In the previous interview published in this blog, we talked with Emily Ellis, one of the three founders of Colitas con canas, a specialized rescue center that focuses on elderly and special needs dogs, located near Urubamba, in Cusco, Peru. On this occasion, we share an interview with Nikki Caswell and Corinne Susini, who are also the founders of this rescue center. They told us about their motivation to dedicate themselves to the care and rescue of stray dogs, the work they each do, the recruitment of volunteers and their expectations about the partnership recently formed between 3Love Inc. and Colitas con canas.
In 2018 you came to Peru and founded the Allqo Llaqta Rescue Center for street dogs, which existed for 5 years and then you founded the Colitas con canas shelter together with Emily Ellis in 2023. What motivated you to dedicate yourselves to the care and protection of stray dogs?
Nikki: Corinne and I travel a lot, we’ve been to several countries. We’ve been to many South American countries and we’ve been to the South Pacific as well. We noticed a lot of stray animals, in particular dogs. And we just happen to be animal lovers. We just put our time and attention into the dogs, because they’re just so visible, everywhere you look when you’re traveling in these countries. And we would always pack with us some dog food so we would give them some love and some care, and they seem to enjoy that, so we had that temporary exchange which was very fulfilling. But we wanted to elevate what we do to help dogs, so when we met Fabrizio in Urubamba, in Peru, when we were there, his dream was to open a rescue shelter and that dream aligned with our desire to do something like that. And so, we found we were kindred spirits and we could make that connection and together we were able to create Allqo Llaqta Rescue Center. Unfortunately, Fabrizio moved to the United States and without his physical presence in Urubamba, we were unable to continue on with the rescue shelter there. But Emily expressed the desire to take those dogs in and she had already many dogs that she rescued herself at her home. And together we officially launched Colitas con canas and we’ve been doing that together ever since, but we did establish a relationship with Emily because she was helping Fabrizio with Allqo Llaqta. So, I’ve been communicating with Emily almost every day for 6 years.
Corinne: For sure, we wanted to elevate our involvement with helping stray dogs, besides just feeding them whenever we could while traveling. Something more long term, more established I would say. So, besides that, the way we met Fabrizio, we didn’t meet totally randomly on the street. We stayed in Urubamba for about a week, because we loved the Sacred Valley. One evening we were just walking around, looking for a place to eat, I think, and we saw this distressed small dog, she looked very scared, very abandoned, I would say, and not in great shape, so we asked around: “Hey, does she belong to anybody, does she have an owner?” And people would day: “No, no, no. She’s just there, begging for food and surviving”. We don’t know why we had an instant connection with this dog. So, then we said: “Well, let’s just adopt her and bring her back to Canada”. So, we brought her back to our guest house, the owner was a lovely lady and she allowed us to actually bring her in, that was very sweet. And then the next day, we asked around for a vet that could help us doing the whole process to clean her up, to vaccinate her, do all the papers to travel with her to Canada, there is a bit of paperwork: vaccinations and all kind of stuff. This is how we met Fabrizio. He was the vet that helped us with the process of bring the dog back to Canada. And then he found out a few days later that somebody claimed her, but nobody knew and obviously the owner was not exceptional to leave her like that, abandoned in the streets, but anyway, that’s not for me to judge right now. We didn’t get the dog with us back to Canada, but at the end we saved many more dogs, than just one, thanks to that serendipity encounter with Fabrizio, thanks to that dog, really.
Corinne, you are the Technology Coordinator. How do you think online and social media communication can help raise awareness about the importance of treating animals well and inspire others to care for dogs with special needs?
