Handsome Spot rocking his giant ears.
Life at the I Love Goa Dogs animal rescue camp was an absolute honor and a joy. The afternoons were especially lovely when most of the volunteers went out to enjoy the beach and all of the animals got lazy in the heat of the sun.
Stallone cooling off in the dogs' drinking water. Photo Credit: Debbie Fugloe
Lazy afternoon snuggles. Photo Credit: Naomi Swailes
The dogs and cats napped quietly, the light softened and it was so peaceful next to the river. It was incredibly serene to enjoy a little puppy cuddle or a swing in the hammock having the space almost all to yourself before the dogs got hungry and rambunctious waiting for their dinner!
Spot enjoying a little nap by the river
Photo Credit: Ricardo Navalho
All of the animals who live at the camp are there because of an unfortunate past, and it is so lovely to see them all thriving together in that pack-like setting.
Igor helping out with a rescue. Photo Credit: Debbie Fugloe
Although much of the animal work is lovely and rewarding like feeding and caring for their daily needs, it's not always that simple. Sadly, there are new animals arriving at camp regularly, so sometimes your job is to respond to a crisis in any way that you can or to sit with them, keep them company and keep an eye on their condition changing or worsening.
This is a rescue in process. Poor Toby was bitten by a much bigger dog. He was found under a bush, he was very weak from his injuries. Photo Credit: Debbie Fugloe
Toby was rushed to the vet where he was administered IV medications to help combat the infected wounds. He was released to be nursed at our camp, fingers crossed, hoping for the best. Photo Credit: Debbie Fugloe
You may need to clean wounds and administer pain killers or medications. We received some sick and injured animals during our time there.
Here we are trying to get some food into Toby's system to try and keep him strong. We did our best to nurse Toby back to health, but his injuries were too great and he passed away on his second night at camp. Photo Credit: Debbie Fugloe
Not all of the stories have happy endings, but you take comfort in the fact that the animals experienced a last bit of human love, compassion and true affection on their way out of this world. When you lose one, you treasure the survivors that much more.
Stallone is a mischevious and charismatic little girl. Her sister passed away before they could be rescued, but a true survivor, Stallone truly thrived at camp. Photo Credit: Ricardo Navalho
This is Chica. Her and her sister were extremely sick before we arrived at camp. Thankfully Chica's a fighter and she managed to beat her illness and she bounced back with her unbreakable spirit.
Handsome Ganesh was struck as a puppy and his leg has healed improperly. He walks with a limp and his leg is bent at a strange angle, but it doesn't slow him down any!! He's a rambunctious and goofy guy with so much charisma despite his injuries! Photo Credit: Naomi Swailes
Nicole’s tasks at camp were largely based around the care of the animals and she absolutely LOVED it!!!
Making sure everyone gets chicken feet can be tough when there are so many around!! Photo Credit: Ricardo Navalho
Brigite preparing a meal for the dogs. Photo Credit: Ricardo Navalho
Photo Credit: Ricardo Navalho
With so many bouncing around camp, it was really easy to get attached to so many of them! We had 8 puppies called Spot, Stallone (also known as Pamsy), Harriet, Irena, Chica, Baby Bear, Honey Bee (also known as Piggy) and Fifi. We had a bunch of older dogs that had been at the camp for a year more and we also had 5 beach dogs. The beach dogs would spend all day at the beach chasing crabs and begging tourists for food (working LOL) but they would come home at night to eat and sleep at the camp.
Photo Credit: Ricardo Navalho
Charming Spot knows exactly how cute he is!!
We both got really attached to Spot, and his two sisters Harriet and Irena. They’re gorgeous little black and white fur balls that just stole our hearts completely! Our dear friend Debbie is in the process of adopting Harriet back to Denmark with her, clearly we’re not the only ones she made an impression on!
We got word recently that Spot, Honey Bee and Fifi have all been adopted into homes near Arambol with loving families.
Baby Bear and Naomi getting some quality time! Photo Credit: Naomi Swailes
Every night after dinner the volunteers would make a fire and sit around to drink a few beers and share stories with our hippy family. There was Igor from Brazil, Naomi from England, Debbie from Denmark, Kenny from England, David from Belgium, Anna from Finland, Nikolai from Germany, Ricardo and Brigite from Portugal and Yohan from Canada. The dogs would make the rounds to cuddle with each of us and the puppies would fall asleep in our laps.
The best time of day, when all the work is done and the volunteers get to play. Photo Credit: Naomi Swailes
Naomi and Anna getting a little relaxation time. Photo Credit: Naomi Swailes
Eventually, it's time to head back to our tipi home to sleep, knowing we’d be getting all kinds of mid-night dog visitors.. one night we had 6 of them in our tent fighting for space on the bed and the floor LOL Some nights were long, we might barely sleep at all, but it’s all worth it in the end when we looked at those precious faces and we'll always remember those sleepy cuddles!
Igor and Fifi having some cuddle time. Photo Credit: Naomi Swailes
After 3 weeks it had started to feel like home and we knew it was going to be really difficult to leave the camp behind. We decided to cut the ties slowly so we moved back out to the beach with Igor and Naomi, but only about 100 meters from camp. That way we could still go back and visit as often as we liked. A bunch of the dogs followed us home every time we left and they barely left our sides while we were gone.. It was not hard to tell that they were as attached to us ad we were to them!!!
Sunset Restaurant and Beach Huts where we spent our last few days in Goa.
For our last week in Arambol we were celebrating Ange’s ‘Dirty 30’ birthday so we wanted the freedom to party and swim and sleep for the first time in almost a month LOL.
Photo Credit: Ricardo Navalho
For our first day of freedom, we took scooters out and drove south down the coast to another beach town called Calangude to meet with Debbie and her friends from home. We all enjoyed a little sun, a few drinks and a beautiful new beach!! On our way home we took our time checking out all the little beach towns along the way. We stopped for a drink in Morjim to take enjoy the late afternoon sun and then we cruised through Ashwem on our way back to Arambol beach.
When Ange’s big day was finally upon us, we took the scooters and drove a little ways north up the coast to Querim beach and enjoyed a little change of scenery, a few Kingfishers, and a great curry lunch by the water. When we got back to Arambol, we bought some champagne and some gin and the whole group of us sat in the sand drinking and chatting the evening away. When the sun went down, we built a fire on the beach and enjoyed one of our last nights all together.
Beach time!!
Our time in Goa and at the I Love Goa Dogs rescue camp was one of the most special and rewarding experiences of all our travels.. It wasn’t just the work with the animals, but the incredible group of humans who were brought together through a shared experience. We know we’ve made some amazing friends for life, and we can’t wait to see what the next chapter brings and where on this beautiful Earth we’ll see each other again!!!
Beautiful little Harriet. Photo Credit: Debbie Fugloe
