Lori Weise – Page 4 – Downtown Dog Rescue

LORI’S CORNER: THE DUKE CHALLENGE: ARE YOU GAME?

Duke is on the left

Pit bull Needs a home! This is a common e-mail and phone call that we get, everyday from dog owners and nice people who rescue dogs independently. Sometimes, the dog was bought or adopted as a puppy and now the owner has fallen on hard times or the dog as an adult is giving the owner a “hard time” and can’t control the dog. Both are frequent calls to rescue pit bull dogs. Our answer is usually no. No, we can’t take your dog but we can help you either re-home your dog or help you connect with your dog so that you can keep him. When I got a call from Sonny, an independent rescuer of 40 years +, the situation was a little different.

She brought Duke down to our kennel last Saturday. What I noticed immediately was how calm and connected he was to Sonny. I talked to her about why she needed to place Duke and I quickly understood the dire circumstances. Duke had been rescued from a shelter where he was scheduled to be euthanized. Sonny rescue him almost two years ago. During that time, she lost her job, is in the process of losing her home, and her rescue funds as well as personal funds are gone. She has nowhere for Duke to live as of next month. She is trying to sell her home before it goes into foreclosure. This is a woman who has dedicated her life and spent most of her life savings on rescuing animals. She needs a surgery and won’t be able to put off her own medical needs off anymore. Sonny needs our help in placing Duke.

Duke is a good dog, very well trained but he is a 5 year old American Pit bull Terrier. Anyone who has rescued or adopted a pit bull understands, I don’t need to write anything else after that sentence. For those of you who might not understand what I mean here, a 5 year old rescued APBT has a very slim chance of ever being adopted if the dog has any issues and Duke does.

Lori’s Corner: Monthly Compton Spay/Neuter Clinic Update

On Saturday, Downtown Dog Rescue hosted our monthly free spay/neuter clinic in Compton at East Rancho Dominguez Park. As always, there were more clients with dogs that needed service than available spots in the clinic. We start our day around 7:00 AM and finished up around 4:00. We provided free spay/neuter surgeries, vaccinations and microchips for 30 dog. Ivania and Rosalie and I volunteer each month and have built up a nice following of repeat customers, with lots of word of mouth referrals from friends and family members who have used our service in the past.

Rosalie’s neighbor Troy walked his two Shepherd puppies and his Mama Pit bull over to the clinic. After speaking to him, he confirmed what we already knew, lots of people who live in Compton don’t necessarily want litters of puppies, they just don’t have the money or know where to get their dogs fixed. He also told me that some people don’t have transportation to a clinic, even if they knew where one was or if they could afford it. Mr. Lopez who came with his female dog “Blackie” walked to the clinic, two blocks, with his three small children. Blackie had a litter of puppies because they could not afford to get her fixed. The family decided to keep one puppy and will bring the puppy in June to be spayed. The dog that I was really happy to see finally spayed was a Chow-pit bull mix named “Negra”. She must have had 10 litters of puppies back to back to back! These are all reasons why we need mobile clinics in the parks. I just wish that we could offer more service to the community of Compton. There is such a great need, especially for pit bull owners. A monthly clinic is a good start!

Our goal in 2010 is to spay/neuter 700 Compton Dogs. To make this goal, we will do a double clinic next month. Our June clinic will be Saturday June 12 and Sunday June 13th. On the 12th, I’m planning a small pet fair where dog owners can come out to […]

Lori’s Corner: Coco Puff has found his home

On Saturday, Coco Puff, our older, mellow, white, big boy, American Pit bull Terrier was adopted after being in our rescue for three years, YAY!!! I’m sure that everyone who reading this post is wondering, well, who adopted Coco? Did he get a home with a nice family where he will have his own dog bed, toys and a forever home with kids and yard? Not exactly, and that’s definitely not any of the types of living situations that would have interested Coco if he could pick and give us his opinion. Sadly, in three years, this great dog never received one application despite being on three adoption sites, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, he was networked, yet no one wanted him. No one wanted him until Errol met Coco Puff. It was love at first site!

Errol is an experienced pit bull owner, who lived with a dog aggressive Male APBT named Petey for 12 years. He rescued Petey after an abusive owner let him go. The two were inseparable until Petey became ill and had to be humanely euthanized. I could see that it was tough for Errol to talk about Petey at our meeting. When I told him that Coco was not exactly cool with male dogs, it sure didn’t compare to the level of aggression he had endured with Petey. In fact, it seemed like Coco was going to be a walk in the park compared to his former dog, literally because that’s where they will be spending the majority of their time, the park. Errol lives outside and Coco is going to be his road dog. I wasn’t hesitant at all about the idea of Coco not having a traditional home, he was going with a great dog owner, with lots of hands on experience with the breed, and a track record of caring for a dog that surpassed most wealthy pit bull owners. I know a lot of stereotypical middle class dog owners who would not spend their life’s savings on their dog, something that Errol did with his last dog. Good dog owners come in a variety of socio-economic, education levels, as well as ethnicities.

