Recently, Pet Camp was invited to be a part of a documentary produced and directed by the students at BAYCAT (Bayview-Hunters Point Center for Arts and Technology), a local non-profit that offers classes and job opportunities in the digital media arts for under-served youth. For the documentary, these talented teens and young adults created short films, animations, and music videos from start to finish; they conceived the ideas, wrote the scripts and songs, drew the story boards, produced, directed and edited everything themselves under the guidance of professionals in those various fields who volunteered their time. This year’s documentary theme was “Summer of Love,” and Pet Camp was asked to speak about the transformative power of the love between dogs and their people in a short film called, “Dog Days.” I was honored to be interviewed and was thrilled to share my thoughts on how magical the human-dog bond is, and what the love of a good dog can do to change one’s life.
I’ve worked at Pet Camp for 18 years and have witnessed the power of a dog’s love first-hand time and time again. Counselors who may be a bit quiet and shy around people become different people when they’re hanging out in a play yard full of playful pups, and people from different backgrounds, life experiences and generations (I am old enough to be almost every counselor’s mother, no joke!) come together and connect over 1 common bond: our devotion to and adoration of all those crazy canines! One of the joys of being a Pet Camp counselor (or working at any doggie daycare or overnight lodging facility, I would imagine) is getting to know so many great dogs so intimately and really connecting with them as if they were your own; it’s like having a hundred of your best friends waiting for you every day when you walk in to work! Of course, the downside comes when those good buddies grow old and weak, and then pass away. Your heart breaks just as hard every time it happens, and you’re never ready for it.
All of us at Pet Camp are so grateful to get to know your dogs and spend our time with them, and we thank you for sharing them with us! Some of you might actually spy your camper in the video; click here to check out it out, and I hope you enjoy it!
This is a guest blog by Michelle Barrera, Pet Camp’s Head Honcho and Operations Manager.