Downtown Dog Rescue has always been very active in assisting homeless and very low income dog owners get their dogs spayed/neutered free of charge. Over the years, we have all volunteered at lots and lots of free spay/neuter events and have supported all the mobile clinic providers. Without The Amanda Foundation, Sam Simon and the newest mobile clinic Angel Dogs Foundation, most of the clients who get their dogs spayed/neutered would never get it done. Coupons, vouchers, Clinico and other low cost clinics are great, but going into a park, church, or school parking lot with a mobile clinic is the best way to get the dog owners that are the highest risk for allowing their dogs to have multiple litters of puppies.

Do we do these clinic because we just love dogs? We do these clinics because we care about the dog owners in some of the most violent neighborhoods in Los Angeles County, areas like South Central Los Angeles, Watts, or Compton. Even though the mobile clinic is right there, just across the street from the guy with four pit bulls and it’s free, it might not be enough to get him to walk over and ask for information. What we’ve found to be successful is to become a presence in the communities that we serve.

In 2010, Petsmart Charities awarded DDR with a grant to pay for 50% of the cost to spay/neuter 680 dogs living in the City of Compton. The other 50% was supposed to come from the County of Los Angeles Animal Control. We contract Sam Simon or Angel Dogs Foundation the second Saturday of each month, to spay/neuter at least 35 dogs in East Rancho Dominguez Park. Last month, we did a double day, operating our Clinic on Saturday and Sunday and July and August will also be double day months. The challenge is getting the agreed upon funding from the County of Los Angeles. It sure sounded simple when we started this project, provide proof of income for each dog owner and include a surgery receipt.

What we didn’t plan for were all the clients who have no income, are homeless, get paid in cash, are not entitled to any government services, don’t have any form of ID, refuse to give us a copy of their ID and people who just walk up to the clinic while walking their dog in the park and after a long conversation, talking the dog owner out of breeding their dog, we load the […]