(Ana Rita in her favorite place -> right beside me)
Today is World Dog Day, just like any other day for us. We have already survived many bad days with our dogs, and were allowed to spend good days with the dogs, but unfortunately some dogs have not made it here. We pray every day that all the dogs in our farm will manage to move with us to the new piece of land and that they will be able to experience the better conditions there with us. It often doesn't look as if our wish will come true, or it will take longer than we would like. However, we will continue to do everything we can to provide the dogs with a home and the care they deserve.
(group of our dogs when I visited shelter for the first time)
We survived a self-igniting corner of rubbish at the entrance to our current yard, even if our water pipe was destroyed as a result and now means a weak point in the water system. A garbage corner that just opened out of nowhere in front of our yard. A garbage corner that made us think that we are a dumping station for unwanted dogs and rubbish.
We survived the poisoning of the dogs, even if unfortunately not all dogs affected survived. During this time we administered 60-100ml saline solution subcutaneously every 5 hours with a 5ml syringe (no other one was available) to keep them alive. Many puppies and even larger dogs died from the poisoning anyway, in our presence they gasped for breath for the last time and stopped living. Shortly afterwards there was a wave of canine distemper in our yard and again several dogs died in agony from it. It was weeks, months full of tears and funerals, lost battles, dwindling courage and little hope. In addition, there were umpteen injuries the dogs brought with them, or some of them inflicted on each other, because they fought for the only shady place, or the only dry place to sleep ...
We survived donors who jumped off, people who wanted to convince us with big words but unfortunately only a few or sometimes no deeds that they wanted to be an integral part of the project and to be our support. The monthly costs have now almost doubled, and I am grateful that I have found a job and very cheap apartment that enable me to cover these costs. It´s neither a super good job nor a super good wages I get. That´s why we are also grateful for every donation I/we received! I am equally sad that this means that I cannot be on the farm for a long time, that I cannot help on site when I know that another incident on the farm will mean extra work. I can't be with the dogs that I miss and that certainly are missing me too. We know that we cannot give much back for donations, because we ourselves have only one thing we do -> the certainty that helpless beings give us their trust, their friendship and love despite everything they have experienced. It often takes days before we find access to new dogs, dogs that are put in front of our door, or that run towards us, or that we see in the city and we are sure that they would no longer live without help.
(Diego)
We survived rainstorms, which in the beginning often cost the dogs their accommodation. When there were only makeshift wooden structures that were covered with plastic sheeting and served as a dog house. Which had often so destroyed it in the rain and storm that the building material could not be used again, or the accommodations became smaller after each reconstruction, were more tattered than before ...
Even though we had and still have our problems with all of this, we have always tried to make the best of it. - We looked in the garbage for useful things that could be used as building material or just as firewood. This enabled us to build the missing doors on all the buildings and cook the dog food for many days.
(cooking place for dogs corn soup wit liver)
(Diesel on a small nightstand that I built out of the dumb yard)
We were able to save 6 dogs from death by poisoning, who still needed support a long time after this poisoning but are back on their feet and happy, and we were able to get several dogs through the canine distemper wave and with the help of massages and exercise therapies that we did ourselves get it going again. We were able to either treat several injuries ourselves or have successfully treated so that we could continue to live.
(Jade makes physio therapy with dogs after they got stiff in their movement due to carrapato disease)
Despite missing donors, we managed to buy a new piece of land on which a more structured farm should be built for the dogs, even if it should cost us a lot of time, money and energy to do so. We bought a car that was urgently needed to end all walks with up to 50kg sacks of cornmeal. Ending the agony of planning a whole day to simply bring medicine, food, or canceled deliveries from the city to the yard on foot or by bike.
We managed to build more stable houses for the dogs, to build more roofs to protect them from strong sun and rain. It can also be cooked and fed in bad weather without getting sick or slipping and injuring yourself. Because we cannot afford injuries or other health problems. There are still only 2 people on site who take care of 87 dogs, carry wood to cook for them, carry the cornmeal sacks uphill, keep the farms clean and care for sick or injured dogs.
It is nice to have World Dog Day, but even better if you manage to look beyond this one day, or even better, to do something before and after this day. And then to see and feel that the dogs understand and know what you are doing for them is priceless!
written October 10th | 2021
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