DDR Dog Alums – Page 2 – Downtown Dog Rescue

MIA’S DOG TREATS:LEASH WALKING A STREET DOG

I’m sure that everyone who has adopted a street dog has faced the challenge of leash walking.

“Walking” is not exactly the right word to use; it’s more like LET’S ROAM THE STREETS!!

Princess is little and only 46 pounds. But she is one strong lady, and with her high energy level AND her prey drive, on a scale from 1-10, she would score 11, or maybe even 12!

Sass was very excited having company on walks, so it was quite a daily adventure and a workout for me, to say the least!

When I say that I purchased every collar on the market for Princess, I mean it. I got the prong collar that did not work well, because she would continue to pull and tear up her throat. Not good.

Same with chokers – she would pull and choke herself without any result in a positive direction. The “no pull harness” was a joke- she did not even feel it! I added the backpack after watching Cesar Millan on the Dog Whisperer (yes, I Netflixed EVERY season of the show). Actually, I even purchased the “Illusion” collar from Cesar’s website. I have quite a collection these days, thanks to Princess!

The backpack was supposed to drain her energy more quickly, but I think it just made her stronger instead. She definitely became more focused, carrying the pack, but it was more like she was training for the Olympics with extreme determination. The “Gentle Leader” was the winner with her—it wasn’t perfect, but it worked better than anything else.

At one point, a friend of mine offered to show me how to work with her on hikes. Out in nature, her prey drive kicks in, of course, so that is a whole different challenge. Since my friend is a very fit & muscular guy who owns three very well behaved pit bulls, I was happy to take him up on the offer. I thought it would be a great learning experience for me, as well as for Princess.

I had Sass off-leash, and my friend had Princess on a leash. He rejected using the “Gentle Leader,” saying, “…she is so little; I’m used to the big strong guys.” He was quickly breathing more heavily than Princess […]

WHERE ARE THEY NOW DDR Dog Alum Spotlight : RUDY!

The family that Rudy lived with had to deal with their home being in foreclosure,
when they moved, they didn’t take him, tied him in the yard and left him there

RUDYDOG by Bethany Winters

Rudy with his new family!

Edie lived with our family for eleven long years. When we were told that she had extensive lung cancer, and would have to be put down the next day, to say that we were devastated would be an understatement. We walked around in a daze for weeks – two to be exact – until it dawned on us that the only way our family was going to recover from this loss, would be to adopt another dog.

I sat down to write a letter to online adoption services. Edie was a rescue, and a pit-mix, and although age, size, color and breed didn’t really matter to us, what did matter was demeanor; we have two little boys ages 3 and 5, as well as a thirteen year old cat. I included this in my letter, along with the fact that I could not, under any circumstances adopt an aggressive dog. The responses were few and far between, and the ones that I did receive told me that they didn’t ‘know’ their dogs well enough to say how they would behave with young children.

I then received a response from DDR, telling me to call Lori, which I did straight away. She told me that there was a dog I should meet…his name was Rudy. Rudy’s family’s home was in foreclosure, and when they were unable to take him upon moving, they tied him up in the yard and left him there. He waited…and waited, but they never returned. Lori received a picture of Rudy waiting in front of his house and went to get Rudy that same day.

We piled in the car and went to DDR. Rudy was big – and mellow. In retrospect I think he was just indifferent to people (besides Lori) for fear […]

MIA’S DOG TREATS: Adopting Princess

When my labradoodle, Sass, was one year old, it become very obvious that he was the type of dog who needs the company of another canine. I started my search on Petfinder, looking for a dog a little bigger in size. I’m what people would call a “big dog” person, and Sass ended up a small/medium dog once he was done growing. Since he needed a best friend, I thought it would be great idea to go find a dog who was a little bigger, and that way, both of us would be happy!

I found a couple of dogs that I wanted to meet and got a call from DDR quickly after filling out an application. It turned out that the dog I was interested in was already adopted, but I was advised to come down and meet some of the other dogs in their kennel. So I stuck Sass in the car and headed downtown. The first sight of Maya was an instant realization that I had to rethink my big dog plan. She would have crushed Sass….I swear, there is no lab in Sass. They sent me a poodle, and under all the fur is a skinny little guy with chicken legs!

Lori went to get another dog to show me; this one was also big, but very shy, and again, I said “No.” Lori sat down at a table (with her thinking cap on) and suddenly said, “I have this little dog that you might like.” My heart sank ….I still wanted a big dog. I will never forget the first sight of Princess running towards me in the alley. She has something comical about her look, with her wide chest and big smile. Sass played with her for almost an hour, and they had the best time. I told Lori I wanted to think about it and went home, stubborn…still thinking about a big dog…

Later that day, I got a call from another rescue group about a young, black German Shepherd I had requested about. I looked over at Sass and paused for a second before I said, “Thank you for calling back, but we met a great match this morning.” At that moment, it became very obvious to me that the most important thing was to adopt a dog that would be the perfect match for Sass, and I also knew that very same dog would be the perfect dog for me.

Welcome little Princess!

WHERE ARE THEY NOW DDR Dog Alum Spotlight : EMMA!

EMMA by Jennifer State

Emma was discovered by a good Samaritan named Patricia who found her collapsed on her yard. She was skin and bones, lacking hair, and fresh from giving birth to a litter which was never found. She was clearly a dog with a rough past, used for breeding and probably spent her life on a chain.

Thankfully Patricia took her in, got her healthy and worked with Lori at Downtown Dog Rescue to find her a new home. That lucky home was mine, and I adopted her in September of 2008. Emma has brought so much to my life. We get out and do things together, whether it’s obedience class, a day at the dog beach, or attending dog-friendly church service, she’s given me the opportunity to get out and do so many new things and meet a lot of great people along the way. Dogs just bring joy to your life, and Emma has done exactly that.

But even more than the joy she has brought me, I am especially grateful for the boost she’s given my parents. I took her with me this past summer to visit my parents in Washington, and they absolutely adored her. My mom and dad have been coping with recent medical/aging issues (mom has Alzheimer’s and dad suddenly lost his eyesight recently), so they were struggling and pretty down-in-the-dumps, but having Emma around was such a tonic for both of them!

She got my mom out of her shell as we would take neighborhood walks, mom was so excited to show off her “grand-dog” to the neighbors.

And dad loved the comfort and companionship she brought him; I often heard him just whispering to Emma, telling her what a good dog she was and thanking her for being there. Emma would hop into bed and snuggle up against my dad when he took naps, they were quite a pair.

Like Cesar Millan says, ‘You don’t get the dog you want, you get the dog you need’, Emma was the […]

China has been adopted!

I’m really happy to announce that China, now known as Mara, was adopted two weeks ago and is doing extremely well. She was adopted by a family in South Pasadena who has two other small dogs that Mara really enjoys. The whole family understands that it will take time for her to feel completely secure.

What a 100% change from six months ago when Cathy rescued her from the alley behind her house. I like her new name, which her owner Nancy wrote, “We have renamed her Mara (the Acoma goddess of travelers) Supertramp (because she took the long way home). Mara Supertramp, but we call her Mara.”

She truly did take the long way home to her forever home! Thank you to all the volunteers who helped her get to her home.