My Typical Day And Why That Needs To Change

The messy middle

Starting this project was relatively easy for the first 3 months. It has grown to feeding 80 dogs a day and I have sterilised 18, re-homed 3 and fixed up a bunch of others who were very ill.

Now after some smooth initial growth I feel as if I am being pulled in a thousand different directions. Instead of just helping some dogs it feels like a high growth start up business and I have just hit the spot where the red arrow is below…

A Typical Day

This will vary depending on what emergencies (like new puppies) pop up. I also don’t sterilise dogs every day but I am always looking for new ones. This was my Monday and Tuesday of this week…

• 6.00am Wake up to feed and walk Snoop and Jumbo

• 6.30am Shopping for supplies

• 7.00 - 8.00am Feed 80 dogs

• 8.00 - 9.30am Find and capture 2 dogs for sterilising + drive to vet

• 9.30 - 10.30am Breakfast and answer messages (there are a lot!)

• 10.30 - 12.00am Follow up with sick dogs, vet trips and medicines

• 12.00 - 1pm Lunch and 1st Social media posts. These take time to edit and post

• 1.00 - 2.30pm In theory free time!

• 2.30 - 4.00pm Collect dogs from sterilising and return them

• 4.00 - 5.00pm Walk and play with Snoop and Jumbo

• 5.00 - 6.00pm Small feeding round for sick dogs or puppies

• 6.00 - 7.00pm Dinner and social 2nd media posts

• 7pm Onwards - In theory work on bigger picture

  

Constant Distractions

You don’t be a genius to see that I don’t get much bigger picture stuff done right now. I have great intentions for 7pm but I am often so tired that I often stare at my computer screen and am ready for bed at 8.30pm! I clearly need to free up some time to work on the important parts like the foundation set up, finding the right land and building out a bigger support structure.

All that is well and good but how could you leave puppies in the middle of the jungle? I came across this guy and his 3 siblings when I was looking for a dog to sterilise on Monday. I’ve been able to help them but that totally decimated my schedule and plans for the week. Stuff like this always happens here unfortunately.

The sad reality though is that if you leave them they won’t make it. On the flip side as one person you can only help so many dogs yourself. How could you drive past that face!

You Guys Make It Easier

Donations

There are many other volunteers who do the same thing as me and who struggle with the money side of it. From those I’ve talked to it really is the hardest part. I’m super lucky in that I have my own money and super generous people who donate. You have no idea how much easier that makes things. Being able to wake up and immediately tackle the problems without worrying about the money is a massive advantage. To anybody who has donated thank you so so so much. You have no idea how much it helps the dogs directly and makes my life easier.

You can donate here or subscribe to this email which also 100% goes to the dogs (I cover all fees).

Messages

I’m at the point where I can’t really keep up with messages. People asking about individual dogs. People offering to help in lots of useful ways. People sending advice. People spotting sick dogs on the island. Etc. I never could have imagined it would grow this quickly but I physically can’t keep up with replying as hard as I try.

Having said that I do read them all. After a hard session out with the dogs or some bad news from a vet, scanning through the messages always reminds me I am doing the right thing. They always lift my spirits. From comments to DMs and shares. I feel like there is a little virtual army there cheering the dogs on. That really helps so thank you very much!

1 Step Back To Take 2 Steps Forward

I always try to be upbeat and was a bit worried this email might sound a bit like me bitching and moaning about my workload. You will know by now these emails are more of a stream of consciousness. A state of play for the week. This is me recognising that I have to adapt and change a couple of things in order to grow faster. Either that or risk the project not being a success and me burning out which doesn’t help any of the dogs.

All I really need to do is free up a small amount of time to tackle some of the bigger pieces. I’ll look back in a years time and be amazed at the progress but right now I see the dogs suffering and wish I had the whole system already in place for them. Not being able to do that overnight frustrates me.

Time to just keep pushing and to think a little smarter.

Just after 9pm here and that means bedtime! Thanks for following along as always

Niall