I will be forever indebted to our #1 son, I missed it, but yesterday we were supposed to clean the elephant cages in the morning and supposedly when they all met Zach asked if he could go work with the dogs- one of the volunteer coordinators asked if anyone else from A group wanted to and everyone said yes!

There are over 400 dogs here at ENP- a HUGE number. The dog shelter is just as you enter the park, a bit away from the elephants yet close enough to hear them howl during feeding times. Sue and Mae had visited to help walk the dogs a couple times- they ask for help 3X a day walking the dogs.

When we arrived to the dog shelter Ryan from Australia was our guide- he is a bathroom and kitchen remodeler back home but spends upwards of 6 months a year volunteering in the dog shelter. Over 200 of the current occupents came from the Bangkok floods from a couple years ago. Some are just dropped off and others wander onto the property from neighboring villages- all dogs are immediately looked at by the vets and neutered or spayed and vaccinated if that has not happened yet.

About 40 dogs roam the park- they all have names and if a stray happens to come onto the property every dog goes crazy, someone from the dog shelter will scoop up the new dog- and immediately bring it to the shelter. We have seen this happen almost daily- most of the ENP dogs have areas they stick to. There are about 6 dogs on the viewing platform where we eat and the elephants are hand fed, up stairs above us there are another 4 that hang out up there (this is the room where the blessing took place and where we get our nightly massages-big and open aired). On the landing outside of our room – there are a total of 6 rooms in our building- we have 2 dogs, we’ve named them Landing Dogs and the Siamese cat that hangs out on the steps up to our rooms had been named “Step Cat”. She must hunt all night long because she is dead to the world all day – we have to step over or around her stretched out body all day long when we go up or down the stairs.

After a brief intro – basically being told 6 different ways NEVER LEAVE A GATE OPEN. The volunteers (about 10 in total) would go get a dog for us from a run, bring them to us and we would walk them down the road- maybe 1/4 of a mile. Not far, but the dogs loved it! Next we went into one of the dog runs- 5 people into one and 6 into the other. We each leashed a dog and took them for a walk. We had to keep the 2 packs separated- otherwise there would be fights. The dogs did great- and a wagging tail is universal for thanks!

Ryan then took us across the street to a part of the park most of us did not know existed- more dog runs. Except these were HUGE with about 15 dogs per run, pools for them to sleep on, sleeping platforms to eat and sleep on. They were maybe the size of a tennis court and there were at least 4 of these. We sat and loved on these dogs for about 30 minutes.

Next we got to break into groups of 2 or 3 and pick ticks off dogs. Ticks and fleas are a huge problem in this hot sticky climate. So we dutifully took our tin can of water and alcohol to drown them in and our tweezers and set off to pick ticks. It really is not as gross as it seems- well, maybe a little.

Lunch was the next order of business. More delicious Thai food- no one is complaining not even the boys. We have about 15 dishes each meal- there is always rice and a noodle dish if you are not feeling adventurous. As always our noon meal is packed with day visitors. We must look like freaks most days literally covered in either poo or in todays case, dog hair.

Our group was very proud of surviving the “day of the corn” and honestly thought that it could not get worse then that. We were wrong……………way wrong. On the job list for the afternoon we had “cow poo” as our task. Silly me envisioned us walking around the park picking up the cow pies (there are about 100 water buffalo that roam the park) for the afternoon. Leisurely walking among the elephants, enjoying the beautiful day. WRONG- we were loaded, nay herded into another high sided pick up. Driven up around and across the river – passed the school from the other day and ended up in the property that is part of the park, directly across from ENP. We’d seen elephants and cows over there but did not realize how big it was over there.

We drove down a long driveway that abruptly ended – in front of us and to the right was a pen that must be used to put the cows in at night, strait ahead and down a little hill was the river and about 150 feed type bags filled with cow poo. These were are task. In some unknown to us wisdom, someone had dumped a load of 15′ long, 4″-5″ diameter poles across the road to the poo bags. Our job was to drag the poo bags up and out of a ditch, drag them to the pole pile, lift/drag them over the pole pile and then up a hill to the waiting truck.

Let me just say we had another incident of fecal material that cannot be described – many of the bags were over stuffed past the “50 kg” line. About 1/2 had opened up and whose contents had spilled over the surrounding bags. There was poo everywhere. We lined up and broke the task into smaller jobs- each only had to drag the bag about 5′-6′. Sue and I got to haul them over the log pile, I’d drag them up the hill to the truck and Zach, Max and Lek would heft them into the waiting truck bed. I will post a picture of the “after” later- not pretty. It actually did not take that much time- it was just super gross. We finished and then got to pile on top of the poo bags for our ride home- none of us complained. It truly is amazing- you just put your head down and do it. No need to complain, whine or quit. It’s work that needs to be done and we just do it.

Next was yet ANOTHER shower for the day- we take many as you can imagine. Most everyone comes back to the main lodge/feeding area in the late afternoons, we read, visit, check emails. Watching the elephants never gets old. As I sit here, it is 6:00AM Saturday morning and the mahouts are just getting the elephants out of their enclosures. They are slowly making their way across the field- slowly and freely. So beautiful-

The poor “children of the corn” group today were out from 8AM-4PM, we were out until 2:30 cannot imagine working another 90 minutes. They all had glazed eyes when they returned-

Mae and I have developed some sort of allergic reaction. I’m assuming from the corn- she has an itchy rash on here trunk and mine started around my ankles and has made its way to my knees. We went to the infirmary (whose charge is also the snack bar clerk) and got a steroid ointment and pills to take- i’m assuming they are some sort of an antihistamine. Robs twisted ankle is healing amazingly well, it literally is bruised the whole way around his ankle- but he says hardly any pain. He would have it wrapped by the infirmary/snack bar girl every morning and the massage ladies would gently massage it and put Tiger Balm on it in the evenings.