Dogumentaries

"Is Life Greyt?" - A Dogumentary on the life of the greyhound from racetrack to rescue group to adopter. A one hour feature currently being shot and hosted by Sheryl Matthys and her greyhounds Shiraz and Buffett.

"St. Bark's" - A Dogumentary on the life of island dogs. A one hour look into life in paradise, but is it for the dogs? Hosted by Sheryl Matthys.

St. Barks -Island Dogs
A Dogumentary

Summary

St. Barks –Island Dogs is a one-hour documentary set in the Caribbean island of St. Maarten. Produced and hosted by former reporter Sheryl Matthys (lead in 100+ commercials, principal in First Kiss, a Sundance entry, and host of Education Showcase, a nationally-syndicated Discovery series), the film examines the hard times of St. Maarten’s canine population. Although these dogs live in some of the world’s most beautiful surroundings, many have open wounds, are sick and homeless. Working with cameraman Robb Jones (creator of Keepin’ the Blues Alive series and Historic Lake Erie Lighthouses, Summit, Aurora and Telly award winner, and Touring Lake Michigan Lighthouses, Aurora and Telly award winner), Matthys introduces us to Kathy Deher, Connecticut expatriate, animal lover and founder of the Animal Welfare Foundation. For one week, Sheryl follows Deher around the island in her dilapidated van as she and her volunteers rescue treat and champion the dog population – with the help of two local vets.

How Sheryl Got Interested

Sheryl Matthys learned about the plight of St. Maarten’s stray dogs on her first trip to the island: relaxing beachside, she noticed a couple reclining on some lounge chairs accompanied by two dogs. Because the dogs were so peaceful, Sheryl figured that these tourists had brought their own dogs from home. However, when the people left -the dogs didn’t. After a few moments, the two dogs visited Sheryl: a pat on the head and they were her best buddies. When Sheryl got up, they followed her along like obedience school graduates. Within moments, she came upon six more dogs and they joined in. Even though she had no food to offer – just affection and an ice bucket filled with water- Sheryl now had a flock of a dozen dogs. Although the dogs appeared happy, a closer look revealed that they had open wounds, scars, deformities and no collars. Unfortunately, these dogs are common throughout St. Maarten.
On location with the Animal Welfare Foundation
In St. Barks, Sheryl follows Deher and her handful of volunteers at the AWF for a week. We learn that Deher modeled the AWF on the U.S.’s Humane Society after a personal visit to their headquarters. Like the Humane Society, the AWF’s primary goals are education and sterilization. With the support of several local vets who provide support, clinic space and $20 vouchers for pet owners to have their pets spayed and/or neutered, they are seeing results: thousands of dogs and cats have been sterilized in the last 11 years (with 3,000+ sterilizations and 1,000+ adoptions in the last 5 years alone.)
Meet the locals
We watch as Deher interacts with the locals. Most are undereducated and – in a country where minimum wage is $700 a month and most islanders have trouble enough feeding their own kids – proper pet care is a tough sell. Even dogs fortunate enough to have owners are often kept in houses that don’t have walls or fences - and are subjected to the same hostilities as their homeless friends. Of the middle-income locals, many consider dogs dirty and don’t allow them indoors. Until Deher’s program began, even routine vet care was lacking in many areas – some locals still swear by home remedies for things such as mange. We learn that because of the huge overpopulation of dogs, the mentality pervades that, if a dog dies, it’s not such a great loss: you can walk down the street to a neighbor who has a newborn litter of six to pick from. And sadder still, many pit bulls are bred for fight-to-the-death competitions. But, one pet owner at a time, Deher is trying to overcome these obstacles.
Reaching the next generation of pet owner: AWF in the schools
We learn that a key goal of Deher’s program is the education of the next generation of pet owner. She has established an aggressive program in the island’s schools, creating a monthly newspaper distributed to all 8,000 school children called KIND News -Kids in Nature’s Defense, published by the U.S. Humane Society. The paper encourages kids to think about the responsibility of pet ownership and the humane treatment of animals with school-wide creative competitions. The foundation also collects and donates videos, lesson plans, and brochures to schools across the island. In St. Barks, we watch as Deher and Matthys visit one of these schools firsthand and learn of the impact the paper – and programs like the annual poster contest and ice cream party – have on the next generation of island pet owner.
Matthys will ride along with the Animal Welfare Foundation’s volunteer ambulance team and free taxi service to local vets for residents and pets without transportation and observe the free mange treatments for the poor. We will get to see some of the annual Dog Walk-a-thons, Dog Wash-a-thons, Pet Fairs and free spay/neuter campaigns in local newspapers. We will visit both adoption centers - actually just caged outdoor pens - and will learn what drove Deher to create the foundation… An expatriate and lifelong animal lover, Deher had grown tired of hearing stories like the two young boys who were found standing on a bridge, dunking a puppy in and out of the canal below by its neck - and tired of telling her friends “somebody should do something.”
Reaching out to tourists
Sheryl will proceed to interview tourists, who are divided into two camps: animal lovers who pet them, act affectionately and sneak them food from restaurants - and the majority, who fear they will catch something from the dogs, generally avoid them and don’t see a problem. We will visit the Foundation’s tiny cabana/gift shop, where they sell T-shirts and other animal-themed items. The gift shop is spreading the word with tourists: after just a year, the shop has broken even. Additionally, the Foundation has aggressively courted support from island tourists - recently they got a call from a Maryland woman who had just left the island. She called Deher in tears, after finding three stray puppies on Cupe Coy Beach and a hotel worker threatened to poison them. The woman agreed to adopt all three and pay for their airfare if the foundation could locate them. One of the pups was actually found, boarded at the vet’s for a week, received the required shots and health certificate, and flown to Baltimore. Since the country’s largest industry is tourism, small events like these make an invaluable difference.
The AWF’s future
Run entirely by volunteers, the organization has survived on grant money, fundraisers and individual donations, local organizations and a little government money. If the foundation can double it’s current operating budget of $60,000, they could hire a manager for the Animal Ambulance program and not have to turn down rescues - which often happens now because of financial restraints. Matthys hopes St. Barks will raise awareness for the Animal Welfare Foundation, helping it continue to rescue dogs, setup a permanent shelter with food and indoor housing, and aid in outreach programs to the island’s permanent residents. Ideally, the foundation will become an example for neighboring islands – and eventually other developing countries – to model.
Selling St. Barks
St. Barks -Island Dogs will work in a variety of markets and will be pitched to Animal Planet, Travel Channel, Independent Film Channel, HBO, Discovery, PBS, local cable in the islands, and in St. Maarten – Frenchside, on closed circuit and hotels; and Dutchside closed circuit channels. This documentary is also appropriate for many festivals, nationally and internationally.
For more information contact Sheryl Matthys at (917) 771-5586