The dogs that were flown up here are from a shelter near Little Rock, Arkansas, and they were NOT left homeless by the hurricane. They are clearing out space in shelters a few hundred miles away from the destruction areas to make room for the dogs that were left homeless as they start to get collected and processed.

However, just because they were not directly impacted by the storm does not mean these dogs had it easy. The staff member that flew down to the Arkansas shelter to pick up the 22 dogs had a rough time because the shelter was barely a shelter. It was a fenced in dirt area with a plastic tarp strung up overhead. All of the dogs were severely infected with ticks and fleas and their ears were all chewed up and bumpy from the infestation. Most of the dogs seemed traumatized. Very nervous. Tails tucked up very tight between their legs. My guess is that this "shelter" probably shotguns their dogs every few weeks.

I prefer hanging out with the big dogs. I like their personalities better and I like wrestling with them in the grass once we get to know each other. Most of the other volunteers are women and parents with kids. They tend to be more comfortable with the smaller dogs, so it works out.

The fist dog I took out Saturday morning was huge. As I was taking him out of his run there was another volunteer that I thought was pretty comfortable around dogs. I opened the door and the dog barged out. I had him by his collar but he was all excited and made move toward the other volunteer. No barking or growling, just moved towards her. She took a few steps back and seemed to cower. Oh well.

I took him outside and had to use two hands on the leash to keep control, and even then he was pulling me off balance. We walked about a quarter mile without me correcting him. Just kind of a get to know me period. We sat down. Said a few hellos, did some butt scratching, and then started to head back to the shelter. The first time he started to pull me off balance I gave a firm "NO" and a solid tug on the leash. He stopped and looked over his shoulder at me for a couple of seconds. His eyes said something like "Oh, your in charge. Cool." and then was a perfect gentleman on the leash. I only had to use one had on the way back. I only had to give him a couple more corrections. Very smart dog. I would take him home if I could.

He decided he wanted to sit in my lap, so who was I to say no. We guessed him at around 110 pounds. Look at the size of his chest compared to me. He is a monster, but sweet as can be. Maybe we will go back today.



Very playful. My guess is that he is just a little over a year old, so he still has some puppy energy.



He was looking at a couple other dogs that were out and wanted to run over and play, but I made him sit, and he did a pretty good job of staying put.



I could have spent all day hanging out with him, but he seemed very well adjusted so I thought I should go spend some time with some of the other dogs that needed to be socialized.

This little guy was very traumatized. I opened the run door to let him come to me on his own terms, but he wouldn't budge. I stepped in and let him smell my hand. He turned his head away. I gave him a little scratch on the head and then tried to sweet talk him to come out. Nope. I put the leash on to give him a little tug of encouragement. I don't think he ever had a leash on and that seemed to stress him out even more.

OK, different approach. I tossed the leash out of the run, left the door open, and sat down next to him. I could see that his right rear foot looked like it had been cut or broken. Ouch. I just kept talking quietly and gently stroked him. After about five minutes of this he realized I wasn't going to beat him and actually wagged his tail a couple of times and then tucked it back under again. He decided I was OK and moved towards me for more touching.

I tried the leash again after a while but same reaction. I picked him up and carried him outside to a grassy area. He still seemed traumatized, so I just sat there with him and kept talking quietly. I pulled him close to me and held him firmly since he seemed to trust me and just gave him as much time as he needed to get comfortable with the outside. He was shaking at this point. We just sat there quietly for more than 10 minutes. At that point he got up and started to explore our immediate area. Cool!

He is panicked and shivering at this point. I felt pretty bad for him.


Just holding him firmly for reassurance to let him get used to the different sounds outside.


We were in the full sun and getting a little hot so I thought we would go to the other side of the building under a big tree. I tried the leash again and he just sat down and looked panicked. OK, I took off the leash and carried him to the tree.

Long story short, we eventually used some other puppies that were playing to bring him out of his shell and make him forget this leash. By the time we left he was following the other puppies around a fenced in area and would approach people and let them scratch his head.

They are keeping a mom that just had a litter of puppies in the men's room. They were cute. Mom didn't mind us repositioning the pups so they could all latch on. I think she was just exhausted from all of the trauma too.