Ramblings From The Ranch – March 2025

A Day at The Ranch

About nine o’clock in the morning, one of The Ranch’s four part-time employees arrives to unlock the gate. The sound of about a hundred dogs can be heard in the distance. After entering the property, the staff member drives up to the small office “casita” and unlocks that. There, they are often greeted by the two resident cats, Ranchita and Leah. It takes a tough kitty to live at a dog shelter, and these girls sure are rugged!

The staff then surveys the 30-plus kennels to be sure all the dogs are in good health and good spirits. Sometimes, they arrive to find an “escapee” running amok and creating a bark-storm from the other pups. Unfortunately, they occasionally arrive to find an injured or ill dog. After tending to any urgencies, the staff feeds any puppies who are on a twice-daily feeding schedule and then begins everyone’s favorite job – picking up the poop! Armed with scoopers and a wheelbarrow, the staff makes the rounds of all the kennels and disposes of all the dog waste. With so many dogs, this takes a good long while.

While the staff is busy with this unglamorous job, volunteers begin to arrive. Usually, a board member or other key volunteer is on hand to lead the way. This person works with the staff to administer any medications needed for that day – either for illness or the many preventive vaccines and parasite medicines. A complicated schedule tracks all the medical needs for the dogs. The key staff member also works on anything needed for dogs going up North – paperwork, assembling crates, etc. That person also provides directions for other volunteers and for the staff.

Volunteer dog walkers arrive and quickly grab leashes to get started. They are attired in their finest doggie attire – clothes they don’t mind getting dirty and sturdy shoes. Working alone or in groups of two or three, dog walkers approach the kennels and see who needs a walk. Each dog has a sign with his or her information on it. If a clothespin is attached to the sign, the dog needs walked. When a dog returns from a walk, the volunteer moves the clothespin to the kennel fence, showing the dog has been out. Over the course of a week (or several days (if we have enough volunteers!), the clips are reset to the dog signs and the system begins again.

While volunteers are walking or socializing puppies, the staff is filling up water buckets and working on an endless list of maintenance activities. These include sweeping up leaves, hosing down and cleaning the concrete kennels, weed-whacking the property, removing fallen limbs or trees, repairing kennel fences, repairing or replacing concrete, fixing the water lines, sanitizing water buckets, putting up or repairing shade cloth, repairing dog houses. Well, you get the idea! Volunteers get into the act on these tasks too if they are knowledgeable and able.

Often, visitors arrive at The Ranch to shop for a dog to adopt. Staff or volunteers give them a tour and suggest dogs that might meet their needs. Unfortunately, a good number of visitors want to drop off unwanted dogs. Generally, the answer is no, as The Ranch is usually full to overflowing. Turning down dogs in need makes everyone sad. Other visitors may also come by, perhaps someone wanting to donate dog equipment or ask about The Ranch.

Around noon, staff and volunteers pitch in to tie up the dogs for feeding time (some dogs like to fight over food or steal their kennel-mate’s share) and then the feeding process begins. Staff members carry bags of dog food to the feeding area. There, they dump volunteer-prepared soup into a five-gallon bucket and top it off with water. Then the fun begins! A constantly updated white board shows which dogs are in which kennel and lists their portion size – from XS to XL. Staff members or volunteers portion out the food, add a ladle of soup and then carry the bowls to the salivating canines. As you might imagine, feeding this many dogs takes a while. After the dogs are fed, bowls are picked up and dogs are removed from tether. All the pups are quiet and happy at this point.

Staff members then wash all the dog bowls and put them away and a volunteer makes the rounds to each kennel with a bucket of Maria brand cookies. Yes, the doggies get people cookies! Each dog gets a cookie while the volunteer doublechecks to make sure the dogs are untethered, healthy, and that each has a full bucket of water. With this, another busy day at The Ranch is over! Locks are locked and staff and volunteers return home to shed their filthy clothes and go on with their days.

The Ranch is open every day of the year from 9:00 to 1:00. Please come join us to help out all our wonderful dogs. You will make some new canine friends – and some new human ones too. If you can’t volunteer, please consider fostering or donating. It takes a village to do this work! You can reach us through Facebook, email us at adoptaranchdog@outlook.com or go to our webpage www.theranchchapala.com.