Woman training in Harmony to improve Puerto Rico's treatment of animals

For several years, Odalis Garcia Colon tried to do her part to address the dreadful situation for dogs in her native Puerto Rico.
She and her partner fed stray animals out of their own pocket, took others to be spayed or neutered and worked to find loving homes for the more than 50,000 stray dogs said to roam the streets in Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory.
Colon is now hoping to move beyond feeding and vetting stray dogs.
She’s given up her job as an educational evaluator for the biomedical research education program at the University of Puerto Rico to help save as many dogs as possible.
Colon founded a non-profit program called D.A.S.H.A. (Dedicated Animals Serving Humans Always).
And to help her in her efforts to train many of the strays as service animals, she decided she needed to learn just how to accomplish that mission. Her search for a training facility willing to help her at no cost led her to Highland Canine in Harmony.
For the past 12 weeks, Colon learned the basics of training dogs, both as companion and service animals.
Colon said she began seeking a training facility in the United States or Canada, and in her proposal, outlined the deplorable situation in Puerto Rico. Two answered her requests — a facility in Canada and Jason Purgason at Highland.
However, Purgason, who has traveled in many parts of the world conducting training seminars, wasn’t sure her e-mail was real.
Purgason said he couldn’t imagine that a U.S. territory would condone the deplorable treatment of dogs. When he investigated further and found Colon’s description was accurate, he took action.
He offered Colon a scholarship to take part in a training school at his facility.
Colon was thrilled. 
“I gratefully accepted their offer since my own research indicated that Highland Canine is renowned as one of the top dog training centers in the U.S., possibly worldwide,” she said.
Colon talked about the situation in Puerto Rico. She said there are few animal shelters and few resources for low-cost spaying or neutering. One of the few such facilities available gives appointments six weeks in advance and payment has to be made at that time, meaning pet owners must make three trips to have their animal sterilized.
It’s a trip few are willing or able to make, she said.
Attitude, Colon said, also is a big contributor to the problem.
“When a dog goes into heat, some people just toss them aside,” she said.
Many are hit by cars or left to fend for themselves. Many end up in an area along the southeast coast, along the shoreline, which has become known as Dead Dog Beach.
Colon said the problem is costing Puerto Rico millions of dogs annually in lost tourist dollars.
Some tourists, particularly Americans, are so appalled by the treatment of dogs in Puerto Rico, that they put out the word to other travelers. A 2002 study by the Puerto Rico Hotel and Tourism Association estimated that the lost tourism revenue was about $5 million.
The figure is close to $15 million now, Colon said.
She said she hopes what she has learned in the last 12 weeks at Highland can be translated into educational programs for Puerto Ricans to change attitudes that dogs are disposable property.
In that endeavor, she will return to Puerto Rico with a labradoodle pup named Dasha. Dasha, named for her organization, was donated to Colon by Shelia Flores, a breeder in Oregon. Purgason and his wife, Erin also donated a dog to help get her organization started.
She is training Dasha, who is 5 months old, as a therapy dog.
Working with the staff at Highland and with Dasha, she said, convinced her she made the right decision to start her rescue group.
Colon said she’s planning to initiate efforts to secure funding for a low-cost or free spay-neuter clinic in Puerto Rico, and to open a training center to engage in an island-wide educational campaign focusing on the humane treatment of animals, what animals can do for humans and the need to control indiscriminate breeding.
She hopes to involve at-risk youth in her efforts to train the stray dogs of Puerto Rico, a program she believes with have benefits beyond providing service animals. Colon said it will serve as a method of teaching skills to young people and teaching a future generation that dogs are not disposable property.
Colon said her training at Highland, as well as visiting pet adoption fairs and the SNIP (spay-neuter) clinic in Mooresville strengthened her resolve to implement her plans in Puerto Rico.
She also hopes Americans will continue to pressure the government and citizens of Puerto Rico to take action.
“I feel if more Americans in the continental U.S. would learn about the animal situation in Puerto Rico, the outrage would lead to immediate action that would alleviate the pain and suffering of so many animals,” she said.