Each month, Errol will be entitled to a small stipend to be used for whatever Coco might need. Downtown Dog Rescue will pay for any medical care that Coco might need for the rest of his life. None of this would have been possible without the introduction and support of Cynthia Larkin, a dog […]

LORI’S CORNER: Neuter or Euthanize

On Friday I received a call from Robert, a homeless pit bull owner, who had been arrested, jailed for four months and was about to lose his dog “Boss” forever if I did not help, as he put it, “Right now!” I phoned him back immediately, but it was still after the shelter closed for the day, which was too late. Boss was scheduled to be euthanized on Saturday April 24th.

The only reason that the captain of the shelter had decided to hold on to Boss for four long months was because his owner had written eight letters, pleading with the Department of Animal Services to hold on to his beloved pit bull. This amazed me because the shelter is only required to hold any personal property dog, such as was the case with Boss’ impound, for thirty days. The DAS went to amazing lengths to hold on to him for an additional three months, even though Boss is not the coolest dog in town, temperament wise.

I spoke to Robert, heard his account of how the LAPD, for no good reason, forcefully took Boss from his Cadillac, smashed the windows and destroyed his personal property. This all went down in Hollywood, which is the service area for the North Central Animal Shelter. According to Robert, LAPD officers waited for two hours for an animal control officer to come and get Boss and take Robert to jail. The officer never showed up so LAPD delivered Boss to the shelter where he stayed for 120 days. According to Robert, Boss was never aggressive but the officer hit Boss with his Billy club and threatened to kill Boss if he became really aggressive.

I listened for about twenty minutes to Robert’s account of the day that he was arrested, how he had no money to get Boss out and the fact that this dog was his world. He had owned Boss since he was just a pup. Now almost two years old, from the Razor’s Edge Razor’s Edge line, he was a dog that he had planned to breed because, according to Robert, he had “a wonderful temperament and great confirmation”.

We agreed to meet at the […]

LORI’S CORNER: Adoption Extravaganza at DDR!

his past weekend was a very busy weekend for adoptions. We decided to book people for private appointments to meet our dogs at our kennel in Downtown LA instead of sending a few dogs out to Petco. I always take people by appointments on Saturday and Sundays but it’s usually one or two a weekend that often results in zero adoptions. This was not the case this weekend.

We got off to a slow start, our first appointment was a “no show/no call”, but our next appointment with Suzie was an adoption. She met Pepper and instantly wanted to adopt her. She had lost her two older dogs and was ready to adopt after her loss. The great thing about showing dogs at our kennel is that adopters get to see the dogs out in a small pack. When Suzie met Pepper, she was able to see her with lots of other dogs, off leash, playing with toys, running around, being a puppy. Hard to believe that just two weeks ago Pepper was going to be euthanized due to overcrowded conditions at the South LA shelter.

Next, Quattro was adopted. I will deliver him to his new home this weekend. Quattro also was set to be euthanized at the South LA shelter the day that we rescued him. His new owner Gene had been looking to adopt a dog for a very long time. He loved Quattro’s energy and intelligence. This pup is a gem. Very quick to understand what I want him to do, very social, a great boy who is going to love the dog park near his new home in Valley Village.

Sunday, Askim was adopted to a couple who live in Santa Monica that have been looking for a dog for two years. They wanted to adopt a dog but the time was never right. Now that they own a home and are more settled, it was time to get a dog and they picked Askim, our Compton Park dog. He went from being a stray at our spay/neuter clinic in the park in Compton to living in a beautiful home in Santa Monica, going to the dog park every day. What a great life […]

FRIDAY SHOUT OUTS – Giving Thanks!

It’s our favorite day of the week! THANK YOU DAY FRIDAYS!
We want to give special thanks to two groups of people this week!

The first one are our fosters!
The second are the donors that gave to Lori Weise’s CAUSE Birthday Wish
to help fund OPERATION SAFETY NET!

Who do we have to help us this week?
Of course a recently fostered DDR dog!!!!
Our handsome PITStop dog of the week 2 weeks ago!
COSMO!

Ready Cosmo? Because, you will be thanking
the sweet family that will foster you!
GO!!!!!

I would like to thank Esther and Steve for agreeing to take me in as a foster. My brothers and sisters Copper, Sugar, Turbo, Louie and Henry still need fosters or adoptive homes so if anyone out in DDR PitStop land are interested, please let Lori know .

