The last few days

Yesterday I walked dogs at the Monterey County SPCA for the first time as an official dog walker.  I got a great orientation from Elizabeth who has been volunteering there for eight years.  I looked for dogs who had not been walked in the last two days.  This shelter has between 70 and 90 dogs at any one time.  I am not sure if this counts the dogs that are being held hoping the owners will come for them.  A lot of dogs, in any case.

Elizabeth told me that she has never seen as many small dogs there.  She believes that this is an indication of people in dire financial straits because the little dogs don't eat much.  Her experience is that some people will go without food themselves rather than give up their dog.  Read more about the MCSPCA here: http://www.spcamc.org/

Since the volunteers come in all through the day, they use a board to keep track of who has been walked.  Even though there are lots of volunteers, not every dog may get walked every day.  They do have a play day for the dogs once a week.  They alternate weeks for large and small dogs.  Of course this will only work for the dogs that are social.

I still haven't worked out taking pictures of the dogs I walk.  You would soon be bored with seeing all the doggie pictures anyway, at least most of you.

Today Daphne and I ventured farther down the road, into another section of the subdivision and down to the strip mall.

Looks like English is the second language at this establishment!

 Everyone that we meet is friendly, whether they speak English or not.  Some are clearly wary of Daph, which she finds silly I think.  We get some practice heeling when passing people on the sidewalk.

As with most dogs, Daph puts her nose in lots of places, sniffing under bushes, etc.  Today she came away with a particularly flattering bit of a bush:

Can you see the little blue flower?  She looked like she was in Hawaii!