only lop-eared bunny at the sanctuary right now. He is the most precious little thing you ever saw... He makes your heart melt! I'm happy to report that Patrick is getting adopted next week to a loving home. Yay!

       One week down, four more to go! I will say that this week did not go by quickly, but I'm sure that will change. I miss home, I miss my family, I miss my boyfriend, I miss my friends, I miss Lola. Trying to stay positive and convince myself that these next four weeks will fly by! I can do this.

      Captured this shot on the way home from Michele's last night. So pretty!