Calling All Animal Lovers to Best Friends Animal Sanctuary

Thursday, December 23, 2010....After a 3 1/2 hour drive from Las Vegas, we arrived in Kanab, UT and Best Friends Animal Sanctuary around lunch time. At 1:30 pm we were scheduled for a tour of the sanctuary and although it was cloudy, the sun was finally trying to peek through after what we heard was a week of heavy rain. The tour was mostly by van since Best Friends is on about 3000+ acres with about 1700+ animals. The animals are here through rescues (hoarding, puppy mills, abuse, etc), surrenders and strays.

The tour of Best Friends took us from the Welcome Center up the highway to Dogtown and Cat World. We were able to visit one of the Cat World buildings and visited with some wonderful and affectionate cats looking for loving homes. The cat accommodations have both inside and outside areas with 3-4 rooms and up to maybe 10 cats per 'room'. There is food, litter boxes, toys, perches and plenty of cubbys for the cats to play and get away from visitors and each other. Cats are separated by age, health and personality, as are most of the 1700+ animals here. We drove past the Bunnie House and Bird House on our way to Dogtown where we visited one of the 8 octagons in Dogtown Heights. The dogs also have indoor and outdoor runs with what seemed to be 2-4 dogs per run. All dogs have color 'coded' collars - green for volunteer friendly, purple for 18+ and red for staff only. There are many reasons for a dog to be staff only and the purple 18+ are usually because they are stronger dogs that are best walked by adults. We were pleasantly surprised by how clean, organized and spacious everything is!

After the tour, we had an orientation for volunteering and checked in to cottage 2. The cottages are comfortable and clean, equipped with microwave, toaster oven, small refrigerator, burner and all of the dishes and utensils you need. There is a small dining table, TV, sleeper sofa and a bedroom with 2 full size beds (cottages can sleep 6) and a balcony overlooking Horse Haven. Each cottage has a telephone and answering machine since cell service is very limited, but wireless Internet is available and free in each cottage.

We drove up Canyon Road and stopped at several of the horse pastures to say hello with a final stop at Angels Rest - the cemetery/memorial garden! We were amazed at how large it was and got teary-eyed reading some of the memorials!

Being December and the off season, many of the restaurants in Kanab are closed or don't open until 5 or 6 pm. Nadra's offers Mexican food that is OK but a bit spendy. There is a Subway, McDonald's, Pizza Hut and several other independent restaurants, plus 2 grocery stores in town. Being Utah, the liquor store is state run, small and not easy to find. The liquor store is located on E 100 S, next to the police station.

Friday, December 24, 2010 - Today we got up and headed to Dogtown to volunteer with the dogs. After orientation, we went to puppy training, for the first training of 4 - 10 week old black lab/chow puppies. How cute were they!?!? Named after ski resorts, there were 4 of us with the 4 puppies, trying to teach them to sit, get used to different noises, toys and household appliances. The training was only 45 minutes but informative and fun. We then headed over to The Garden to help with the volunteer friendly dogs there. We walked 6 well-behaved, loving dogs (Mercy & Harold, Amy & Fate and Elvira & Michael). There is a nice 1/2 mile loop for dogs at The Garden with spectacular views. The morning shift runs from 8:15 am - 11:30 am, but you can leave to go on tours of other areas or if you just can't do the whole shift. The volunteer coordinators and caregivers are very flexible in what they ask you to do. We were willing to work (pick up poop), but they asked us to walk dogs, which is always fun and a nice break for the dogs.

A vegetarian buffet lunch is available for employees and volunteers from 12 noon - 1 pm at Angel Village. The buffet includes a salad bar, dessert and several hot vegetarian items for $5 per person. Angel Village offers a spectacular view of Angel Canyon and is a nice break in the day!

The afternoon shift started at 1:15 and we volunteered in Cat World. After a brief orientation, we headed to Kitty Hotel to help with some of the special needs cats (mostly FIV). Because it was such a beautiful sunny day, we took several of the cats for a walk. Missy, didn't need a harness and just wanted to sit and absorb the sun, while Jim walked Smokey. Next, we walked Smokey II and Cozy, with no tails and continence issues, they enjoyed rolling around in the sand and enjoying the sun. Jim took Thumper, a black cat with paralyzed back legs for a shuffle through the sandy, while Nicole prepared dinner for each of the 5 rooms of cats. We wrapped up the shift by visiting cats in a few of the rooms, before heading back to Dogtown to pick up our sleepover dog, Donna.

