Joanita Wibowo
International Travel

The tropical puppy island to add to your bucket list

The combination of sparkling sea waters, hot bright sand and adorable puppies might sound too good to be true, but it’s what you can expect when you visit this dreamy destination.

Perched on the Turks and Caicos Islands near the Bahamas, Potcake Place is a dog rescue charity that allows tourists to walk local puppies and dogs along Grace Bay Beach in Providenciales.

The pups are called Potcakes, named after the food that locals give them. According to the founder and director of the charity Jane Parker-Rauw, Potcakes are predominantly German shepherds, Labrador retrievers and fox terriers.

The charity helps 500 strays get adopted every year. However, according to Buzzfeed, Parker-Rauw noticed that the puppies were quite wary around people. To solve the problem, in 2010 she started allowing locals and tourists to come and play with the canines for a few hours every day on “puppy socialisation walks”, in order to let them get used to being around humans before they find a new home.

While there is no charge to walk a puppy, the queues could be long and the number of dogs available for trips varies day to day.

Parker-Rauw said these short excursions could do wonders for the young dogs’ development. “These short interactions with nice people both in and out of the adoption center really help to give them confidence that yes, most people really are good,” said Parker-Rauw.

“We have seen hundreds of times a very shy puppy just excel and develop over a short time this way. It's lovely.”

Parker-Rauw said she and her rescue organisation, which is 100 per cent run by volunteers, are hoping to reduce the number of dogs on the street without resorting to euthanising. She said her efforts on educating, neutering and spaying the canines in her shelter seemed to have paid off, as she believed there are now fewer strays. “For the first time in a long time, I have some hope that we are actually getting where we need to be,” she told CNN. “No more homeless dogs.”

Will you add this place to your travel bucket list? Let us know in the comments.

Tags:
Bahamas, Travel, International travel, holiday, Dogs