by Jen Reeder

Wine will be flowing and tails will be wagging at the La Plata County Humane Society’s 5th annual Bark and Wine fund-raiser Oct. 20 at the Fairgrounds. The event features “heavy” appetizers, adoptable dogs, silent auction, cash bar and keynote speaker Sgt. Major (Ret.) David Dantzler and his dog Iram, who Dantzler met while serving in Iraq.

“This is a really awe-inspiring story and I think it’s going to be great,” said Chris Nelson, shelter director at the La Plata County Humane Society.
Dantzler started his third tour in Iraq in 2007 during the troop surge. His role as an operations sergeant major involved assisting with the planning and execution of all patrols, raids and missions.

“We were at an austere compound away from everybody else. It was a 15-month, very long tour,” Dantzler said. “Being over there, it’s a very stressful environment.”

Just the Facts What: Bark & Wine silent auction fund-raiser to benefit the La Plata County Humane Society When: Sat., Oct. 20, 6 -10 p.m. Where: La Plata County Fairgrounds Tickets: $25 and available at the La Plata County Humane Society, Pet Haus, Maria’s Bookshop or www.lpchumanesociety.org

But stress relief came from an unexpected source: three orphaned puppies who adopted the unit and proved so valuable that they qualified with the Army as Force Protection Canines. One of them was a loyal, brown-eyed pooch named Iram.

“All the soldiers in the unit took care of all the dogs, but Iram and I just kind of bonded together over the course of time,” Dantzler said. “It just kind of happened.”

Initially, the soldiers fed the dogs scraps from the mess hall, but soon family members stateside got wind of the canine companions.

“We started getting all kinds of dog food, dog toys, collars … I bet the dogs were getting about as much mail as we were,” Dantzler said.

At the end of the tour, Dantzler was able to bring Iram home with him to Colorado Springs. Iram adjusted fairly easily to life there with Dantzler’s wife, Mary, and their Shiba Inu mix, Sasha, despite leaving the desert for the mountains.

“His first experience with snow was pretty funny – he didn’t know what to think about it. He’d jump out in it and spread his paws really high on the ground, kind of like he was hopping through it,” Dantzler said. “But he got used to it real quick – he’d play and roll around in it.”

Dantzler said it is important to support animal shelters like the La Plata County Humane Society’s because of the value of animal companionship to humans.

“Before this tour, if somebody had told me that having a dog could keep you calm or relaxed or help with stress or anything like that, I would have said, ‘You’re crazy – that’s a bunch of hogwash,’” he said. “But that’s another thing that I saw over time: having these dogs, it really did help the morale of the unit.”

The shelter’s Nelson said he hopes there will be a huge turnout to see Dantzler speak at the Bark and Wine fund-raiser. Since introducing guest speakers to the event two years ago, attendance has grown, along with money raised. In 2010, Bark and Wine brought in around $22,000, which was spent on enlarging and upgrading the cattery, which Nelson said was “desperately too small,” and refurbishing the floors. In 2011, the event raised around $30,000, which is being used to renovate the dog isolation area for sick dogs as well as other improvements. “The building is only 15 years old, but it gets used pretty hard,” Nelson said. “It’s in constant need of upkeep and modernization.”

This year’s Bark and Wine funds will go toward behavior training for the animals, to help pets become more adoptable. Nelson would also like to build a large play yard for the dogs so they can have group interaction. (Currently dogs are taken to a volunteer’s property to play together, but it would be better to not have to transport them, and for them to be able to do it more frequently.) Funds would also go toward enrichment toys and games to keep the animals’ minds engaged.

“We want to spend the money on things that will better the lives of animals while they’re here, and increase the adoptions, as well as to better their lives once they’re gone,” Nelson said.

Peg Rogers, who has adopted “many, many” pets from the local Humane Society and attended every Bark and Wine fund-raiser, said the event is a fun way to support a great cause. She particularly likes the speakers that showcase how “people and animals really work together.”

“It’s a different sort of fund-raising event than any other group in Durango offers … the only one that really celebrates the animal/human bond,” Rogers said. “Plus there’s animals there. It’s not just an adopt-a-thon, it’s a huge social event. Dogs are walking around, people are sticking dollar bills under their collars, there’s a whole section for cats.”

She said the shelter deserves community support because it’s more than just a place where people drop off unwanted animals; it helps improve the quality of life in Durango. For example, shelter volunteers take dogs and cats to nursing homes to visit with the elderly, to Durango’s juvenile detention center to be trained by young people, and to elementary schools as part of the “Read to a Dog” program to help strengthen children’s literacy skills.

“I think that’s the most important thing: the work the shelter does in the community is so vital. Not only housing animals and sheltering them, but with all the other kinds of programs it does that integrate animals into community settings,” Rogers said. “I think those kinds of things are critical to having a Durango that we want to live in. That’s why people should come and support the Bark and Wine.”