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TOO CUTE
Basenji's

TOO CUTE
Basenji's

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Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale, a tale of the cutest pups, that started from their Puerto-Rican Isle to their furry forever home…. (Gilligan's Island Tune)

More Info

Hi, we're Reggie and Jack!

When University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire students return from their immersion trips they bring all sorts of things home with them, be it a new appreciation for other cultures or keepsakes made by local artisans.You can now add stray dogs to the list, thanks to Blugolds Maddie Eggert and Eddie Flottemesch.

“There was no way we could leave them behind,” Flottemesch says of the year-old canine brothers — now named Reggie and Jack — who flew home with them after their Winterim service immersion in Puerto Rico. Eggert agrees, saying that “this was a service trip, so we had to bring them with us.”

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No way we could leave them behind…..

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We worked with Paradise Rescue….

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Katy Rand, student coordinator will foster them….

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We said of course we would, as we were there to do good things….

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No way we could leave them behind…..

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We worked with Paradise Rescue….

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Katy Rand, student coordinator will foster them….

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We said of course we would, as we were there to do good things….

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No way we could leave them behind…..

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We worked with Paradise Rescue….

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Katy Rand, student coordinator will foster them….

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We said of course, as we were there to do good things….

The Rest Of The Story

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Once they knew about the “angel program,” they asked if Reggie and Jack could join so they could bring them to Eau Claire. The director said yes, but they had to pay for the flight and other costs associated with the two dogs. So, Rand and Jiménez Frei launched a Go-Fund-Me page to raise the money.

“The response was so heartwarming; lots of faculty, staff and students donated, so it truly was a group effort to bring these adorable little guys back here to hopefully find a forever home,” Jiménez Frei says.

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“It was so cool to see the outpouring of people who wanted to support the dogs,” says DeKeyser, a sophomore nursing major from Green Bay. “Just the first day, we raised close to $500. What we were doing really connected with the campus community, so people wanted to help.”


Embracing every opportunity
While the dogs were an unexpected highlight of the immersion, bringing them home was just one of many incredible experiences the students had as part of the university’s first immersion in Puerto Rico.

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Having a domestic intercultural immersion experience in Puerto Rico helps students see what life is like in a U.S. territory — as opposed to a U.S. state — and the legacy of colonialism that has led to challenges on the island, says Dr. Jeff DeGrave, UW-Eau Claire's intercultural immersions coordinator.
“It also helps remind us that Latin America is not a place that’s ‘over the border,’” DeGrave says. “Without question, Latin America is as much a part of the U.S. as is the U.S. a part of Latin America. There are no geographic boundaries between cultures. This program served as an excellent reminder of the arbitrary nature of the lines that are drawn to separate people from one another.”


Rand and a former co-worker proposed the program so students could have a service-focused immersion during Winterim. Their goal, Rand says, was to keep the immersion domestic but to include more cultural elements. Puerto Rico fit their vision perfectly, she says.

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Flottemesch and Eggert were among the 12 students and two faculty and staff members who spent 10 days in Puerto Rico completing a series of daylong service projects. When they arrived at their volunteer campsite, they found two stray dogs there. Initially aggressive, the dogs quickly befriended the group.
“They came to trust us and would sleep outside our residence building and even visit us during morning yoga sessions,” says Dr. Cheryl Jiménez Frei, an assistant professor of history who co-led the program. “They became our little mascots. The thought of leaving them was painful to everyone in the group, so we worked with Paradise Rescue, a shelter we had volunteered with in Puerto Rico, to get them prepped to be brought to the Midwest for foster.”
lottemesch and Eggert flew home with Reggie and Jack, and Katy Rand, the coordinator of student leadership and Greek life who co-led the trip, is fostering them until they find their forever homes.
Paradise Rescue has an “angel program” that asks people to fly with dogs to the continental U.S., where they have a better chance of being adopted. They have partner shelters in Minneapolis and Wisconsin, so the director asked if any Blugolds would fly back with a dog. Several students said yes, as did Jiménez Frei.
“We said of course; we were there to do service and do good,” says Jiménez Frei, who flew back with Eugene, an abandoned senior dog who is now in his forever home with a volunteer from Tails of Hope Animal Rescue in Alma. 
Another Blugold, Nevaeh DeKeyser, flew back with Naomi, a 14-week-old puppy. She says she cried happy tears when she learned the dog was adopted within days of arriving in Minneapolis.