Can You Spare a Few Dollars for the BK & Girls Fund?

Update--May 2010. Sadly, Robert Knox died of a heart attack in mid-April 2010. We fostered his girls for several days until a local couple who were friends of Bob's took the dogs in as permanent members of their family.We still need donations to help us cover the expenses of fostering these dogs for four months.

Update March 2010--the girls are back home with Bob.

A Special Fund for Helping a Local Resident Keep his Animals

In late November, Los Ojos resident Bob Knox had a very bad fall. It was so bad that he had to be hospitalized in Española where he had surgery to repair the break to his leg. Bob is now recuperating in a rehabilitation home where he is receiving physical therapy for his leg and treatment for other health issues.

Bob has been a staunch supporter of CVHS during the past (he sold over 50 of the 200 tickets for our fundraising raffle last August) and we were sorry to hear that he had been injured. Some concerned friends and neighbours approached us about helping take care of Bob’s two dogs while he was recuperating, and despite the fact that it was only days before Thanksgiving, Vice President Colleen Schulte agreed to take the dogs in temporarily. Over the next several weeks the dogs were either with Colleen or were being cared for by Bob’s Los Ojos neighbours who also generously bought dog food for them.

Bob’s dogs—Dulcinea (Dulce) and Loreli (Lori)—are very sweet girls, but they, especially Lori, are a bit high spirited. In fact, it was their habit of running and playing at high speed that had caused Bob to fall in the first place. We realized it was going to be difficult to keep them over the Christmas holidays because so many people had travel plans and other commitments. It also became obvious to us that something needed to be done to help the girls calm down so that Bob could keep them with him once he returned home. Our resident trainer, Kytha Gernatt, was out of town, but we found the next best thing—a dog trainer and boarder in Pagosa Springs who agreed to give us a special package deal to board and train Bob’s girls over a 20-day period. Thanks to Marne and her crew at In the Doghouse, Lori and Dulce are learning calmer behaviors that will help them adjust to Bob’s new physical needs. Just as importantly, once Bob returns home, Marne will teach him how to work with the girls so that they are able to maintain their new, more people-friendly manners.

We think special efforts such as this are important because it helps both animals and the people they love get through difficult periods. To help us cover the costs of boarding and training Bob’s dogs, we are making a special plea for community support, primarily because we don’t want to divert our limited funds from other programs. Can you help by contributing a few dollars or some spare change to the BK & Girls Fund? Collection cans are available at Chama Steam, the Eleanor Daggett Memorial Library, Carlotte’s in Chama, Valley Feed and Mercantile, and the Three Ravens in Tierra Amarilla—or you can mail a check to us at PO Box 131, Chama, NM 87520.

Thanks for caring about local animals and their human caretakers! 

Lori (top photo) and Dulce (behind Lori and bottom photo) coming outside to see the new arrival at their temporary home, In the Doghouse.