Hola, yo me llamo "Lilibeth" , o "Lil'Bit" . Monica me encontro hace un ano, y cree que tengo como un ano y medio. Estoy esterilizada, y tengo todas mis vacunas. Soy energetica y me encanta correr, pero solo peso 15 libras!! Es porque creo que soy parte perro de carrera. Lo mas que me gusta es acurrucarme con alguien a quien quiero mucho.

Hi, my name is "Lil'Bit" . Monica found me a year ago, and she thinks I am now a year and a half. I was left in an abandoned building and was terrified. I am sterilized, and have all my shots.I am very energetic and I love to run, but I only weigh about 15 pounds!! I think that's because I must have some greyhound blood in me, because I am tall and thin. The thing I love most to do is cuddle with someone I love. Please email Monica and ask to see me!!




Hola, yo soy "Elliott" , un Labrador, y soy fiel y cariñoso. Tengo cuatro años, entrenado, y estoy vacunado y esterilizado. Peso 60 libras.

Hi, I'm "Elliott" , a Lab, and I am loyal and loving.I'm 4 years old, house trained, have my vaccines and am sterilized. I weigh 60 pounds. My favorite passtime is taking naps.




Yo me llamo "Golden Boy" , soy un Golden Retreiver, y soy adorable y jugeton. Tengo un año y medio, estoy vacunado, pero no esterilizado todavia. Peso 35 libras.

My name is "Golden Boy" , a Golden Retreiver, and I am adorable and playful. I am one and a half years old, am vaccinated, but not sterilized yet. I weigh 35 pounds.
Golden Boy has found a Home!!




Yo soy "Sam" . Tengo un año y medio, y soy un mix de Labrador. Tengo todas mis vacunas pero no estoy esterilizado todavia. Soy dulce y cariñoso. Cuando pequeño me rompi el femur izquierdo. monica me llevo al veterinario y el me opero. Ahora el hueso esta totalmente curado. Pero perdi el sentido en la extremidad de mi pata, asi que la tengo un poco hinchada siempre. Pero puedo caminar y correr de lo mas bien!Estoy vacunado pero no esterilizado. Peso 40 libras.

I am "Sam" . I am a year and a half lab mix. I have all my vaccinations, but am not sterilized yet. I am soft and sweet. When I was three months old, I broke my hip bone. monica took me to the vet and operated on me. The bone healed perfectly, but I lost feeling in my paw. So I have a chronic condition in that it is always a little bit swollen. But I can walk and run just fine! I have all my shots, and am not sterilized. I weigh 40 pounds.




Golden Boy, Golden Girl, Sam & Elliott.

HOLA Yo me llamo "Rocco" y me abandonaron en Fajardo hasta que Monica me rescató despues de dos dias de lluvia y frio. Yo estaba titiritiando y me tuvo que arropar en una toalla grande. Como ella vive en un apartamento, no se puede quedar conmigo. Pero soy bien listo y me encanta jugar. Soy jovencito, y me voy a quedar pequeño. Parezco un chihuahua con pelo largo. Por favor ayudenme a encontrar un hogar sano y amoroso. Yo prometo devolverselo con creces!
[Desafortunadamente, tuve que mandar a Rocco al refugio de Humacao en diciembre, pues no me pude quedar con el. Monica]

Hi! My name is Rocco, and Monica found me abandoned in Fajardo, where she rescued me after two days of rain. I was freezing! She lives in an apartment, so she cannot keep me. I'm really smart and I love to play. I'm young, and I'm going to remain small. Some people think I remind them of that famous Chihuahua of TAco Bell fame, only with long hair. Please help me find a loving home. I promise to be good!! [Unfortunately, I had to send Rocco to the Humacao Refuge last december because I could no longer keep him.]




