I recently visited Best Friends Animal Society. It was amazing! These are the Top 10 Moments of Kindness in Action that I witnessed during my visit.

10) Connecting with a senior woman volunteering who was able to help walk a few gentle senior dogs.  She then sat with a sweet pup so the dog could have some time getting socialized in the shade outside of her kennel.

9) When the staff at my hotel made it easy for me to switch rooms so that I could have a sleepover with Nita the American Bulldog!

8) When the caregiver comforted me when I dropped off Nita the next morning after having fallen in love with her. I firmly believe that every dog deserves a loving home and a cool comfortable bed to sleep on.  It was heart wrenching to drop Nita back off at her kennel but the caregiver reminded me that Nita was safe and has lots of buddies that she plays with every day.

7) Watching the Grandmother and Granddaughter volunteering with me in Dogtown Heights walking dogs, scooping poop and helping to pull a disabled dog in his wagon.

6) Witnessing families with young children who were energized and excited to help out wherever they could.  What an example these parents are setting showing their kids the importance of giving back.

5) When a Mother/Daughter team had a dog out for a sleepover the night before he was scheduled for surgery so he could have a little bit of comfort. (The daughter runs a feral cat rescue in NYC!)

4) When I met Deb – the Best Friends volunteer who comes for weeks at a time, a few times a year and not only knows the drill at Best Friends, but handles some of the more challenging dogs. It helps out the staff immensely when Deb is there!

3) Looking around at the dedicated staff making life for all these animals as decent as possible. Wow!

2) The moment I arrived. The sanctuary is a little slice of heaven and it felt wonderful to be there. It is a picture perfect, expansive setting that inspires love, care and kindness

and, lastly, #1!

1) When every conversation I had at Best Friends Animal Society was infused with their core principles. As Silva Battista, a Best Friends co-founder, said: “If you don’t understand or accept the basic principle of kindness – that it is an unbroken continuum that encompasses all life, including the animals, and if you dismiss this as not being important – you won’t get anything else right.”

My Trip to Best Friends Animal Society, Day-by-Day

Day 1: After driving through the desert for eight hours, in 111 degrees, as I got closer to Kanab, Utah,  I noticed that everything was getting greener and cooler.  I was greeted in Kanab by gorgeous majestic orange rocks.

Best Friends Animal Society is just 5 miles up a winding red rock decorated highway from the lovely hotel in Kanab where I was staying. When I rounded the bend into the sanctuary property the tears started rolling down my face. Was it the natural expansive beauty? Excitement about what I was about to experience? The love that I know is showered on the 1700 animals in their care? Maybe a little bit of all of it.  Best Friends was founded 30 years ago, and today nearly 25000 visitors pass through their gates to participate in the love, the beauty and the kindness bestowed upon the animals.

Driving up the road toward the visitor center a jack-rabbit bounded right in front of my car. If I didn’t know better I would have thought it was a mini kangaroo. I knew I was almost there when I saw the horse pasture. So much beauty and space for these gorgeous creatures.

After checking in for my tour, I joined the others in my group as we watched a moving video about the animals. There was not a dry eye in the house. Kids, parents and grandparents all watching together and getting a sense of the work that goes on at the sanctuary.  For many, visiting Best Friends is a family vacation.

On the tour we took a quick stop in Dogtown. Maybe you’ve seen an episode of the tv show Dogtown that aired on National Geographic channel a couple of years ago? The show gives you a pretty good sense of what’s going on there and how they care for the dogs. The dog housing pods are octagonal shaped air-conditioned buildings, and at least the ones I saw share a common area in between two pods. There are many dog pods in Dogtown – enough to house the hundreds of dogs that reside at Best Friends. Inside, there are spacious kennels (bigger than you might imagine) that usually house more than one dog, each with comfy beds and blankets. If these dogs are never adopted, Best Friends cares for them for the rest of their natural life (barring unforeseen circumstances), so their accommodations, while nowhere near being a “home” are certainly better than many alternatives. Each kennel has a doggy door leading to a large exterior run and the dogs are free to come in and out as they like. They can come out to potty, hang out, play with their friends or run up and down the border of their run “chasing” a neighbor dog.

Next stop Cat World. It’s so comfortable – an indoor outdoor experience. The cats are enclosed in a glass room so they are “outside” but safely in an air-conditioned room. There are scratching posts and kitty condos and rafters for the cats who like to go up high.  There are even separate cat houses for groups of cats with diseases like Feline Leukemia which could be transmitted to other cats but for many, are just carriers and live very healthy lives.

On my tour was a family with two kids and they were getting ready to volunteer that afternoon in Cat World. We started chatting and their daughter, who is 8 years old is too young to volunteer at in Dogtown but old enough to help out with the cats. But she loves dogs and got excited about my books and now this family in New Hampshire is sharing JJ with their friends!

We drove past, but didn’t stop in Bunny House or Parrot Garden on the tour. The next time I come back I want to visit both and take more in depth tours.

In addition to all the other animals previously mentioned, there’s  “Marshall’s Piggy Paradise” (self explanatory) and “Wild Friends” for the wild animals that Best Friends rehabilitates and attempts to re-release into their natural habitat.

All of the signage at Best Friends is clever. When arriving in Dogtown Heights, a part of Dogtown where many of the dogs live, you are directed by this sign. Dogtown Heights: A Gated Community. Indeed it is! Day 2: The next day was my day to volunteer! Best Friends relies heavily on the army of volunteers at the sanctuary. I arrived at Dogtown to receive my orders as to where I would report. The people in line ahead of me asked if they could work with the puppies. Sorry- you’ve gotta get up pretty early in the morning to get puppy duty! Puppies are, understandably the most requested assignment and I’m told it’s really fun (though lots of cleaning up puppy poo.)

