Every cup saves a pup - the beach dogs of Baja, Mexico
You can’t miss it.
Driving along the bumpy dusty road towards Cerritos Beach in Baja California, Mexico.
On the left hand side, in between the tall cacti and under the blistering sun.
A big shipping container with CERRITOS BEACH DOGS beautifully stenciled in bold black. A sign reads “drink coffee, save pups”. Coffee and puppies?
How could anyone resist!!!
Meet Mackie!
I met the lovely Mackie on my visit to Cerritos Beach in January. Mackie is the Adoption Coordinator as well as the Social Media Manager for Cerritos Beach Dogs (very worth a follow on Instagram for the very creative, engaging and adorable posts, even if you do not live anywhere near Mexico!!). A huge animal lover, originally from North Carolina, Mackie made her way down to Baja in her converted campervan and has been working as a volunteer at Cerritos Beach Dogs for several months.
After ordering a delicious coffee from their little cafe, she introduced me to all the sweet pups and told me a little about how Cerritos Beach Dogs got started.
How YouTube changed the game
Cerritos Beach Dogs was founded by a group of dog lovers who wanted to do their part for the stray dogs in Mexico.
In January 2022, a local hotel owner named Alex (who owns the hotel So far So Good at Cerritos Beach) took in a litter of stray puppies and made a makeshift rescue behind his hotel. It wasn’t the most ideal space as the ground was made from dirt… a breeding ground for deadly contagious viruses for dogs like parvo. Alex knew it couldn’t be a long-term solution. He also knew that the stray dog population was a big problem in the area and that this litter would not be the last.
It so happened that YouTubers Eamon and Bec were also visiting the area along with fellow YouTubers Sabrina and Nick. They met Alex and learned about his dream to set up a dog rescue in Cerritos on land that he owned. Inspired by his idea, they decided to help him build a dog shelter to care for the litter of puppies and any other dogs in need!
In just 30 days, with the help of the community, they built Cerritos Beach Dogs!!!
Watch the video here of how it all started here:
The lovely team is small but mighty! Mackie explained how the first few months were a big learning curve for everyone in terms of managing a rescue but they have a great team of volunteers who care deeply for the dogs and finding them a forever home.
“Augstine has been rescuing dogs her entire life, so she is the main person in charge of the dogs and ensuring they get the right vetinary care and medications. Juan Pablo is in charge of the cafe and I do the adoptions and social media”, explains Mackie.
”Alex comes by and does the dog care in the evenings. We have a good system down where we share responsibilities in the cafe and then cleaning and dog care throughout the day. It’s definitely a lot of work!”
Come to Baja for a road trip, leave with a rescue pup
We asked Mackie how the rescue does throughout the tourist seasons in Baja.
“Summer was definitely difficult with how hot it was and how few people come here at that time of the year. Generally, “van lifers” come down from the US or Canada around February or March to escape the winter. The weather at that time of year in Mexico is also perfect for living in a van with lots of free camping spots on the way down towards Cerritos Beach so we get a lot of people coming through here.”
This means that Cerritos Beach Dogs is perfectly located for travellers who want to adopt one of their dogs and bring them home. Most of the adoptions come from people who live in the US or Canada as adopters drive the pups back home (I thought this was really fantastic as it saves putting rescue dogs through stressful situations on airplanes to fly to other countries!).
There are some local adoptions in the Baja area, but Mackie explained that most local people have dogs already. Mackie herself fosters when she can and absolutely loves when the dogs are adopted locally where possible, so that she can watch the dogs grow up!
She explained how adoptions have been slow lately because of the holidays but she hopes things pick up as the busy season sets in. “We have to go with the seasons of tourism here which is really interesting to see the waves of people come and go. I really feel for the small businesses here too in that sense. Its really hard to watch the dogs stay here for a long time and get bigger, because the bigger they get, the harder it is for them to be adopted”.
We met Cacao and Malibu, two gorgeous dogs with floppy ears and really unique, inquisitive faces. Mackie said they had been fostered and trained really well but had not received one application despite constant social media postings. She said they are much more chilled when they are outside of the rescue and she would really love to see them find a home.
Mackie also explained how last year (2023) the area was packed with people but this year, it seemed a little slower in the beach town.
The town of Cerritos Beach
Cerritos is a little beach town in southern Baja home to a small community that love to surf, play beach volleyball and hang out at the local beach bars and restaurants. Cerritos is a place that is going to explode over the next few years. Right now, there isn’t a lot of infrastructure but we couldn’t believe the number of constructions sites in the area.
Mackie explained how she would love to find more consistent volunteers to help out with the dogs. Because of the transient nature of the town with people going and coming all the time, it’s hard to find people who stick around long enough to be long-term volunteers.
“We get a lot of volunteers who come and visit and help with the dog walking which is great, we love that! We’re so close to the beach so they can just walk down with the dogs. It gets them out of the shelter for a while and gets them used to new people.”
Animal Welfare in Mexico
Reports show a staggering 18 million stray dogs across the country of Mexico! Things are slowly changing with the help of amazing animal rescues, like CBD.