HOLA! Yo me llamo Golden Girl porque parezco un Golden Retriever pero en pequeño (solo peso 30 libras!). Tengo dos años. Soy bien bonita y muy cariñosa. Monica me encontró abandonada en una fabrica desierta en Fajardo en Oct. 2006 cuando tenia como 9 meses, y me salvó la vida porque habia otro perro que merodeaba por ahi y no me dajaba comer la comidita que Monica me dejaba a mi. Yo no me podia defender. Soy jugetona y me encanta quedarme dormida a tus pies. Tengo un pelo precioso y suave, y soy muy limpia y agradecida. Por favor ayudame a encontrar un buen hogar y le prometo al que me escoja que te voy a querer por el resto de mi vida. Lo que mas quiero es estar con una familia o una persona que me quiera mucho y me deje quererla, porque yo soy todo amor. No estoy esterilizada.

Hi! my name is Golden Girl, because I look like a Golden Retreiver (but I'm smaller; I only weigh about 30 pounds!). I'm two years old. Monica found me in an abandoned factory in Oct. 2006, when I was about 9 mo. old, and saved my life, because there was this big dog that wouldn't let me eat the food Monica left for me, even though he had some of his own. I have beautiful hair, I'm very playful and loving. Please help me find a good home and I promise to love whoever takes me home for the rest of my life. The one thing I want most in the world is to have a family that loves me and lets me love them back, because I'm all about love. I am not sterilized yet. Golden Girl has found a Home!!




HOLA!! Yo me llamo Tippitina, o Tippi. Monica me encontró en el Panhandle de Florida despues del Huracan Katrina, donde me habian abandonado en un campo y me rescató y me trajo a la isla del encanto. Yo estaba hambrienta y con mucho miedo pues solo tenia unas ocho semanas. Me estaba escondiendo en un tubo de desague cuando Monica me encontró. Soy muy fiel, parte Rottweiler y parte German Shepard. Soy muy fuerte y soy muy buen guardian. Soy sumamente cariñosa y no le hago daño a nadie, aunque a veces ladro cuando veo un gato (porque no es permitido que los gatos esten en mi presencia) o a un perro extraño (porque yo no confio en que no le vayan a ser daño a Monica). Pero nunca muerdo. Tengo tres años y peso 60 libras. Estoy esterilizada.

Hi Y'all!! My name is Tippitina, (after the famous restaurant in New Orleans), or Tippi for short (after Tippi Hedren). Monica found me in the Florida panhandle after Katrina. I was only about eight weeks old and someone had thrown me out in a rural area. I was so scared I had been hiding in a drainage ditch for some time. Well, Monica found me, and here I am! I am part German Shepard and part Rottweiler, very strong and a good guardian, and I am very loyal and loving. I don't hurt anyone, with the possible exception of a cat. They are not allowed near me. I am three years old and I weigh 60 pounds. I have been sterilized. Tippi found a Home!!!




HOLA, yo me llamo Lola y soy una Diva. Soy la secretaria social de Monica porque tengo que ir a conocer a cuanta persona ande por aqui, para saludarlos y dejarles ver lo bonita que soy y lo cariñosa. Me encanta dar besitos y soy bien jugetona. La gente del condominio donde vive Monica no la dejan tener mas de dos perros, asi es que yo tengo que encontrar un buen hogar. Si me llevas contigo, prometo serte fiel y amorosa, y quererte siempre. Pero me vas a tener que querer mucho y darme mucha atencion, porque yo soy una reina, creemelo! La canción esa que dice: "Whatever Lola wants, Lola gets" la escribieron pensando en mi. Tengo cuatro años, peso 30 libras y estoy esterilizada.

Helloo!! My name is Lola. I'm a diva. I'm also Monica's Social Secretary. I simply have to go and say hello to everyone I meet, beacuse I'm that pretty. I love giving kissies and I'm very playful. It's breaking Monica's heart to have to find me a home, but she thinks I deserve to have a family all of my own, instead of living with this constant open door policy. All these new guys make such a racket, they don't let me get my beauty sleep! If you take me, I promise to love you, but you must promise to pay alot of attention to me, because I'm special. You know that song "Whatever Lola wants, Lola gets"? Well, that song was written for me. I'm 4 years old, weigh 30 pounds and am sterilized. Lola found a Home!!!

Si alguien nos quiere adoptar, por favor llame a Monica al 787-863-5189, o pasenle un email a guayabapr@gmail.com.

anyone interested in adopting us call Monica at 787-863-5189 or email her at guayabapr@gmail.com .








