THE FAMILY DOG: My Life by Kathryn Hall
In the beginning, there was my husband and I and our three dogs. Then, last summer, we had a baby. Pregnancy and having a baby bring out funny things in the people around us: funny behavior, funny comments. Before our son arrived, I was asked numerous times what we were going to do with our dogs. We have three extra-large dogs: a male shepherd and two female English mastiffs, whose combined weight is 400 lbs.
To date, I have rescued two dogs, bought two, and fostered/rescued approximately twenty more that are now in adoptive homes. I’m a little good and a little bad. Though I wouldn’t change a thing, I’ve spent several years trying to make up for what I consider to be the bad. My plans last summer revolved around getting ready to bring home baby. These plans included the introduction of baby to our dogs and how to do so safely. I ended up having unrelated surgery the day after giving birth, so by the time baby and I came home from the hospital, all planning went out the window.
There was no bringing home a soiled diaper or blanket that baby had been sleeping in for the dogs to smell, no introduction to baby after I had already walked in the door first. In my physically beaten state, the introduction became, “Dogs, meet baby. Baby, meet dogs. Got it? Good.” Somehow, everyone fell in line. I do not want to convey that combining animals and kids would be this easy for everyone. Chances are that it can be difficult, but it should be known that it’s not impossible.
One reason, I believe, people are loath to do so, is fear. During my son’s first few months, I often found that while I would let the dogs near him, I would also, before too long, interrupt and shoo them away. I started to wonder why I was doing this and realized I was afraid. Since there had never been any signs of aggression, one day I decided not to get involved. I was still physically right there, but when my shepherd came up to my son, I simply let it be.
That dog licked the baby from head to toe, and it probably went on for nearly a minute. […]
LORI’S CORNER: Monthly Spay/Neuter Clinic – The Community Responds
Last Saturday was our monthly free dog clinic in Compton at East Rancho Dominguez Park. There are always too many dogs needing service and not enough cage space and time to do all the dogs that come out. We ended our day spaying/neutering 33 dogs.
Each dog is also vaccinated and micro chipped all at no charge. Ivania and I signed up an additional 50 people, some with two, three and four dogs at home that need the free service at a future clinic. There is always a waiting list and we always end up turning people away which proves my theory, MOST dog owners want to do the “right thing”. They want to spay/neuter and vaccinate their dogs. They don’t always know what the surgery is called but they know, they don’t want any litters of puppies.
Too many people in power, the same people who make the financial decisions for city, county, state budgets believe that “poor dog owners” in areas like Compton don’t care about getting their dogs fixed and that they want puppies to make money. When in reality, most dog owners don’t want puppies, even if their dog has an accidental litter. They either don’t know where to get an affordable surgery or have poor information on spay/neuter. I can’t tell you how many people think that their dog is too young to have puppies at a year, or they are worried that their dog’s personality will change overnight after the surgery, or that their dog might die while being sterilized. Some dog owners are so nervous that they wait with us in the park while their pet is being sterilized.
FRIDAY SHOUT OUTS – Giving Thanks!
change a dog like this:
is a safe environment, good food, lots of love from Lori, Josie, the DDR show team in PETCO AND of course a good dental cleaning. DDR would like to thank HOUNDSTOOTH DENTAL, Non-Anesthestic Veterinary Dental Services for their help in making this big smile happen. Our newly adopted dog with the great smile is of course LUCY from the now “only a distant memory” 61st Street Kennels! She would like to thank her Houndstooth technician (non-anesthetic! at that) for the awesome dental cleaning she got this week (and her new adoptive family thanks you as well!)
Lucy would like to continue by thanking the DDR volunteers responsible for creating the look and feel of what we love in dog rescue land, the wonderful gift of “second chances.” A staple of effective rescue work involves (especially in the social networking age) having great photographs that make our dog’s come to life, revealing their best inner and outer dog. This is part of an effort to make them irresistable in the PETCO adoption event every Saturday, the DDR PETFINDER pages, the DDR blog, PITStop & even Facebook shared pages. If the dogs are irresistable, you have to take them home right? YES!
Downtown Dog Rescue is thankful and very lucky to have the following talented and amazing professional quality photographers help us in this area through the years:
Douglas Hill took a lot of the earlier pictures of DOWNTOWN DOGS that have came through the gates of DDR. His amazing photographs of DDR dogs were used for many of the magazine articles written about Lori and Downtown Dog Rescue. Many of them are also the photographs that have graced the yearly DDR fundraising calendar. Watch out for a feature on PITStop on the book Downtown Dogs featuring the first wave DDR dogs and their guardians with stories written by Lori. Wonderful work Douglas…thank you!
