The smell of success

Submitted by EARS volunteer Tereza Marks (pictured)

Wow, what a tiring day. This is my third day here. I got here Friday afternoon and was tired after just a few hours but now I am extremely tired. It is a lot of hard work. Many of us are complaining that our thighs and legs and backs hurt as we have cleaned lots of cages and some are sitting on the floor. This afternoon we finally finished getting everyone seen by the veterinarians. I am sure that the vets are quite tired also; after all, they did see about 300 dogs and puppies.

I have never seen so many matted dogs covered in waste. It is quite sad. These dogs are getting their cages cleaned twice a day, which they probably have never experienced before. We also started getting the worst of them groomed today. What a difference a haircut makes! They are actually starting to look like poodles, Maltese and Yorkies again.

I have primarily been working on the maternity ward. I have cleaned up after a lot of poopy puppies. They are so adorable though. I can only hope that they all find nice homes where they are spoiled rotten. It is difficult not to get attached to some of them. I think everyone has their favorite dog or puppy.

The not-so-great-thing is how we smell at the end of the day. A bunch of us went out to dinner last night after working at the temporary shelter all day. The manager keep coming over to talk to us and the waiter didn’t seem to want to get too close. We were joking that our smell had run off the customers at nearby tables.

Although we are tired and don’t smell too good, I think we all are happy to be here to make a difference!