To: PARE Este, Inc.
From: Monica Perez Nevarez

When all Else Fails (Is Euthanasia really the only alternative for dogs in Puerto Rico?)

Dear Sally:
Let me examine a “What if” scenario concerning abandoned animals in Puerto Rico. Let’s say you just moved into a new neighborhood, and are walking your dog. You notice an abandoned dog, and you feel sorry for him. Then you begin to sporadically feed him a little dog food, until one day the dog overcomes his fear just enough to beg for a little loving contact, some relief from the sun and the rain, and a respite from hunger and fear and the uncertainty of a life abandoned. So as a sentient being, your heart melts, and you find yourself asking: so, what’s one more dog? And you take him in. And after an initial period when your original dog adjusts to having an intruder in his home, they become friends and everything is all right. Or so you would think.

Everything is all right until you find another abandoned dog and the same scenario plays out again and again. There are enough dog carcasses on the side of the road on this island. There are enough mangy, starving, pitiful dogs in empty parking lots or condemned buildings. There are enough abused and neglected dogs chained to a fence for life. So you decide to do something about it. You tell yourself you’ll make a difference, and at least some dogs will find a better life. So you start calling all your friends, to see if they want a dog. You bathe the dogs, and comb them, and take them to the vet to get sterilized and vaccinated, and take pictures of them. But none of your friends can take them; they already have dogs or don’t want pets. You call Save a Sato, but they can’t help; in fact, the last batch they sent to the US did not find a home and had to be put down after all that traveling and expense. You call the no-kill shelters, and they are full, and have been full for months. You put classified ads in the paper, and you get two responses, both from well-meaning kids that live in Residenciales, and do not have a private yard for the dog, or are old enough to know better.

In the meantime, some of your neighbors applaud your efforts, others tolerate them. But others, and there are always these others in every neighborhood, don’t care that you are trying to help these foresaken animals, all they see is that you are breaking the rules, and they are afraid of your dogs, and they bark, so they must go. They harangue the administration and the Board of Owners until they take you to Court. In court, the judge, a dog lover, is very understanding, and he tells the administration that he has no jurisdiction in this matter, and he tells you that you should do something to be able to abide by the Condo rules, for your sake and for the dogs. And so it goes for another year, with tolerance from the understanding neighbors, and harassment from the not so understanding neighbors. Until one day the Board asks you to come to a meeting and explain yourself.

You explain to them all you have done to try and find them a home. About the website you set up, the Yahoo Group memberships in Dog Groups, the classified ads, the telephone calls, but they do not want to hear about that. They want your dogs out of the building, and write you a letter giving you seven days to get them out, or they will have the shelter pick them up themselves.

You go crazy trying to understand the inhumanity and selfishness of the two neighbors who, with consistent malice, caused you to be fined exorbitant amounts of money (later adjusted by the Board) and finally badgered the Board into this final action, a Board you have a sneaking suspicion would have been much more tolerant without their complaints, but the threat to take them to court over your dogs is the last straw. These complainers frame their argument simply: “it is against the rules, their barking bothers us, and we are afraid of your dogs: they might hurt a child on the premises” they say.

No matter that there are ten other dogs that live in yards surrounding your building that bark all night. No matter that you take them out on a leash every day two or three times a day - outside the confines of the building grounds - for their walks. No matter that there are other condo owners who let their cats roam the grounds freely all day every day against the rules, and they are not fined. No matter that they are condemning these dogs to death because all the shelters on the island are full to capacity. No matter that several seven year old boys used to walk the dogs, without ever being hurt, or ever having the fear of being hurt. You understand other people’s fears because one of your dogs has an issue with cats, and is a rottie/shepard mix that looks imposing; no matter that she is the most loyal, sweetest dog of all.

Well, that is pretty much what happened to me. In the course of the last two years I have picked up twenty four abandoned dogs. I have found good homes for five of them, and have sent twelve to a shelter, and have seven living with me, in my Fajardo apartment, against the rules. I have asked after the twelve I sent to the shelter, and they were all put down; there was simply no room for them.

