The next morning, Rebo woke up when I did, and after a few minutes went to stand by the door. All that and he's housebroken too. So I got dressed, leashed him up and we went for a morning stroll. Rebo took care of his business, and we went back to the room. We showered, had some breakfast, gave Rebo the rest of the treats and we packed up and headed back to Best Friends. Julie had asked us to bring Rebo back after 8:30 due to their feeding times, so we got there right around 9 and let Rebo back into the run he shared with Mariette.

We told Julie he was a fantastic sleepover companion, and we were happy to have spent the night with him. He got a glowing review on his evaluation form. An and I shared the same question: Why hadn't Rebo been adopted yet? I don't think it was possible for him to have been a more lovable and enjoyable companion. He made me want to be with him all the time, and he didn't even have to try. That's just how he is. I desperately hope that Rebo finds a home, because he has so much to offer. Kind and gentle towards everybody, and so relentlessly adorable. This guy really deserves a forever home, and I wish with everything I have that he gets adopted. He has so much potential to enrich somebody's life, all he wants is a chance.

We said our goodbyes and drove back to Dogtown HQ to get our volunteering assignments for the day. We were hoping to work up in the lodges again, or Conrad's and Leopold's, but by the time we got to HQ, those places were already taken by other volunteers. We asked what was available, and Old Friends still needed some volunteers. So back we went to Old Friends again, where I'm sure Julie was getting tired of seeing us. We said we were there to volunteer for the morning, so she got us started with poop scooping the runs.

This was actually kind of fun, because we got to go into all the runs with the dogs and hang out with them a bit. Some of them were friendlier than others, but it was nice to share their space for a while. After we finished scooping the runs in the Dolores building, we went over to Homer. Julie suggested we use hand sanitizer before and after scooping in the Homer building to prevent the potential transfer of Ringworm between buildings, and also so we wouldn't get infected. So we sanitized and scooped out the runs at in the Homer building. After finishing up and sanitizing again, I went to get my camera to take pictures of An with Stella, a pretty Australian Shepherd. We sat in Stella's run for a bit while a tour went through the Dolores building, then we met up with Julie and Sue, another caregiver at Old Friends.

Stella and An share some quiet time

The scooping had been finished, and it was time for walkies! Since the citizens of Old Friends are older and some of them have trouble walking long distances, the trails near there are fairly short. Sue got us a couple leashes, and we began with Rebo and his run-mate Mariette. Rebo was happy to see us again, and we leashed them up and went out towards the trails. Sue pointed us towards "Off the Beaten Path", which is one of the longer trails near Old Friends, since Rebo didn't have any trouble walking and Mariette is actually a much younger dog.

Thus began the process of taking all the dogs in Old Friends on walks. Between us, the other volunteers there and the caregivers, we were able to walk all the dogs in a couple hours, even taking our time with the slower dogs. After walking Rebo and Mariette, I walked Idaho, a sweet girl with only one eye. Since Idaho was in a run by herself, she had to be walked by herself. An was going to walk Kona, the dog we originally wanted for a sleepover, but walked Connie instead.

Walking the extended trail with Hollie

By the time I got back with Idaho, An had finished walking Connie and had taken Kona out on the shortest trail. He was having a little trouble and was moving slowly. Even though Connie had just been walked, she still wanted to go out, so I took her out again and met up with An and Kona. Since Kona and Connie live in the same run, it was all right to walk them together. After a little rest, we were able to get Kona to walk the short trail again with Connie. On the way back Kona had some trouble getting up the slight grade, but he made it eventually and we were able to put him and Connie back in their run.

Then we went to the Homer building and we picked out Hollie and Keno for our next walk. We were able to walk them down the extended trail, and they were both having a great time, sniffing everything and enjoying themselves. Keno was pretty energetic and he wanted to go faster, but Hollie was content to move along at a normal pace. Once we put them back in their run, we learned that they had all been walked. It was a little after 11:30 at that point, and that was about it for the morning chores, so we were able to go and eat lunch before heading back to Dogtown HQ to get our afternoon assignment.

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“He has so much potential to enrich someone’s life, all he wants is a chance.”