Grace Chon of SHINE PET PHOTOS for creating marketing materials and documenting our past events!
Stacy Broadwell from THE DAWG SQUAD for taking fabulous photos of our […]
DEB’S DOG OF THE WEEK: Shelter Dog Spotlight: Tiger (Animal ID: A1079663)
OUR PETS: SAYING GOOD-BYE by Linda R. Harper
MIA’S DOG TREATS: MY FOSTER PUPS – Part I
KOO-KOO CHANEL
Before the first one, “Ethel,” arrived, I went to purchase a crate for a 5-6 month old pup. Since I never crated a dog before it was a confusing experience to pick one out. I think it’s safe to say that the puppies did much better in crate training than I did, I’m still in crate training, four puppies later!
Billy drove Ethel over to my house, and when she jumped out of the car, it was obvious that her age had been a little miscalculated… She was bigger than my dogs…. probably more like 8-10 months old, so the crate I had purchased was too small. Back to the store in a hurry, to get a bigger one!
This girl came from South LA Shelter and was red listed, due to mange. Lori had her pulled and sent to the hospital for treatment, and then she came straight to my house. Her coat was dull and had spots of hair loss. Ethel quickly settled in with my dogs, and they had the best time playing. After a few days, she started itching again, and I had to take her to the hospital for another Mitaben bath. When I picked her up in the evening, she was exhausted and did not want to play or eat. I got so worried about her that I slept on the couch with her next to me on the floor. I woke up many times to wipe her runny nose. She was back to normal the next day, which was a huge relief!
Ethel’s chocolate brown coat quickly got shiny and beautiful. She became a stunning looking dog! I used to call her “Koo-Koo Chanel”: “Koo-Koo,” because of her sometimes crazy puppy behavior, and “Chanel” since she was so stylish!
On a trip to the Sequoias, I ran into two ladies who admired her and when they heard her story, wanted to adopt her. A few days later back in LA, I delivered Ethel to her new forever home in Manhattan Beach. Yes… I cried on my way back home. Since she was my first foster, it was hard to separate.
But in the evening, my sadness went to happiness when I received an email from her new family with this wonderful photo of her with her NEW name “Zoey”, and her NEW brother, together on her NEW bed 🙂
From red listed at the shelter to a NEW life!
DDR DOGGY SNIPPETS: EDWINA & VANILLA
Vanilla is a 5 month old Yellow Lab-Pit bull mix puppy that loves other dogs, cats and everyone she meets. She was rescued from the South LA shelter where she would have been euthanized. She is not spayed yet but will be done before she is placed. She lives at our rescue kennel with lots of other dogs. She is very sweet and likes to cuddle and chill with her guardian after a day of playing like a puppy. Vanilla is up-to-date with routine shots and house trained.
Edwina is about two years old. We rescued her from the South LA shelter on her very last day before she was set to be euthanized. She had a very bad skin infection, a broken tail, and was under weight when we took her into our rescue. She is now a happy healthy dog who lives and plays at our rescue kennel with lots of other dogs. Every night she goes home with me and back to work to play with the dogs. She is crate trained, rides in the car nicely, very respectful and obedient inside the house, high energy outside. This is a wonderful dog for an experienced dog owner who can appreciate the subtle ways that she communicates. She has some obedience training, and walks great on a leash. She needs to be in a No Cat home. Edwina is up-to-date with routine shots, house trained and spayed/neutered.
DDR Adoption Form Link:ADOPT ME!
TO FOSTER: Please call our Adoption Hotline: 818-407-4145
WHERE ARE THEY NOW DDR Dog Alum Spotlight : JACKSON (and PEEZU)!
Jackson meeting the DDR Dog Pack!
JACKSON by Megan Finley
(Jackson’s actual adoption picture)
Jackson was everything I wanted — a black, male, pit bull mix, and with his one broken ear he was the cutest dog I had ever seen! Fortunately for me Lori Weise the head of Downtown Dog Rescue — and now one of my favorite people — rescued him when he was five months old from the North Central Animal Shelter before he was to be put to sleep. Four months later I came along and adopted him.And at first it wasn’t easy. Within minutes of being in our apartment for the first time Jackson destroyed a table as he tried to attack the cat. And that dog and cat battle raged on for the entire first year (and then some). But with some nerves of steal and a few incidents of projectile pooping (I kid you not — flying cat poop) my husband and I finally got them to come together. Now they can often be found snoozing on the couch together!
(Diego the cat and Jackson)