“I find that here there are SO many people that care about dogs, whether it’s international expats, Mexicans, locals or citizens. A lot of people look at dogs as creatures that deserve love, which is not always the case in other Central American countries where dogs can be looked at as pests”, said Mackie.
She explained that there is still horror stories that happen with dogs in Baja, which ultimately comes down to a lack of education, a huge lack of spay/neuter practices and an overwhelming overpopulation problem, which results in lots of street dogs. The street dogs in Baja are generally very well fed and are taken care of a little bit by the locals.
Luckily there are several organizations in the Baja area that are working towards better animal welfare for dogs and who offer free sterilization clinics almost every month in cooperation with the Mexican government.
Cerritos Beach Dogs had their first spay/neuter clinic with another local dog rescue called Dog Prana in January 2024. The plan is to do them once a month and to go to areas north of Cerritos/Totos Santos and into areas which don’t currently have these services. They will go door to door to explain what they are doing, offer free services and at the same time, educate locals about the importance of steralization for their pets.
“We’re going to start with very small clinics, so that we have chance to get to know the dog owners and the local community. We’ll choose different spots each time - this month we are going to be in Pescadaro and we plan to steralize 40-80 dogs! It was a big goal of ours to start spay/neuter clinics and we could not be doing it without the help of Dog Pranha! Mariana, the founder has over 20 years of experience in dog rescue, so we are excited to learn from her.”
Spay/Neuters clinics are such important services to offer local communities - not just in Mexico but around the world! These services are often in demand with people wanting the best for their dogs, but it’s often the case that a lack of transport or funds prevent them from doing so. These clinics are really a win-win for everyone - for the dog owners, for the rescues, for the dogs, for communities and for improving animal welfare.
I asked Mackie how do dogs end up at the shelter? Do people bring them in for care?
“We get a lot of texts. Every day. And its hard because a lot of the time we have to say no to dogs, because we just don’t have the space. People will say they’ve found a puppy and they’ve been fostering for 2 months but now have to leave and don’t know what to do with the dog. But I always try to give people recommendations on where to go and how to help. I know how hard it is, because you can’t just leave a dog you find on the street but it really is a problem here. It’s so important to focus on what we can do rather than what we can’t. There are a lot of people here who show up and help out so that’s always hopeful.”
The maximum capacity is around 10-15 dogs (depending on size). They try to only have 2 adult dogs maximum because of territorial issues - their mascot Tofu is very territorial and they’ve found it very hard to get her adopted because of that. Limited space for the dogs and a small team to ensure they are in a clean area and well looked after, means they don’t want to take in too many dogs which would sacrifice the level of care they can give to them.
“ It’s so important to focus on what we can do rather than what we can’t. “
What’s the vision for the future?
“We’d love to add another kennel so that we can take in some more dogs. But we do have to be very considerate of our neighbours as there are a lot of houses and hotels in the area.”
Mackie also highlighted how they would love to start working with rescues “up North” (in the USA and Canada) as rescue partners but doing that is more complicated than you would think.
“The problem is that every rescue is really overwhelmed right now after Covid since so many people abandoned their dogs. Right now we do some work with Dog Hero in Oregon and they take in 30 dogs a month from kill shelters despite being just a foster-based organization - it’s happening everywhere and it’s really difficult with individual adoptions. The ideal situation would be to have a rescue partner up North in the US who could take some of our dogs and give potential adopters a chance to meet the dogs before they commit to adopting.”
Baja dogs need YOUR help!!!
It was abundtly clear from speaking to Mackie about Cerritos Beach Dogs and getting to meet the dogs in their care, that this is an organization and a team of people who care deeply about these dogs.
We ended by asking Mackie, what can people do to help?
Follow the Instagram page (this is genuinely one of my favourite accounts to follow - the cutest pupdates :) )
Like & share their posts when you can so more exposure is given to the doggos looking for homes.
Donating to the rescue is always so helpful. You can find their donation page here - a little goes a long way and all funds go to vetinary care, food and care for the dogs.
If anyone is ever travelling to Cerritos - make sure to go and support by stopping by to purchase a coffee, a t shirt or taking some time out of your day to walk the dogs or help volunteer!!!
Food donations are always welcome (but they do ask that it is Kirkland Costco food so that they keep the food consistent for the dogs). They also accept blankets and towels. Dog kennels are very helpful for transporting dogs to the vet or to their new homes.
Be a flight angel - if you’re visiting Baja and flying home to certain locations, this is of no cost to you and will be a huge help to get a dog to their new home! CBD will meet you at the Los Cabos airport and the adopter meets you at your destination!
Give a dog a new life…adopt if you can! You can find all the dogs available for adoption or fostering here. Getting dogs out of rescues is so important so that there is more space for other dogs who need saving.
Find more information on their website: https://www.cerritosbeachdogs.com/
A heartfelt thanks to Mackie and the Cerritos Beach Dogs team for their incredible work, and for giving me the chance to experience firsthand the love and care they provide to these deserving pups! <3