I was assigned to “Old Friends” where the senior and special needs dogs reside. They gave me a map and off I went, back to Dogtown Heights. Since I had been on the tour just the day before I had a sense of where I was headed. The sanctuary is comprised of 3700 acres that Best Friends owns along with another 17000 or so acres that they lease. So it’s a big place and takes a bit to learn the twists and turns.

I waited by the gate as instructed and watched the caregiver, Lupie, assign dogs needing walks to other volunteers. One volunteer, Deb, is already returning with her dog from a morning walk. We are told this dog needs to stay away from other dogs and people. Deb, is from Ohio and volunteers at Best Friends regularly (every few months!) and stays for a couple of weeks at a time. So she knows the caregivers and dogs well. Thus she was assigned a dog who isn’t easily handled by just anyone. How kind is that that Deb gives so freely of her time?

Even cooler, Deb told us that there’s a Vicktory dog (check out Best Friends website if you are not familiar with the Michael Vick dog fighting ring bust) who is very close to passing her Canine Good Citizen test who just loves Deb. Deb hopes to adopt her when she does!

One Grandmother/granddaughter volunteer pair set out walking a dog on the path. Then Lupe gave me my first dog, Wisdom and showed me where the path begins. She explained that the path splits a little farther down and to be sure not to take the left path as a snake had been sighted the day before. The snake removal dude had been called to “relocate” the snake but as of yet, he hadn’t come.

Wisdom, a black dog, had a bunch of energy but apparently twice around the loop was sufficient for him. The black dogs go out earliest since they heat up faster- similar to humans wearing dark clothing. My second dog “Google” wanted to go around and around (the loops vary in distance, but around 1/3 mile each). He kept chasing lizards and when he would see one hide, would wait for it to emerge. We never waited long enough to find out if they were going to come out. Sorry Google.

My third dog, named Elder Statesman was exactly that. What a sweet sweet boy he is though.

While I waited for my next dog walking assignment, I spent some time in the kennel with a sweet old girl named Petal who was healing from a surgery and couldn’t go out on walks yet. She was an absolute doll, very happy to have the company and I enjoyed the air-conditioned break from the 90 degree morning. And I just learned on the volunteer Facebook page that sweet Petal found a forever home. Yay!

Another senior woman was slowly but surely taking some of the calmer dogs for walks who matched her energy level. It was beautiful to watch her commitment even in her advanced years. She spent some time socializing sweet Dooney who, rumor had it, found a forever home!

Then Lupie told us that we were going to walk Klaus up to the water tower. Klaus is special needs and it was obvious that Klaus doesn’t have use of his legs, so his “walk” was going to consist of a ride in a wagon that we were going to pull. This outing was going to require 4 volunteers. Deb, who knew where we were going, the Grandma/Granddaughter team and I were asked to go on this expedition. Lupie (AKA Wonder Woman) hoisted him into the Klaus Kart and then gave us our assignments. Grandma was holding the parasol over Klaus to keep him from the direct sun (I swear), Deb was holding the leash attached to the harness making sure he didn’t flail his way out of the wagon. Granddaughter was giving him treats that he had to find in the wagon as his physical therapy. Doing this was working his upper body strength.

And I pulled the wagon. 70 pounds of dog, PLUS the wagon, up hill in 95 degree weather. But it was good. Klaus seemed to enjoy himself and we were happy to get him out and get some stimulation. He watches all the other dogs run around all day and he mostly sits there. He deserves the Cleopatra treatment.  (I just saw a video of Klaus playing with a big fuzzy dice with a doggie buddy. He’s doing a great job of moving his body to play with the dice and looks like he’s having a blast. Go Klaus!)

After all the dogs were walked, I scooped poop from all the runs and then I was done with my shift. Sweaty, a little tired but energized for sure.

Lunch time!

Each day, Best Friends provides a $5 vegetarian buffet that is pretty darn good. I was able to sit on the patio (even though it’s warm) and had a chance to connect with other volunteers, and employees.

You may remember that in the back of my newest children’s book, JJ Goes to Puppy Class, there’s a wonderful testimonial from Dr. Frank McMillan, DVM Director of Well Being Studies at Best Friends. I was fortunate that he was in town while I was visiting and we had a chance to meet after lunch! I learned a little bit about some of the interesting projects he works on and I suspect we’ll have a chance to connect on a project in the future.

And then the cherry on top of my whole trip was getting to bring home Nita- an American Bulldog for a Sleepover! I had planned my trip at the last minute and the hotel where I was staying did not have a pet friendly room for me when I booked. I got lucky though when I arrived and was able to switch rooms! When Nita and I got to the hotel, we went for a quick walk seeking as much grass as possible since it was 97 degrees out (at least) and the pavement was hot. Then to the air conditioning where she sniffed my room for a couple of minutes and then hopped up onto the cool bed (did I mention that the dogs’ outdoor runs are all coral dust and sand? So much for the white sheets!) She fell into a contented doggie slumber for a couple of hours. Before dinner Nita and I went for a nice long walk and then headed into town for me to grab a bite.

After dinner, she sacked out again on my pillows and I was grateful that the room had two beds. I was looking forward to snuggling with her but moving her out of the way so that I could get some pillow space just seemed wrong.

The hardest part of my journey was returning sweet Nita to her pod, called the Gardens, in the morning. It’s not the right time for me to have a third dog but she will always be in my heart. She seemed happy enough to get back to her friends at the Gardens to run and play with them!

The second hardest part was driving out of Angels Canyon, where the sanctuary resides. I am already scheming my next trip back! Ultimately though, it’s a magical place and I recommend the trip to anyone and everyone!