Mimi’s Ark: Babs Fry, A Hero in the San Diego Dog Community

Story and photos by Mimi Pollack

SAN DIEGO — In the United States, most dogs are cherished family members, so it can be very upsetting if they get lost, and don’t come home. This is where local dog hero, Babs Fry, comes in. Fry is known in San Diego as the “pet detective” who has successfully reunited thousands of lost dogs and their owners. For the last ten years, Fry has dedicated her life to this cause. In addition, Fry has expanded from not only helping people reunite with their lost pets, but she also now rescues and rehabilitates strays wandering the canyons and dogs that have been relinquished by their owners.

Three years ago, she started her own non-profit, A Way Home for Dogs. Stray dogs that she has rescued are housed at her large ranch in Jamul. A successful realtor, she left that job to focus full time on rescuing dogs. It can be a 24-hour-a-day job.

If you read the biographies of the dogs available for adoption on her non-profit’s website, most have had a rough beginning in life, but have slowly learned to trust again, thanks to Fry and her dedicated group of volunteers and some fosters. They work with the dogs extensively, giving them both love and training. They learn about each individual dog’s temperament to best find a compatible person or family to adopt them.

Every Sunday at Point Loma High School in San Diego,  Fry and a group of seasoned and new volunteers set up tents and chairs and bring the dogs for people to meet and to socialize with them. If someone finds a dog they like, they must submit an application, be screened, and Fry also conducts home visits to make sure it is the right fit.

The Sunday that I went to visit, I was impressed not only by the long-time older volunteers, but also by the number of high school students who come every Sunday to help out. I met students from Point Loma, Scripps Ranch, La Jolla, and Hilltop High schools. All of them told me they were volunteering for either extra credit or for their community service and all were dog lovers. Tessa, a senior at Scripps Ranch High School, was there with her mother. She mentioned the California Scholarship Federation and that she needed 10 volunteer hours a semester. Fry has done a good job in recruiting high school volunteers to help. There are usually between 20-30 dogs on any given Sunday, so volunteers are always needed.

Each volunteer had a dog to show. I was particularly taken by Beowulf, an extra-large German Shepherd/ Alaskan Malamute mix who was magnificent. He was found wandering near a wilderness camp.  It took this giant but gentle and timid dog a long time to trust humans.

There was also Coral with her soulful brown eyes. She was found running scared off a freeway and humanely trapped. Now she loves people, especially those who give her treats.

I also liked Winnie, an American Staffordshire Terrier with the sweetest face and vision problems. There was Lucy, part of nine strays living at a junk yard near remote China Lake.  Fry was part of a team that secured the dogs, and then Fry personally rehabilitated her. This once frightened stray is now a lovely, sweet dog.

Moo Shoo, a handsome Chow/ Akita mix was sitting apart from the other dogs with his volunteer as he did not get along with other dogs very well. He had been rescued from a hoarding situation and a tragic fire. Although he logically had trust issues at first, he was very friendly when I went to say hi and pet him as were all the dogs mentioned above. The smallest dog I met was 22-pound Sheldon, an adorable Puggle.

When the event was over, the dogs all piled into Fry’s special van equipped with kennels. After dropping them off in Jamul, she was off to Bonita to work with five unsocialized puppies that were being relinquished by a veteran with PTSD.

It takes a certain type of person to do this work successfully and Fry is a combination of no-nonsense, hard work, and a huge heart that never gives up. She has the tenacity and dedication to stay on the job for as long as it takes. It takes a lot of time and patience to work with these dogs.

Fry comes from an interesting background. Born in New Jersey, she moved with her Navy family to Jacksonville, Florida. The family later moved to Naples, Italy, where she graduated from high school. Unlike other American military families, her father wanted her to integrate into Italian society, so most of her friends were Italian. She recalls those years in her life very fondly. She went on to get two degrees from Florida State University, one in Criminology and one in Communications.

She was working in finance when she met her husband, who was also in the Navy, and in 1999, they moved to San Diego. Both she and her husband have been lifelong animal lovers and have acquired many dogs in their years together. Their large house in Jamul is home to various animals as well as the dogs from A Way Home.

After their arrival in San Diego, Fry began volunteering and working with various rescue organizations, but it wasn’t until she lost one of her own dogs that she learned about rescuing lost dogs and the right and wrong ways to go about finding a lost dog. By consulting an expert in finding dogs at that time, she was able to get her own lost dog safely into a trap in her driveway.

A light bulb went off in her head and she realized that like herself, most people did not know the correct way to find lost animals and thus began her journey as the “pet detective” who finds lost pets. She has learned a lot along the way. She believes that one needs to learn to think like a dog.

Here is some general advice that she gives if a dog is lost.

1. Stay put and don’t panic.  The dog can feel your fear.
2. Maintain a quiet environment in the place the dog was last seen.
3.  The most important is to consult a pet recovery expert who can help.

Each case is different though, so she thinks it is best to call for advice before taking action yourself.

Fry does not charge for finding lost dogs and her non-profit relies on donations.

Her reputation has grown in both San Diego and nationally and she has appeared on the Today Show and other news media. Her expertise is in high demand, but she remains a down-to-earth person who puts the dogs first.  Babs Fry is certainly dogs’ best friend!

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Animal-lover Mimi Pollack is a freelance writer based in La Mesa, California.