October and November were busy months for LA volunteers! Thanks to those who went to LA Animal Services shelters to prepare dogs for adoption at La Brea Park.

Estimates are that almost 75 dogs were bathed at West Valley, East Valley, North Central, South LA, West LA and Harbor shelters. Here are the reports from team leaders at each:

South LA: “I wanted to send you a recap of our grooming day at South LA today. I arrived at 11:00, and we were able to start washing dogs at 12:30. Tania and an LAAS volunteer arrived at 1:00, so we really got moving at that point. We washed, walked, played with and loved on 12 dogs today! They were all amazing, and I am so excited they have the opportunity to find homes tomorrow. They are all small, so my hope is that at least some of the rescues will step up for those that don’t get their forever home tomorrow. The Best Friends volunteers are the best! Both Ursula and Tania came with supplies and ready to get dirty. We had a nice little system going, so all the dogs got a lot of attention, treats, walking and love. I also want to say everyone (especially Ansinee) at the shelter was so helpful! I have yet to be at that location and come across someone who doesn’t love the animals there or want to help them get homes.” – Melissa Migdal

East Valley: “Things went really well on Saturday. We finished all 12 of the dogs for the adoptions by noon! All had been spayed/neutered the day before, so we could only damp towel "bathe" them and give them cologne. We clipped some nails and cleaned ears, too! Then we went and picked those who looked like they needed a good cleaning/brushing. Jackie is sweet, and the staff was as helpful as they could be on such a crazy busy Saturday. Please count me in for next time. ALL of the other volunteers were cheerful and ready to work. We were a great team.” - Jeanne Develle

West Valley: “We had a great team of Best Friends and LAAS volunteers working together to get 17 dogs bathed. Everyone was ready to go at 10am, and we worked out a system that allowed us to not only bathe the 17 dogs (some of whom were quite energetic!) but to also give them some much needed playtime in the yard. This was a great example of two groups pulling together for the good of the dogs.” – Robin Skov

North Central: “I think we did about 15 dogs - hard to tell, as Pauli and I were working on a couple of really matted guys. We had help from a group of high school kids - they helped Faith wash, they set up two drying stations, and they brushed and walked everyone. I normally keep better track, but Faith took charge of the kids, and they just did their thing while Pauli and I worked on matts, matts and more matts. Both our ‘problem children’ got adopted! Pauli actually handled one of them until he was ‘picked’. – Gayle Alexander

Posted by Laura Thompson, Best Friends Volunteer