DDR Dog Alums – Downtown Dog Rescue

WHERE ARE THEY NOW DDR Dog Alum Spotlight : Reilly!

REILLY
by KATE ROBINSON

This is our beautiful dog, Reilly, whom we adopted from DDR 2 years ago after she was found abandoned wandering the streets of Compton. She is the sweetest, gentlest dog imaginable and rules the family roost of humans and canines. She loves hiking in the mountains, swimming and, at the end of a long, strenuous day, sleeping on her down comforter.

We have given her the best life a dog could wish for, but she has given us so much more in return – unswerving loyalty, endless love and devotion and constant free entertainment as we watch her play with our other dogs and lovingly tend the many foster puppies we have had since her arrival.

Thank you, DDR, for the amazing job you do.

WHERE ARE THEY NOW DDR Dog Alum Spotlight : Mr. Bojangles!

MR. BOJANGLES
by Raizy Goffman

This first picture is from 2008 when we first got him………quite a change!

I have a real Wheaten Terrier clip on him now, and one of the Mom’s at our horse show said she is a Wheaten Breeder and that he is definitely a full Wheaten. Who knows? We did a DNA test that said Cocker, Mini Pin, & Maltese. No way! I’ll accept the part cocker, but not the other breeds. They say if you laugh out loud every day you will live a long time. Well, Milt & I are going to live forever! We laugh at Bojangles every day! He is just too cute, too funny, too loving, too joyous, etc, etc, etc! He does everything at full speed with total joy. He is the official greeter at our horse shows, and his job is to greet EVERY person and dog that comes on the place! The sleeping picture is what he is like on Monday mornings after a weekend of horse shows at Camelot Riding Club. When he starts snoring, we laugh at that too.

Everybody (and I mean EVERYBODY) loves him. I have tons of friends that would steal him in a heartbeat. He goes to the barn with me everyday and has a very full social life. He ignores the horses, knows to stay out of the arenas, and is very busy keeping an eye on me all day while greeting all the clients as they arrive to ride their horses. We are starting to obedience train him with the thought of maybe making him a therapy dog. He would be a great one (and it would keep Milt busy too).

Here is the link to our horse show schedule.
If you have the time, come up and see us and […]

WHERE ARE THEY NOW DDR Dog Alum Spotlight : MIA!

Mia at the Dog Bone park in Culver City, May 5, 2008

MIA

by Denise LaChance

I should back up a bit to explain how I first saw Mia’s photo on petfinder.com In 2004 I was able to have my own dog, for the first time since my first month in college when my dog was injured and ultimately killed by a car after a neighbor let her out of the yard because she was barking too much. In the years after that, I had traveled a lot for business and for pleasure. I had housemates who had dogs a couple of times, and that’s how I came to know English Cocker Spaniels, in one instance, and fluffy terrier mixes in another. A wonderful cat had found me,chasing me down the road while I was jogging, and shared life with me for 18 years. One cat led to another and then another. Then in 2004 I moved to an apartment that was 3 miles away from work. Finally, it was time for a dog.

I found an eight-year old black Cocker Spaniel at the Carson Animal Shelter on petfinder.com,adopted him and named him Ben. My cat Francis died at age 16, most likely because of the food poisoned by the ingredient from China. Word about that had not come out in the press yet and so we had no idea why Francis suddenly suffered kidney failure. After that loss I began thinking about Ben being an older dog and my cat Clara being an older cat. As I was looking for another apartment, one with a yard, it occurred to me that it might be time to get a second dog. The second dog, I thought, could keep Ben company, and also ease my way through the grief that was bound to come with having two elderly companion animals.

I was specifically looking at Cockapoo’s and terrier mixes. I had briefly met an Australian Terrier when I was considering Ben. I liked him and liked what I learned when I went home to think about the two of them and to do more research about terriers. I had learned that there are terriers who do not bark constantly, and the one I met had clearly demonstrated that. He was the only dog in the shelter other than Ben who seemed not to be barking. My decision between Ben and the terrier was simplified when a rescue group pulled the terrier before […]

WHERE ARE THEY NOW DDR Dog Alum Spotlight : MADDIE!

Baby Girl/Maddie’s Adoption Photo

MADDIE

by Lindsay Worden

My husband and I were originally looking to adopt an English bulldog into our home, which also included a basset hound and a shih tzu. We don’t have kids–our dogs are our children. All of our dogs are rescues, because every homeless dog deserves a good home, and it’s our way of helping, one dog at a time.

I came across a pit bull/English bulldog mix online and e-mailed Lori about her, and although she had been adopted, we were sent a picture of Maddie (or “Baby Girl,” as she was known then at DDR), a 9-month-old three-fourths pit bull/one-fourth English bulldog mix, and we immediately fell in love with her sweet face. She and her brother, Nike, had been rescued by DDR from a home where they were about to be inbred for profit. In fact, their sister was pregnant at about eight months with their father. As soon as we moved into our first home a few weeks later, she fit right into our family.

However, about a month and a half later, my beloved basset hound of almost nine years passed away. It was heart-breaking for me because of everything I had been through with my basset in his too-short life and everything he had helped me through. But I couldn’t sit around and mope, because I had an active 10-month-old puppy to take care of. Plus, Maddie has always been so grateful just to have a good home.

