Moving to STJ Fri!!

The no kill shelter, the ACC, could certainly use your help. I would encourage you to go there right away and start volunteering. You won't get paid, but you could possibly make some connections and find people who would hire you to help. There is absolutely no reason you should 'miss' working with animals since the ACC is in dire need of help and you can always go there and walk the dogs and work with the ones that have been sitting in the shelter for a long time waiting for homes. Several of them have some kind of behavioral issue that prevents them from finding a home fast. Make sure you have some business cards for them too. They can hand them out to people who are adopting, or people who are looking for help. Good Luck!! I'll keep your email handy... I have a couple of dogs that could stand to have better manners 😀

Hey Justin

I was at the vet's office last week buying food and began talking to another lady who was there with her dog and told her you were moving and were a professional dog trainer and she said that you will have plenty of business 🙂 I would stop by at the vet's - Cainines Cats and Critters - and let them know you are available for dog sitting and training. Remember to send me your telephone number when you arrive. I am off island until the 3rd week of October but do get in contact when I return.

Happy moving day 🙂

Pia

Thanks Piaa and stjohnjulie!!
I have been speaking with both of you for awhile now and really appreciate all the advice and help. I am taking all of your advice. I hope this is a precursor to the kind of people i will meet on the island and i have a feeling it is. I feel as prepared as I can be and very excited about making the move Friday. I will stay in touch and hope to meet both of you in the real world. Again much thanks for the help!

Good luck! It's really easy to meet people on St. John and as long as you respect the culture and adapt to 'island time', you should be just fine. Piaa and I are both animal lovers, and I hope that you get lots of business when you get here. The amimal situation is greatly improved since I moved here 11 years ago, but there is still quite a bit of neglect going on. Unfortunately, dog fighting, although not legal, is still quite common. My first shelter adoption was Charlie. He was tied to the front door of the shelter on day, a bag of bones, and completely terrified of people. After months of dedication by some of the great volunteers at the shelter, he had his weight up and someone could actually pet him. He is an awesome dog! He is a big beautiful brindle that refused to become a fighter. It was years before he was able to not flinch when someone went to pet him. Now he is a super loyal dog (who barks too much). I know the ACC could really use your help with training. They have some dogs that have been there for quite awhile because of issues they cannot overcome. I think a lot of the dogs here have socialization problems. There isn't really any place to take them so they can get to know other dogs. They are working on getting a dog park, but I would guess that is somewhere down the line. Even my guys are pretty bad at it. They get so excited when they see other dogs and have zero manners in that respect. Hope you have great success on St. John!