Well I made it to my last day as an intern at GDB, it was a sad day. I have thoroughly enjoyed this experience and all the friends I have made. The staff was wonderful and in today's 9:30 meeting everyone thanked me and the other intern for all the help we've provided and that we were really fun to have around. It felt good that all the staff was truly grateful for our help.
When I got there this morning I was in K1 with my mentor and we helped an instructor take his dog to the vet for a recheck. The dog was great while the vet looked at her, and we took her back to her kennel and started morning cleaning. Thankfully in K1 we had 3 people and only 3 quads to clean so we all go done really early so we went over to K2 and I cleaned a quad of runs and the community run. All the morning cleaning was done before 9:30 in all three kennels, so we got to community run all of K1. It feels really accomplishing when you get everything done and get all the dogs exercised before lunch, which is often rare. We gave the dogs about 15 min to 'do their business' and handed out enrichment and locked them. That was pretty much my morning. Me and a volunteer who was been volunteering in the kennels the entire time I was here asked me if I'd go to lunch with her over at the mall. We had a great time talking and eating lunch together, and come to find out her Aunt is fostering my "D" puppy's sister so I saw pictures and she is adorable!
I got back to work, collected/cleaned/refilled enrichment and by now it was time to go work with the K3 dogs. I spent the next hour walking/grooming/playing with most of the dogs including Mojito's brother and sister! The hour went by super quick and I was sad to say goodbye to all the K3 dogs I would not see again, especially a golden girl who came in on recall and I came to love her! My mentor and I headed back to K1 to do afternoon meds, and we got lucky there was none! So we went on break and enjoyed talking for the last time.
It was now dinner time, and the dogs were waiting for us! I helped fed/collect/clean the bowls and then we locked the dogs in and started afternoon cleaning. K1 finished early again, so I went to help K2 & K3. That was pretty much my day. One of the CWT's i've worked with a lot gave me a chocolate bar, I was really surprised!
The things I'm going to take away from this internship are the love and care all the staff has for our dogs. The cleanliness & pride they have in the kennels is amazing! If anyone is walking outside and sees poop, they will go pick it up and the kennels are cleaned at least 4x a day. Of course I am never going to forget my blindfold experience, and knowing the independence these dogs bring to their clients, and that is the exact reason we raise these puppies and give them up. I loved working with all the training dept staff, I was so grateful they were willing to take time out of their crazy busy day to train me and show me the ropes. One of the CWT's made the comment "you can't leave now, you just became part of the team and you know the ropes." That really made me feel well and that I did a good job during my 2 weeks. It truly went by way to fast, but I am ready to pick up Mr. "D" and head on home and see my family and start my Senior year of high school! I said goodbye and gave hugs to all the staff and said goodbye to my "favorite" dogs I had come to love the past 2 weeks and I left looking forward to going to Santa Cruz tomorrow and of course meeting Mr. "D" on Sunday!
~Katlynn
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