LORI’S CORNER: Introducing New Dogs into our pack
AMANDA 
ASKIMWhen we take in a new dog, it’s always a week or two, before we introduce the new dog into our pack of dogs at the kennel. For some dogs, the introduction moves very quickly, in the case of Danity, it was clear immediately, she loves all dogs. In other cases, it’s more of what Clancy has already told me, as in Askim’s case, he is already cool and I have nothing to worry about. More often, we take in dogs like Precious or Amanda, clearly abused + neglected, underweight, requiring medical attention before we can start with any dog introductions.
One of the most common questions that I get e-mailed to me or asked in our Sunday Pit bull class is, “How do I know that my pit bull won’t fight if I let him go off leash with a dog(s) that I don’t know?” My answer is always the same, how well do you know your dog? When we introduce a pit bull, or really any new dog into our existing pack, we put a few trusted dogs that we know really well. My dog Clancy usually serves as the initial evaluator of the new dog, often conducted on leash, then when we do decide to test the new dog with a few dogs, we usually select a dog like Chasui because he is not playful and can co-exist with just about any dog in the yard and absolutely knows when to back away from a dog who is nervous and might become aggressive. Another dog that we use a lot if Cookie, who is often the first dog that most of our new dogs meet. Cookie is wonderful at greeting a dog slowly and understanding the new dog’s play style. Cookie can also just co-exist in the yard without playing, allowing the new dog to investigate and relax before the play begins.
Now that Danity has been in our rescue for a while, we also use her to try out new dogs. She is more high energy, like Sasha and enjoys chasing. My young pit bull Curtis who is very dog friendly but almost feral with people is the best, he is a pusher. He likes to do a lot of investigating which can stress a new dog out and lead to a some aggression but Curtis always knows when enough is enough and he will back away from the new dog, opening up some space. When we want to move to the next level, we bring out Edwina, Freeway, and eventually […]
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.
LORI’S CORNER: Downtown Dog Rescue Kennels
One of the big assets that Downtown Dog Rescue has is our licensed kennel. We are also very fortunate to have a great kennel helper, Billy who works with the dogs six days a week. Running a kennel is a full time job in addition to my “real” full-time job as General Manager of Modernica. I work seven days a week with our rescue dogs and have a lot of great volunteers, like Richard,our Modernica Plant Manager who helps walk dogs during the week, twice a day. We typically have 20 dogs at our place that need forever homes. Some like “Coco Puff” or “Freeway” are real long shots and will live with us for years not months. Others are here a week or a month until they are placed. 
Our day begins at 6:30AM, we feed the dogs and they are released to play in our yard with agility equipment and lots of room to chase, tackle and just be dogs. Most of the dogs are out together in our large pack, whereas others who may not be good with same-sex dogs, play in smaller packs with dogs that they enjoy. All of our dogs get out of their runs to exercise off leash twice a day. The entire kennel area is cleaned up before the dogs go back into their runs. At 4:00, we begin to feed dinner, release the dogs to play and clean all the runs again. This is the same schedule for the dogs seven days a week, 365 days a year, even on holidays, in the rain, no matter what. It’s this routine that promotes a sense of stability so that the dogs can relax and enjoy being dogs. In addition to playing in a pack twice a day, I take dogs out during the week to the park to walk, Billy takes dogs out running on his bike and our volunteer Debbie comes by to do one on one leash work so that when our dogs are adopted, each one can walk on a leash and have some basic house manners. On Saturdays, Sandy picks up dogs to go out to adoption, an event some of dogs like Cookie, wait for all week. On Sundays, other dogs go to our Pit bull School at the Coliseum. My dog Clancy loves this class! Right now, Roja, is going to school every Sunday. Leroy, a new volunteer who can’t own a dog right now because he lives in an apartment, meets us at class, and is teaching her basic obedience. Many […]
LORI’S CORNER: Super Adoption was a Super Saturday!
Beautiful Cassie who still needs a home
He is now in his forever home in Santa Monica.
Happy puppy and new family!LORI’S CORNER: Clancy
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To see more beautiful photographs of Clancy by Grace Chon,
SHINE PET PHOTOS BLOG
LORI’S CORNER: Marc De Luna Dogs
Roja
Danity
JOBS WITH DOGS – Los Angeles Downtown News Article
Read full article here:GOING TO THE DOGS: Los Angeles Downtown News
LORI’S CORNER: Operation Safety Net Success Story -Travis!