I also want to do shout outs to awesome DDR volunteers Brittany Fulgoni and Linda Bruce who have fostered our little DDR dogs!!!!

Thank you Brittany and Linda!!!!!!

Brittany, Coco, Cosmo and Abba. Sandy’s in the background!

Secondly, I wanna thank all our old AND new Operation Safety Net donors who heeded Lori’s Birthday wish (April 1st, 2010) on CAUSES (FACEBOOK APP!) and donated various amounts to help replenish the funds for this program.

$1,180 was raised!!!!!!!

I am an OPERATION SAFETY NET dog. Lori and DDR volunteers left and right have worked on me and are trying very hard to place others to adoptive or foster homes to keep us out of the shelter system.

A lot of us are older dogs and we wont stand
a chance once we enter the shelter system.

Thank You to all of of you….

Jackie Reich

Carol A. Letus + Skipper (RIP)

Frankie, Speck (RIP) and Indie Printing

Steven E. Siebert

LORI’S CORNER: BACK TO BACK DDR ACTIVITIES!

I had a very busy weekend. Saturday was our monthly Compton Clinic. We spayed/neutered 33 Compton dogs + collected over 50 names and contact information from dog owners who came up to our table in the park. Thanks to a grant from Petsmart, we can offer free spay/neuter for Compton Dog Owners. Our goal in 2010 is 700 Compton Dogs. Our focus is pit bulls. When we are in the park it’s not just about spaying and neutering dogs, we also offer information on dog care and training. People really want to learn.

I want to thank Ivania who comes out to every clinic and translates for us, since there are many Spanish speakers who are eager to comply with the mandatory spay/neuter ordinance. Second I would like to thank Edgar, Queeny’s owner, who came out and helped me speak to many people including a group of basket ball players who had some pit bull puppies that they needed information on getting off to a “right start”.

Forming these relationships within the community and offering free spay + neuter right in the park is the only way we will ever see a possible decline in the euthanasia rate for dogs at the Downey shelter (the shelter that serves the City of Compton).

(remember Chocolate? Now EVE!)

On Sunday, Downtown Dog Rescue hosted another CGC trial. This time, some of our class members who missed a couple of points on their last test passed! Judge, our class dog passed with flying colors and so did Eve (formerly known as Chocolate), so young, and on her first attempt. I was especially proud to see one of our DDR dogs pass on her first attempt. My friend Carole Pearson, leader of Dawg Squad, also passed a couple pit bulls. It was a really great day. Thank you again Lezle for being our evaluator.

Our next CGC trial is going to be the first week in June. If you own a pit bull and want to see if your dog will pass the Canine Good Citizenship Test, get in touch with me soon . Our Coliseum class is a great way to put the work into your dog that you will need to pass the test.

Our goal is to certify 100 pit bulls, something that has […]

LORI’S CORNER: Introducing Jade to the Pack

Introducing Jade to our pack was not something that I did overnight. She is a big girl who is full of what appeared to be “crazy energy”. When I would let her out in the yard with just Cookie, my girl hid from Jade, didn’t want to play, which gave me a lot of good information on Jade. My plan was to wear her out a bit before I introduced her to some dogs. She had given us no indication that she was going to be aggressive, no growling, no guarding the gate, some barking in her crate, but nothing out of the ordinary. I released her with Askim, Bruno, Sasha, Curtis, Janey, Black Pearl, Cookie and Medira, all dogs who love to play. Jade was quickly overwhelmed and decided to lay down in the sun. In fact, she didn’t display any of the crazy puppy-like energy that she normally displayed because she was psychologically exhausted by the pack of dogs sniffing her, checking her out and in Curtis’ case, pushing her to play.

When she did decide to play, she picked Bruno, who is a favorite among a lot of the dogs. He plays just right, not too hard, always high energy, but knows when to slow it down and back off. I wish that I could say that same for Curtis or Janey who are my “pushers”. They will push and push a dog to play, regardless if the dog is done. This is always a good test to see if the new dog is going to display aggression, telling those two to back off. Jade didn’t, she simply retreated into a corner where she decided to lay down with Bruno and sun bathe.

Jade is a wonderful dog who has never had a real home. She has had several litters of puppies back to back when she was just a pup herself. She loves people, is fully obedience trained, walks well on a leash and is ready for her forever home. Please come out Saturday and check out Jade if you are looking for a beautiful blue. I want to thank the Amanda Foundation who spayed and vaccinated her and put close to a year of boarding and training into her before she came to me two weeks ago. The volunteers and staff at the Amanda Foundation did a great job socializing her with dog and people. Jade is a real gem of a dog!

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