Corinne: My job is in IT. So, I understand the importance of online presence for anybody, it could be a business, an association, a club, a charity, it doesn’t matter. It’s actually the same principles that I applied for clients, for business. I apply the same principles for a charity, because you need a professional looking online presence these days to be validated, to look legitimate. You need social media, you need a good looking and very detailed website. You can’t be the best charity in the world if you don’t have all this, this online presence, you don’t really exist, because now the younger generations in particular, if you don’t have a social media presence, you don’t really exist. So, I treat the online presence aspect very seriously and I try to be as professional as possible with everything. The way we present stuff, the way we present ourselves, the user experience, the user interface, the look of the site. It’s very important. It’s actually essential. When we did the work with Fabrizio, I had to develop that website, that online concept from scratch. I had to research different dog rescue centers, not to copy them, word for ford, but just to get inspired by how they present stuff, how they present themselves, what information, what pages are on the website. There’s a bit of an organization when you create a site, like a blueprint. So, then Fabrizio and I almost every day for a year, with Nikki of course, we stablished the foundation of who we are, what we want, collecting all kind of data, features and texts and everything to populate the website, the social media that I created, the Google Maps business presence, Trip Advisor, the PayPal donation account for charities, all the volunteer websites. So, we had to create these accounts and populate them, features, descriptions and be accepted, the whole process. It took me like a year, half time, to do this, to start a digital online presence, to create and populate accounts from scratch. It was a lot of effort, but I’m super happy I did it. Now I have more experience that I can pass on Colitas con canas, so everything now seems easier.
Nikki, you are the Volunteer Coordinator. Tell us about how that program works and how those interested in volunteering can get involved.
Nikki: Volunteering is applied on different online platforms, like Workaway, Worldpackers, Volunteer World. And they also directly apply for our website as well. They just apply and I either accept or I decline the application. But there is a lot of e-mail correspondence. You have to be really timely with your communication with the volunteers, because they tend to actually apply simultaneously to other rescue shelters or causes. You definitely want to get to the good ones as quick as possible and accept their application before somebody else does. Every day I check all the platforms to see who’s applied. So, after doing this for six years, I can filter through people, I have a lot of intuition that I have developed through these years.
Corinne: I would also add, Nikki, that on our website we have a pretty comprehensive volunteer page that we’ve been optimizing over the years. We are pretty honest about things, what should they expect. And I think we are pretty detailed in everything, the schedule, everything they should expect, the rules, and what we expect from them, they have to be good teammates.
Nikki: Quite recently we added the expectations guidelines, so that people have the right expectations and mindset to actually volunteer at our shelter, and that way really helps to filter out people and make sure that they are serious, they are good team players, they have good resolution skills and can work in an environment that’s quite taxing emotionally. It can be stressful to be around animals that have issues, as well as being able to handle different personality types because we work in a team environment.
Corinne: We are pretty transparent and upfront with expectations, we are a grassroots charity, so it’s not luxury. We are very upfront with things. I think that’s the best way to treat volunteers and people, with honesty and transparency.
Nikki: Absolutely. We definitely had to tweak and optimize over the years how we correspond to different volunteers and also make sure the correspondence is very personalized, so people don’t feel like we are just like a robot talking to them. We are very honest and transparent with people, so that when they come there are no surprises and they are ready to do the work. And hopefully we are going to get like the cream of the crop volunteers and also set them up in the right mindset, set the tone. That’s what we are trying to do and it’s actually quite effective. But every once in a while there’s people that are not necessarily prepared for the experience for different reasons.
In general, what kind of feedback do you usually receive about volunteers who travel to Cusco and stay for a while caring for the dogs of Colitas con Canas?
Nikki: They definitely say kudos to Emily, because Emily comes across as very authentic and sincere, that’s because she is. She is really in it for the right reasons and that transmits people. And they feel her and they know that she is doing this for the love of dogs. There’s a lot of responsibility and sometimes it can be very difficult for Emily, but she is so resilient and so positive and she has such a great sense of humor. So, definitely I’m not the only one who notices that, a lot of volunteers do, they share that with me as well. We get incredible reviews from people, they love the property, the surroundings, they love what they can do just in the immediate area of where the shelter is located at Emily’s property. They love walking the dogs and being quite close to the actual town itself, it’s not far away to commute there. And people tend to like the accommodation situation overall, people are very happy with the accommodations they have. Most people are very realistic in their expectations. Sometimes we get people that are surprised that the dogs aren’t living in kennels, that they’re actually living among us in a family home environment, but that’s what we want the dogs to experience, we don’t want them to live in kennels. Most of the dogs we have are actually going to live with us for the remain of their lives, because they are old, disabled and they have critical health issues, so a lot of them aren’t even adoptable. But we often bring dogs that end up getting adopted.
