Ranch Co-Manager
by Syd Sullins
I first arrived in Ajijic in May of 2013. I had been able to achieve my goals to retire at 55 years of age and my husband, Matt, and I fancied ourselves as being nomads for the past year. We had lived in the Midwest our entire lives and were ready for a little adventure and tired of midwestern winters.
I remember it felt a little like the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears as we moved from place to place. The first place we stayed was Cabarete in the Dominican Republic…that was just a little too crazy for us. Then we tried living in La Cruz de Huanacaxtle. We liked it there but it was over $100 to play a round of golf. Then we moved on to La Paz, but it was too hot there.
We found that Chapala was just right - wonderful weather, nice people, near a large airport and most importantly for Matt, affordable golf. It just sort of worked for us. We quickly made some very good friends. Matt found a group to golf with and I had everything here that I wanted. So we decided to stay.
It wasn’t long before I realized that I needed something to keep me busy and that’s when I read an article in the Ojo del Lago about The Ranch. I remembered sending an email to the contact information at the end of the article asking if they could use a volunteer. The response was immediate and short “boy, could we!”.
I started at The Ranch soon after that; my plan was to just walk dogs twice a week. At that time, Gudrun Jones, one of the founders of The Ranch, was still running the operation. Most of the days I came up to the Ranch, it was just two paid employees and me. I quickly learned that with so little help, I needed to learn to scoop poop and fill water buckets before I could walk the dogs.
I really had no ambition to be anything more than a volunteer. However, due to health issues, The Ranch was soon in need of a new manager and at age 57, I happened to be the youngest person in the room.
Luckily before long, Carolyn Cothran arrived on the scene. I honestly don’t know how we were so fortunate. Carolyn and I developed a really great relationship that pulls from each of our strengths.
Co-managing The Ranch is a huge undertaking…not one I planned on, nor one that I was qualified to do. But I feel I learn more every day. The Ranch has grown tremendously; we now have three employees everyday and volunteers no longer need to learn how to scoop poop! Our volunteers are an incredible group of loving, giving people. Some days I’ll arrive at The Ranch and wonder where I’ll park because there are so many cars there already.
We have expanded our runs and started a really thorough vaccination program for our dogs. Most importantly, we have developed treasured relationships with rescue organizations in the US and have become very active sending our dogs to their forever homes north of the border.
When I first started running The Ranch, the hardest thing for me to do was ask for financial help. I soon realized that without help from the community our gate wouldn’t be able to stay open. The generosity of our community has astounded me. Every fund drive we’ve done has been a huge success and well attended and many people make monthly donations in support of our dogs.
Back then in 2013, we had a total of 22 adoptions; this past year we had approximately 350. Thinking of all the dogs we’ve rescued and given a truly wonderful life, is my inspiration.
And the dogs? There is truly nothing like rescue dogs. You can see it in their eyes. They are so thankful for a safe place to stay, food every day and the attention provided by the staff and volunteers. Yes, I’ve given much to The Ranch but I honestly feel The Ranch has given me so much more. Never have I been so proud to be part of such an outstanding organization.