Kailani's Journey: Wendy gets a Job

About the time we bought Kailani Wendy retired from her career as a speech therapist. Since then she has been adjusting to life without a job. She is learning how to cook, learning Spanish, learning about our boat, doing a bunch of reading and playing a lot of games on her tablet. She had planned on getting a volunteer job with Meals on Wheels or the Humane Society, but she didn’t really have time in her day after playing games for hours. Well that changed this week as she started volunteering at the local Humane Society.

Wendy’s choice of The Humane Society made me a little nervous; I had been hoping she would pick Meals on Wheels. It seems much more likely that she’ll bring home a dog from the shelter than bring home an old person from Meals on Wheels. I love dogs and would really like to have one on our boat, but Kailani is not dog friendly. To get in and out of the boat the dog would have to be carried and to get on and off the boat when we are not at a dock the dog would have to be lifted. Plus, we already feel like we are running out of room, so where would we store dog food, where we would place a water bowl and where would the dog sleep? Once cruising, going from one country to the next usually requires a visit to a vet to certify the dog is healthy and has no rabies. Some countries will not allow you to take dogs off the boat at all or if they do they have to go to quarantine for weeks or months. So, for now, we have decided to remain dogless.

Anyway, Wendy’s new job is a dog walker. She goes in whenever she wants and walks as many dogs as she feels like. The first couple of days she had to stop because the kennels were closing. She has a hard time leaving when dogs are standing at their gates wagging their tails and watching her with their big sad eyes. When she returns to the boat each day she looks as if she has been in a fight. She returns covered in blood and bruises and dirt with scratches on her hands and arms and paw prints all over her shorts and shirt.

We fostered Great Danes for over two years, so Wendy is used to big dogs, but Danes are pretty laid back. They don’t usually jump up or pull too much, though dogs like Hercules, at 190 pounds, would just wander off and Wendy would be forced to follow. At the shelter most of the dogs are Pit Bull mix. These are much smaller than Danes, but they have plenty of muscle and tons of energy. Unlike the Danes we fostered, who had nearly constant human contact, most of these dogs are starved for attention. So when Wendy shows up to take a dog for a walk it typically goes crazy. This might be the poor dog’s one chance to go outside for the whole day and they get excited about the opportunity. When Wendy shows them the leash most of the dogs will leap up on her trying to reach her face to give her a kiss. Once the leash is on they’ll jump on the gate trying to get out and begin the walk. She’ll take them out for a walk then let them loose in one of the fenced in areas where the dogs get to run, play, dig and generally just be dogs.

The hardest part is putting them back in their cages. Wendy will have to block the dogs from trying to escape or the dogs will block Wendy from getting to the gate and leaving them behind. One dog even bites her hands to keep her from opening the gate. Without getting kicked out, Wendy would stay there all day and walk every dog. Fortunately, we have an agreement that she can’t bring home a dog that she can’t carry off the boat. For right now that means carrying a dog up a ladder with 6 rungs. That pretty much excludes any Pit Bulls, so at this point the boat is safe from a doggie invasion.

While she is not supposed to bring her phone with her, she did sneak it in one day and took some photos of the dogs she walked. Below are a few of the dogs she has met.