Recently a partnership was formed between 3Love Inc. and Colitas con canas. What are your expectations about the projects and actions that both organizations can develop together in favor of the animals and the population?
Nikki: Based on my understanding so far, it seems that we have very aligned goals and mission, we are trying to rescue animals and provide them a better welfare. But we are also trying to educate together, jointly, the community, to help increase animal welfare awareness and also to improve the welfare of people, just not animals, because I think that when we take care of our dogs, we actually take care of the human population as well, of the community. If our dogs are off the street, they are not as exposed to illnesses and disease. If we keep them at home, save and protected, then the people won’t get infected by diseases that the dogs pick up of the street by eating garbage and being exposed to stuff like that. So, we are taking care of the dogs and taking care of the people in the community simultaneously through education.
Corinne: I just want to add that I really like the fact that thanks to 3Love’s financial support and support in general, we’ll be able to expand the capacity we have, for both volunteers and rescued dogs. That’s amazing, right? We can do more. And also, we’ll be able to do more vaccination and neutering campaigns, and educational campaigns. Because it takes money, it takes funds, not just volunteer time. That’s really big, so we expect from our partnership to extend our reach, to extend our positive impact. Right now, we are doing what we can, with the financial input and the help that we have so far, but now we can expand that to do more.
Nikki: 3Love is also bringing up an architect and supplying all the materials and that’s great. And they are also adding a biodigester, so we are also aligned as well with the environment. We are very much trying to protect the environment as well and minimize our impact there. The biodigester will help us eliminate waste and reduce our garbage, the human waste and the dog waste, and also to convert that waste into energy, which is really cool and that aligns with our values as well.
In the period of one year that Colitas con canas has been working, what is the greatest satisfaction you have had on a personal level when you have seen the results of the teamwork?
Corinne: I feel Emily, Nikki and I are like kindred spirits, like soul sisters, so it’s easy to communicate and to get things done. It’s very flowing between the three of us all the time, no glitches, we get things done. The three of us are very motivated and efficient. When we discuss things, it just seems easy. So, it’s very satisfying to work with such a team. So, for me that’s very satisfying on a personal level working with Nikki and Emily. I can see the results very quickly over there in Urubamba, in the Sacred Valley, even though I do it from Canada, but that’s satisfying too, right?
Nikki: We collaborate well together. Emily and I have always said that we could move mountains, because in the year that we have launched Colitas con canas, I feel like we’ve accomplished so much and so, I always tell Emily: “You’ve gotta take a break”. Because she can never take time off, take care of herself. Right now, she is struggling a little bit with her health. But Emily is so resilient and so goal oriented. She is the most responsive and responsible person, and she just gets things done when she says she is gonna do it. She is just a remarkable person and honestly, together, I feel like with all our skill sets combined, it makes it possible for this shelter to exist. I think we are all meant to do something extraordinary and live a meaningful life to help animals and, in the process, raise awareness about their welfare and also the environment too. So, I feel together we are doing so much and it’s only been a year. We are committed to doing this for our entire lives and I know Emily is too. So, I feel like we are going to be able to make such a huge impact and so, it’s really quite exciting. And then all the volunteers too. Without the volunteers that we have, we wouldn’t be able to get all those tasks done. We wouldn’t be able to have almost 30 dogs and be able to take care of them without all of those volunteers that are showing up. They’re just incredible and without them, we wouldn’t be able to make this possible either. So, we are so grateful to all of the volunteers that we receive and we love them.