Maddie goes everywhere we can take her, especially to the beach and hiking. Because I have been so used to basset hounds (not the smartest of breeds, but lovable nonetheless), I have been amazed at how quickly she picks up on everything and what a perfect dog she is. She went to a doggie training class because she was fearful of people, and she came out a completely different dog. The instructor even said, “Why is it the pit bulls are always the smartest dogs in the class?”

WHERE ARE THEY NOW DDR Dog Alum Spotlight : PIRATE!

Pirate lived most of her life with a homeless woman in downtown LA until one day she could no longer care for her. Downtown Dog Rescue took Pirate into our kennel until she was adopted.

PIRATE by Christine Ishii

After the devastating loss of my first love, my first baby, Tre, who had been with me through the toughest years of my life, as well as the happiest years of my life, I had decided that there was no other dog who would ever replace him; and even if I wanted to, my busy lifestyle wouldn’t allow me to take the time necessary to raise another puppy the way I had with him.

Somehow, my friend June got in touch with me and told me about Pirate, and older but very smart dog, who needed a home. It took a while for me to agree to meet her because the hurt from the loss of Tre was so deep, but I felt a void in my life and had been wanting another dog so I finally agreed to meet Lori and Pirate.

My first meeting with Pirate was awesome. It was evident that she was a very wise dog, with a lot of soul, in fact, I don’t think she knows she is a dog! Her amazing energy and social personality drew me to her, immediately, and I respected her strong, individual personality, and I believe we were meant to be together.

Pirate has been with us for a wonderful 2 years now, and not only runs errands with us regularly, but also attends basketball practices with my daughters, Halloween parties, trips to Big Bear, and aiding in fostering “Lucky”, who gifted us with the surprise of 9 pups, all who see Pirate as their 2nd Mama. She has, without a doubt, made her way into our world, without much adjustment and has blessed us with her loving ways.

WHERE ARE THEY NOW DDR Dog Alum Spotlight : ATHENA!

ATHENA by Lindsey Rueff

When I turned 18, I was determined to do 3 things…Get a job, move out, and get a dog. One thing led to another and I was right where I wanted to be…well almost. I was out on my own but still hadn’t found that puppy I had been dreaming of. Living with roommates, there were always dogs and people in and out of the house. One day one of my roommates brought in his new dog, a huge 75 pound pit mix (Radar). We hit it off right away. Sadly Radar and his owner moved out a few months later. The day after he was gone, I knew I need to find my own pit bull. I searched on Petfinder and the first dog to show up was Athena.

I was instantly drawn to her. I printed all of her pictures, told everyone about the dog I was getting. I called Lori, told her I would like to come meet Athena, we set up an appt and off to LA I went. The second I saw Athena, I fell in love. There was this puppy with a huge head and such a tiny body (covered in mange). Lori told me about her past, and what it would take to heal her in the future. I was confident I could help turn this troubled little girl into a beautiful happy dog. Well, Lori wasn’t as sure about me as I was about Athena. Anyone who knows or has met Lori knows how much pride she takes in these animals. The love and care she holds in her heart for these animals is amazing and so refreshing.

Here I was an 18 year old girl, renting a house, wanting to take away one of her babies. Lori and I went back and forth for a couple of weeks, until I pursued her so much she finally believed I was trying to get Athena for all the right reasons. Lori then came to my house for her in-home visit. Everything went well and she left Athena with me. I was beyond thrilled to finally have my own dog, my own pit-bull.

[…]

WHERE ARE THEY NOW DDR Dog Alum Spotlight : JACKSON (and PEEZU)!

Jackson meeting the DDR Dog Pack!

JACKSON by Megan Finley

In 2006 I convinced my boyfriend (now husband) to get me a dog for Christmas. I had my heart set on adopting a the often misunderstood pit bull. While I was researching the dog adoption process I couldn’t help but stumble upon a statistic that stated black, male dogs were the most commonly euthanized dog. It’s so common that this phenomenon even has a name- the “Black Dog Syndrome.” Black coated dogs so rarely get adopted that most no-kill shelters don’t even try to save them because over the years they’ve realized that it’s pointless battle. Right then I knew exactly what I wanted for Christmas. I ran a search on Petfinder.com and ran a for pit bulls and and found this guy…

(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)

In the last few years Jackson has grown up from a crazy and troublesome puppy to an highly intelligent and super sweet member of our family. He accompanies us on almost all our family vacations — He’s explored meteor craters in Texas, hiked the Sandstone Bluffs of New Mexico, went housboating on Lake Mead, ran through corn fields in Illinois and, of course, enjoyed our fabulous California beaches.

He’s also picked up a few more family members over the years. A few months after adopting Jackson, my best friend (and […]

LORI’S CORNER: Clancy

Check out Clancy the day he passed his CGC test, thoroughly tired and happy ! AMAZING, a 13 year old rescued fighting dog could lead a pack of dogs and be a Canine Good Citizen.

From the 2009 DOWNTOWN DOG RESCUE CALENDAR

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CLICK ON PAGE LINKS TO READ TEXT

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To see more beautiful photographs of Clancy by Grace Chon,

please visit her blog:
SHINE PET PHOTOS BLOG