After volunteering in cats, dogs or pot bellied pigs, you can have one join you for a sleepover in your room. Most hotels in Kanab are pet friendly, as are the cottages and cabins on the Best Friends property. You can request a specific dog, cat or pig, but we just asked for a dog that needed to go out for a sleepover. Donna is a temporary resident at the Fairway and is absolutely wonderful! She's very well behaved and knows the sleepover routine. Donna sat nicely in the car and seemed to know exactly which Best Friends cottage to go to. We took her for a walk around Horse Haven, where she had no issues with the horses. In the cottage, she waited for her treats, explored and finally settled down on Nicole's feet, on her blanket.

We took Donna into Kanab to get dinner and she was more than happy to ride along, but was more excited to get out at the grocery store and walk to Calvin T's Smoking Gun BBQ to meet Jim. While Jim was inside ordering, Donna sat on a bench looking in the window, anxiously waiting for what she thought would be a nice treat (Dogtown dogs cannot be fed people food). The ride back to Best Friends, Donna was very well behaved and didn't even acknowledge there was food in the car! She did sit next to the table looking at us with those adorable eyes while we ate, but eventually settled down next to the table.

Calvin T's Smoking Gun BBQ has a nice out door pet-friendly patio for warmer weather dining and also is one of the few places in town with bar. Calvin T's is behind the Wigwam and a large gate, that when it is closed, you would never know that the restaurant is back there. The food at Calvin T's was OK, but we didn't come here for the food, we came for Best Friends and the animals!

Once back at Best Friends, Donna was more than happy to lay on her blanket, on our feet and each time we got up we had to give her a treat...she obviously knows the game. Donna did want to get on the couch, but we tried to discourage her. When it was time for bed, she jumped on both beds before deciding to sleep on the couch (there was no way of stopping her). Donna doesn't jump, bark or whine, so we had to listen for the click of her toenails to know when she was up during the night...she got up at 3:45 am and Nicole took her out to go to the bathroom.

Saturday, December 25 (Christmas) - Donna joined us after the alarm went off, jumping on the bed then laying down for a morning snuggle. We took her for a walk around Horse Haven and to the Welcome Center before packing up her overnight bag and bringing her back to Dogtown. She is so sweet, we were sad to see her go, but found out she was going on another sleepover tonight! We hope this sleepover leads to adoption!

After dropping Donna off, we headed back to Horse Haven for our morning shift with the horses and goats. Our first duty was to muck (scoop horse poop), then we helped to feed some of the horses, did a bit more mucking, then cleaned out the goat and sheep pens giving them fresh straw beds for Christmas. We ended the shift with a little grooming of Grandpa (donkey) and a mule.

Lunch at Angel Village was really good, with faux chicken breast, green bean 'casserole', stuffing, cookies and salad bar. Another beautiful view on a beautiful day! What a wonderful place to spend Christmas!

We had planned on spending an afternoon over in Zion National Park, but were having such a great time at Best Friends, we decided to do another shift with the cats and this time went to Casa de Calmar, which houses the feline leukemia cats. Being Christmas, this afternoon was strictly playtime with all of the toys they got for Christmas. There are 3 rooms of cats, most of which are very affectionate, with a few a little under the weather. The cats had a blast with the sunny warm weather and all of the new toys to explore! There were several cats who had boxes of toys delivered specifically to them, from regular visitors/volunteers, but all of the cats were willing to share their gifts with their 'room mates'.

Having such a great time with Donna last night, we decided to have another dog for a sleepover. Tonight, we brought home Temple, who we met in the lobby at the Fairways during our tour. Temple is a very sweet girl from the Nashville floods. She looks a bit pit bull with Dalmatian like spots. She rode well in the car, stretching out in the back seat and sleeping soundly until we got back to the cottage where we went for a nice walk. Temple must have been exhausted because she crashed on the couch while we made dinner and for most of the evening until Jim took her for a potty walk before bed. After our sleepover with Donna last night, we knew it was no use trying to keep Temple off the couch or beds so we gave in and after jumping back and forth between the beds, she settled in. It is a sleepover after all, so time to do all that you can't do 'at home'! She slept until about 4:00 am when we figured we should take her for a quick potty break, then back to sleep!

Sunday, December 26, 2010 - We got up, made breakfast and took Temple for a nice long walk around Horse Haven. She is very good with the horses and they were very interested in sniffing her. After our walk, we played a bit in the room before bringing her back to The Fairways so she could have her breakfast! Again, it was very hard to say goodbye, but she is so wonderful, we know she will find a forever home soon!

We checked out of Best Friends because it was a bit rainy and headed back to Las Vegas after a wonderful holiday weekend at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary! We highly recommend animal lovers to visit Best Friends and better yet, volunteer! It is a wonderful place, with friendly, loving people who can use everyone's help in giving all of the animals the love and care they need. The sanctuary is really that, a peaceful sanctuary. We were both very impressed with how clean, friendly and well run everything at Best Friends was - even on a holiday weekend! I think the animals gave way more to us, than we gave to them this Christmas!

Thank you Best Friends!!