(traffic rumbling) - Dogs are part of my family.

- Good doggies.

- Good, good boy.

- When I was growing up, we always had not only one dog, you know, a number of dogs.

When we went to the swimming holes, the dogs were with us.

When we'd go gather foods, dogs were, you know, our companions.

- [James] This one reminds me of golden retrievers.

- [Wendell] Dogs are part of a way of life.

- [James] Cosmo, you dare hit your ... (laughs) - James, my son He's always had a dog.

- [James] It's okay.

(puppy sighs) - We see a dog on the road, we'll pick 'em up and we'll nurse 'em back together.

Try to tell 'em, "Hey, come time to go home, dog."

But guess what?

They don't want to go home.

So, then they're our dogs.

They don't have a collar on or registered to anybody.

We'll bring 'em in and we'll feed 'em.

I'm not gonna say protect them because they protect us.

- [James] Like all these dogs might be my favorite.

- And then, of course, "Well that's my dog."

You know?

Then they put the claims on that rez dog.

That's how the majority of my dogs came to me.

(dog lapping) If we don't take care of them, who will?

(engine rumbling) - Here on the Warm Springs Reservation and like so many other reservations, there's lack of access to veterinary care.

And so, what we like to do is to come up here and do 100 spay/neuters, which translates into about 300 births prevented.

So, that means 300 less dogs roaming around this reservation specifically.

Thank you guys so much for being here and for making these clinics happen.

They could not happen without you and without your, without your commitment.

- I have an aunt that speaks very well, she's an elder, about how our people always took care of the four-leggeds.

It's been special.

It's been handed down in our generations and she speaks very eloquently about how important it is that we look after the animals.

- [Gina] It just makes my heart feel so full to be here.

So, I don't know what that word is, but that's how I feel when I'm here and it truly is an honor.

So, thank you so much.

Thank you.

- [Aurolyn] We call it tumna.

- [Gina] Tumna.

- [Aurolyn] That's the heart.

- Tumna.

- That heart is ... - [Gina] Yeah, that's how I feel.

- We love ...(singing) - Oh, say hi.

- Good morning.

- So he'll get neutered today.

You are gonna get vaccine records, it looks like.

- Hi, buddy.

It's okay, I'm gonna put this around him.

(people chattering) Cozy, cosmo.

- He's just very, very scared.

- It's okay, it's okay.

- There we go.

- Oh, good boy.

- [Gina] I deeply believe in spay/neutering, really specifically high-volume spay/neuter.

Ultimately, if we can reduce the overall population, then we reduce animal suffering.

So, we reduce the number of animals that go into animal shelters and to rescues.

And specifically on reservations, we can reduce the number of free-roaming dogs.

- [Wendell] When we didn't have the vets coming in, you would see more animals that were injured, torn apart.

They had gashes in their side.

- What's your last name?

- [Gina] This year we are doing a clinic on Warm Springs, and then next month we'll do one on the Umatilla Reservation.

We also will do a clinic up on the Hopi Nation.

We get volunteers that come from all over the United States.

They call it a spaycation.

(cat meowing) - Oh, sweet babies.

It's okay.

(people chattering) I'm a board member of First Nations Vet because I actually took my cat here two years ago.

Um, four.

She'd seen that I was a Warm Springs community member.

From there she's like, "I think it's good to have somebody in the community on our board."

Oh my gosh.

Being on a reservation, it's kind of hard to get vet care, because for one, we don't have any veterinarians that are on the reservation.

And then once they are able to get an appointment, it's just super, super expensive.

(people working) - [Gina] We not only spay/neuter them, but we also vaccinate them, provide a microchip for them.

We give 12 months worth of flea and tick medication.

And so, we deliver those services totally free to the community.

If it's the only appointment that we're gonna get, we just wanna give 'em everything we got.

(machines beeping) - Can we get a runner?

What's the next pet?

- [Gina] So, occasionally we have clients who maybe their pets have an accidental litter and the puppies need to find homes.

These eight super cute little chonky puppies, their owner had called us and said, "I have this mama dog that just keeps having puppies and I have gotta get her fixed."

And you know, I'm looking at our list, we're already full.

And so, I had texted Ali and I was like, "Put this one at the top of the wait list."

We're gonna vaccinate the puppies, we're gonna fix mama dog.

And then those puppies are gonna go into rescue with Street Dog Hero and get adopted.

(engine rumbling) - [Ali] I'll just carry the second two in.

- Okay.

Do you know where we're putting them at?

Because I thought they were right there.

- I would just set, or here, yeah.

- You see little baby?

- [Cheydon] Before the vets started coming here, there were a lot more free-roaming dogs.

- [Vet] Sorry for the loud beep that's about to happen in your ear.

- [Cheydon] Female dogs weren't fixed in the community and so when they would, they would have lots of puppies and then some people wouldn't be able to have homes for them or sometimes, you know, they just get left.

- That one is a boy.

- I just came to get cats.

- I mean, what's one more dog?

- Make it an even six, huh?

- Yeah.

(laughing) - Okay, you can take it home?

- Yes.

- Yeah, this is yours?

- Yes, this is mine.

- Yay!

- He won't be Bear though.

- Fry bread partner!

- Yes.

(overlapping conversations) (dogs whimpering) - Cozy Jim, it's your turn.

Are you ready to come with me?

Hi, sweet pea.

Hi, sweet little pooch.

- Good boy, bubba.

- Good, perfect pup.

- [Vet] All right, meloxicam is given.

- Recheck her temp in about five minutes.

- Resp rate 30.

- [Wendell] Is he droopy?

- Yeah, he is.

- [Wendell] We are grateful that the vets come to the reservation.

(dogs barking) The professionals provide shots for things that we don't even think about.

- [James] Why, do you want an Indian Taco?

- [Wendell] Oh, yeah, we do.

Look, he's happy now.

I thought he would be all drowsy and droopy, but he's looking good.

- [Gina] We did 123!

(Cheers) 123!

I think that's kind of a record.

I actually think that's a record for First Nations Vet.

So, we did so many re-homing things, so I just wanted to say thank you guys so much for your hard work.

Thank you.

Thank you everyone.

- [Cheydon] The rez dogs are our family.

They are part of our community just as much as any other human is and we need to treat them with respect, the same way we'd want a human to be treated with respect.

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