Volunteer of the Month

By Syd Sullins

Amy Traxler is a different type of volunteer for sure. She lives on Friday Harbor in the San Juan Islands. She heard about The Ranch through a friend that volunteers at the Animal Protection Society of Friday Harbor. Amy decided to fly down and check us out. She stayed for two weeks, and volunteered every day. She became a fixture at The Ranch. Her specialty seemed to be the shy dogs. One of our dogs, Azteca, had recently come to The Ranch and was very fearful of the leash. Amy worked with that sweet boy every day…he eventually fell in love with her.

Amy has a lot of moxie. She brought crates down from Friday Harbor and customs was trying to charge her a ridiculous duty. Amy would have none of it and she talked them down to about 1/5th of what they had been asking. She also flew dogs back to Seattle which was a huge help for us.

Just last week Amy returned, this time she flew down at her own expense to fly four dogs back to Friday Harbor. Unfortunately, Volaris had overbooked dogs on that flight and three of the four didn’t make the flight. But Amy and Arturo, our driver, made a valiant effort to get them on the flight.

We love volunteers like Amy who think out of the box on how to help organizations like ours. She has a great skill set, is very comfortable working with our dogs and staff and her love for dogs is as big as her smile. Thank you Amy! Hope to see you again soon.