I know I am not alone in my concern for abandoned dogs. I have walked my neighborhood, and I see that many other families have “adopted” abandoned dogs in their own fashion: some are allowed to sleep on their driveways or underneath parked cars, and they are fed scraps; they are not sent to a veterinary for Mange treatment, and they are not bathed and combed out. But they are alive, and that is supposed to be better than the alternative. I have seen dogs chained to a ten foot chain, with no shelter from the sun or rain, which is a special kind of torture: at least when they were free, they could always find a bit of shade. I have also seen families heroically take in more satos than you can count at a glance, and have them living happily in their back yards. So every level of care and compassion is evident in my neighborhood, except in my apartment building.

Sometimes I think it has to do with the owner mix of this condominium. Of the almost 180 apartments, only 30 are full time residents. It is from these owners that the Board is comprised. None of the complainants are members of the Board. In such a small pool of members, the voice of two strident opposers has more weight than they would otherwise. But the condo has fallen on hard times: after the Navy left Rosey Roads, all the long-term rentals were lost, and many investment properties are on the market, and have been on the market for over two years. Others that bought the apartments as second homes have found it very hard to keep up their visits or the payments, considering how expensive everything has become, and still others are going into bankruptcy. Unfortunately that leaves a handful of intolerant, fundamentalist egoists that through shear perseverance have humiliated the Board into an action that is simply reprehensible. Reprehensible because the complaints come from one family that only uses the apartment six or seven weekends a year, and from another family that is not directly affected and is “defending” a third owner who consciously does not wish to bring charges herself, but has done nothing to stop others from complaining for her.

I understand having these many dogs in an apartment is not the best option. Not for them, and not for me; and I have the chewed furniture and ruined car interiors to prove it. I understand that barking annoys people, and that living in an apartment, I must do everything that I can to mitigate that noise. I know I am not blameless in this matter, and I am honestly sorry for any discomfort I may have caused my neighbors.

But I also do not understand how so many people can be so outraged at the massacre of Barceloneta, and yet be a part of the same society that allows its government to have the money to build municipal animal shelters, but does not use it. A society that allows its elected leaders to cut the meager funds some non-profit animal organizations receive, on a vengeful whim. I do not understand how the many can be cowed by the loudmouthed and heartless few; how so many on the Board of Directors of my building simply do not know, or do not accept, that they are signing the death warrant of five dogs, for reasons that are less than meritorious on their face; or at least not meritorious when weighed against the reality of the penalty that is going to be suffered by the most defenseless party in this situation: the dogs.

Now I know why there are so many abandoned dogs in Puerto Rico: some are from carelessness, some from irresponsibility, to be sure; but some must come from people like me, who simply do not know how in the world they are going to send the dogs they have come to love as family to a senseless death, alone and abandoned. Who has the heart to bring a happy and healthy dog to what you know is an unjust end, if not a breathtaking betrayal of their love and loyalty?

So I am asking anyone and everyone out there today, if you have, or know someone who has, a house with a fenced yard and a heart big enough to take in a loving friend in need, please call me or email me. My babies need a home. All else has failed, and I cannot bring myself to send them to the Humacao Shelter to die alone. I want to put them to sleep myself, so the last thing they know is the warmth of my love; but even that takes more money than I have. But in Puerto Rico, they have no better option than that. And that reality speaks volumes about who we are as a society. Mahatma Ghandi once said that the measure of a society was taken by how they treated their animals. My neighbors have shown me what they are, and with this letter the world knows what they are too.

If you would like to offer your support, please call Madelyn, the secretary, and ask her to please inform the Board of your opinion that what they are doing is wrong, and to let me keep my dogs. Be nice to her, she’s one of the good guys here. Your calls may sway the Board to stay their sentence. Any help will be much appreciated. The number is 787-860-6071.

Elliott, Lola, Tippitina, Golden Girl, Golden Boy, Lil’ Bit and Sam thank you for your support. And I will be forever grateful. You can see them all at http://nccottages.blogspot.com/ .


Monica Perez Nevarez
787-863-5189
guayabapr@gmail.com