Spay & Neuter street dogs of Huanchaco, Peru

Hey again everyone,

While we're still in the depths of winters in (mostly) cold & grey Portland, our summer in Peru is just around the corner!

With that in mind we have been ramping up the plans for our visit. Our biggest news is that we finalized the dates for our visit to Huanchaco and Trujillo: The general dates including travel time are 07/19 to 07/28.

Here are some of the details:

• We are partnering with a small veterinary clinic in Huanchaquito. We are working with the veterinarian there to pre-treat the dogs for common local diseases that make spay & neutering operations more difficult. We plan to either purchase or send the necessary medicines.
• Our lead vet and vet tech here in the United States are in the process of recruiting additional veterinarians, It is our hope that surgeries will be done by two American vets, our Peruvian vet, and any additional vets from the local area that are seeking to improve their skills.
  
  
• In addition, we hope to have a veterinarian participating in our project who would focus on community outreach both in terms of education and door-to-door medical canvassing with our primary contact in Huanchaco.  
• In our spare time there we plan to visit the shelter we have worked to improve over the past two visits in order to help them in any way that we can. This will range from basic health check-up of the current dogs being housed there to working to improve the overall condition of the shelter itself.
• We have also been asked to bring a dog back to the United States for an eager family in Michigan. Needless to say this has added some interesting twists to our travel arrangements but we're looking forward to it.

We have a couple of things for you to consider as you read this update:

1. Do you know someone who might want to join us?
2. Do you have access to donated medications and or supplies?

Any help is always appreciated.

We look forward to writing you again with new news to share. As always, you can reach us with any questions or an interest in volunteering for our next clinic by emailing perrosproject@gmail.com or calling 503-341-2390.

Thank you,

Matt Webber & Courtney Dillard
The Perros Project
http://perrosproject.org

Hey there Perros Project supporters,

We hope this update finds you well in the world. Courtney, and I are still away from our home base of Portland, OR pursuing another project (breakfastwithstrangers.com) to add good to the world. Even while we've been away though, we've been active with the Perros Project.

As many of you know, our biennial spay & neuter clinic was not scheduled to take place this summer. That said, the summer was not a quiet one.  Our previous work at the shelter in Huanchacito laid the groundwork for local volunteer activities in August.  As a result of our construction of fences, gates and doors at the shelter in 2010 - they have been able to welcome many more visitors. Wanting to spruce up the shelter to make it even more attractive for people looking to adopt sterilized street dogs, the local volunteer group Arca Trujillo, painted the walls and did a general face lift to the interior of the shelter (Photo attached).

Here in the United States we have also been busy.  We have started to secure commitments from veterinarians, vet-techs, and general volunteers for the 2013 clinic. Our head vet, Brenda Kennedy with Remote Access Medical's (RAM) vet team and other key volunteers from previous clinics have already agreed to return.

Coming out of a series of conference calls we have decided to focus on the following things during the 2013 clinic:

• An increase in the general health of animals who will undergo surgery prior to the procedure (this is extremely important).
• An exchange of surgical techniques between American and Peruvian vets so that Peruvian vets will learn best practices under particular scenarios and American vets will learn best practices under restricted conditions (for example - disaster relief).
• An increase in direct education about pet ownership and pet health in poor neighborhoods in & around Huanchaco.
• An extended commitment to direct services (home visits, treatment, preventative medicine, etc) for low-income households in the Huanchaco area.

We look forward to writing you again closer to our departure. As always, you can reach us with any questions or an interest in volunteering for our next clinic by emailing perrosproject@gmail.com or calling 503-341-2390.

Thank you,

Matt Webber
The Perros Project
http://perrosproject.org

Hello wonderful supporters,

You know you're doing something good when you are doing little outreach and yet still people find you, find the generosity to donate, and want support your project. We're still blown away how many great people (yourselves) stumble their way across the Perros Project and give the $10, $20, or $50 to help make our spay & neuter projects possible.

At this moment both Courtney and I are away from Portland, OR for the next five months working on a side project/book and returning in December. Originally we were aiming for a March 2013 date to head to Peru but felt that the timing of our book project and December return home would make that too difficult. In addition, after talking with our head vet Brenda Kennedy - the more time we are able to give a heads-up to her vet team the better our turnout will be. All that said, we are now looking at July 2013 as our return time frame to Huanchaco & Trujillo, Peru.

Just like our last trip down in July 2011, we are looking at teaming up again with Remote Area Medical's (RAM) vet team as well as one or two of our personal vet contacts in Portland. Our vision for 2013 is a return to our original trip in 2010 where our hope is to also work on improving the local shelter in Huachaquito along with the spay and neuter work. Last July during our visit we made a stop at the shelter and saw that our work had held up well and made a huge difference but that additional improvements were still needed.

We're looking forward to this coming July with much excitement. As soon as we have a set date (likely a 5-6 day stint) we'll make you all aware of it!

As always, we really appreciate your support. If you ever have any questions about our work, our plans, or just want to say "hello" - you can always feel free to contact us at perrosproject@gmail.com or call us 503-341-2390.

Best to you all.

Hey all you wonderful supporters,

Here's a quick update of the past few weeks...

Continued support for our partners in Huanchaco: The Perros Project has helped our partners in Huanchaco and Trujillo by funding these specific projects. 

• Anti-Mange campaign: Javier Rosales Mendoza has consistently visited to poorest neighborhoods where many dogs are suffering from sarna (Spanish for mange). By establishing a routine visitation and medicating of these animals - Javier has been able to make a lot of head-way reducing this painful condition. See before/after photo. If you want to follow Javier and all he does for the dogs of Huanchaco - check out his Facebook page.
  
  
• Providing street dogs with forever homes: In the case of the dogs that Javier and our partners at Amigo Fiel has identified as truly stray (many of these dogs have owner but not consistent relations with those people: food and shelter) - he works to find them homes. This is not an easy job in Peru and takes a lot of persistence but the payoff is great. 
  
  
• Food and medicine for the shelter dogs:  Berta with Amigo Fiel was grateful to have our financial support at a lean time for the Huanchaco shelter. In addition to buying food (photos below) they also used the funds to purchase deworming and flea medicines as the shelter condition often lead to  infestations. 
  
  
• Repair to the shelter roof: One of the rooms we helped to fortify during our initial trip was comprimised by daily wear and tear and so the remainder of the funds we sent is being used to make that important repair as it is one of the few areas of the shelter that is totally secure for their supplies and some of the dogs. Berta has promised finished photos so expect those in the next report. 

Planning our 2013 campaign: Again, like the original trip - the next campaign will involve not just a spay & neuter clinic but another full-on shelter improvement effort. In the next two week we'll be having a conference call with our lead veterinarian Brenda Kennedy and several previous Perros Project team members who are interested in returning. We'll likely have set date when you get our next report! If you think you might be interested in coming down for the next campaign - we'd love to have you. No experience is needed - just enthusiasm and a sense of adventure.

Sincerely, 

Matt & Courtney 
The Perros Project
perrosproject@gmail.com 

Yet to like us on Facebook? Check out our Facebook page today.

PS - Know anyone who males or would donate dog sweaters? They don't last long at the shelter but the pups really appreciate them. 

Greetings all,

A quick update on some of the activity that has been taking place this fall/winter season with the Perros Project. 

In this off-project season we continue to try and help the dogs of Huanchaco through both planning work and support for the continuing work on the ground .