If you  support our community dog clinics, keeping pets with their families, focusing on preventing animals from entering shelters, please consider making a donation today to support Downtown Dog Rescue on Saturday October 24th, as we meet up with some of the best animal rescue organizations in Southern California to Race for the Rescues

You don’t need to run to support us.  Help us reach our goal https://www.racefortherescues.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=donate.participant&participantID=6246

Gilbert Lindsay Park Dog Clinic To prevent parvo outbreaks, we provide free vaccinations and worming for puppies Families who come for free vaccines can also sign up for free spay/neuter. We provide free wellness care to over 150 community dogs at our monthly clinics Vaccines, worming, flea + tick control – free dog food + collars and leashes

Thanks to a generous grant from the ASPCA, we were able to offer free spay/neuter surgeries and vaccinations to 43 more pets in the Compton Community.  Since 2006, we have continued to expand upon our community dog clinics, focusing on the South East communities which include Bell, Bell Gardens, Cudahy, Compton, Lynwood, Maywood, Paramount, Willowbrook/Watts and our home base, South Gate.  Most of the families let us know that without our support, they would not have been able to sterilize their dogs.

Thanks to a great location, East Rancho Dominguez Park on the corner of Atlantic + Compton, we always have more families interested in getting their pets fixed than we have available appointments.  In addition to the surgeries performed on the Amanda Foundation Mobile Clinic, we wrote out vouchers so that pet owners will be able to take their dogs and cats to Lynwood Animal Hospital and get the same free surgeries.  Being in the community, answering questions, giving people information on pet health, licensing and listening to the challenges lots of our families face is all part of the success of our program.

Big shout out to Star, a canine student at our weekly free dog training class in the park. She came to the clinic with her family and got spayed.  We had such a great conversation, they love her so much.  Like many families, were a little reluctant to get her spayed because they thought at a year old, she may be too young and she could die during surgery.  Here she is (photo above) on her ride back home.

We also brought Gummy Bear (right) into the DDR adoption program.  At four months old, he was neutered and vaccinated, and is ready now for his forever home.  Gummy Bear who was rescued by a Compton Community member who asked for our help.

If you live in one of the South East Cities, need to get your dog spayed/neutered, give us a call 818-407-4145.  If you support this type of community based work, consider making a donation here, Donate.

I’ve always loved this quote by poet Robert Frost: “Good fences make good neighbors.”

It’s not just because these are clever words written by a clever man — it’s because this quote has the power of truth behind it. At the South LA Shelter Intervention program, we see this piece of wisdom in action time and time again. Taking it one step further, in South LA, good fences (or gates) save lives.

Fence and gate repairs is one of the services we offer to help keep dogs out of the shelter and in their homes. The majority of these requests are initiated by animal control officers who visit a home and cite a dog owner for not adequately containing their dog in the yard. This can be a very challenging citation for a dog owner, especially if he or she is a renter or doesn’t have the money or skills to make the necessary improvements to secure their yard.

That’s where we come in and offer assistance as best we can.

Before sending out a handyman to support the family, we must first obtain permission from a landlord to repair or replace a fence. This can be a greater obstacle than you might imagine. For example, in one of the areas that we regularly service (90003), there are approximately 17,500 homes, condos, and apartments within 3.6 square miles. Roughly 68% of the people living in this very densely populated area are renters. Therefore every repair that we make to a property requires not only the approval of the dog owner, but first the approval of the property owner. This requires our time and also much convincing as many property owners are not initially receptive to the idea.

Other times we meet families who feel pressured to relinquish their pets due to disagreements with neighbors. In these cases, simple fence or gate improvements can create peace between neighbors. Harmony is an invaluable quality when it comes to one’s living situation, and to the safety of a loved pet. The families that we help commonly say things like, “Everything was okay until a new neighbor moved in with their dog.” This is because families regularly share driveways or live on lots where two or three houses share the land. People live in converted garages, or even single family houses that have been converted to accommodate multiple families, each renting different parts of the divided house.

Our job is to try our best to make it work, for the family’s sake and for the animal’s. One simple solution is putting up a sheet of metal, separating the front house from the back house. This can keep two dogs from “fence fighting,” and therefore may keep these animals from being surrendered to the shelter.

Another common fix is lining a chain link fence with aluminum siding, which prevents small dogs from slipping out and getting into the street (where they are often hit by a car or attacked by larger dogs.) Unfortunately, there are parts of […]

The phrase looking for a forever home usually refers to a homeless pet but in this case, it’s a homeless family.  Tippy, a 10 year old Lab mix has a family who loves him so much, they decided to live in their car instead of surrendering him to the East Valley Shelter.  We met Nicole, her daughter and Tippy when they came to the shelter for resources.  Two weeks ago, we asked for help raising funds to get this family of three out of their car and into the Motel 6 where they are still living in Sylmar.  We raised enough money to sponsor their stay until April 15th.

With a budget of $900-$1000 a month to spend on rent, it would seem that there should be a one bedroom apartment available in the Van Nuys area that she could rent that would also accept Tippy with a pet deposit, which we have offered to pay, but it’s not that easy.  A year ago Nicole had cancer, she had to stop working and her credit was ruined.  This makes it very difficult to find an apartment when a potential landlord sees her FICO score.  So how does someone that is currently homeless move into housing?  With a lot of help.

Earlier this week, we wrote Nicole a letter of recommendation, making a perspective landlord aware that Tippy was neutered, up to date on vaccinations, a calm dog who was being sponsored by our organization and making it known, we would pay a pet deposit, should it be required if they would give Nicole a chance.  Searching for an apartment is a challenge, with the weather being very warm, Tippy couldn’t stay in the car while she went to see apartments.  Motel 6 has a policy that while they are pet friendly, they do not allow dogs to remain inside a room without their owner.  We paid to have Tippy boarded for a few days, we paid to have him groomed and she was able to apply for several apartments.  So far not luck.

Can you help us help this little family?  Do you know of an apartment in the San Fernando Valley that they can call home?  Call 818-407-4145 and leave us a message or email me at loriweise@gmail.com

Join us Sunday March 29th from 10-12:00 at the South LA Shelter to celebrate the Shelter Intervention Program’s second anniversary. Since April 6, 2013, more than 4600 pets have been prevented from shelters by asking pet owners,”How can we help?” Bring a collar, leash, a bag or cat or dog food to support a pet in need. We are also celebrating DDR founder Lori’s 50th Birthday.

Help us raise $50,000 to support all three Shelter Intervention Program at the East Valley, North Central and South LA Shelters. All funds raised will be used to pay for medical care, dog training, dog runs, redemption and licensing fees, humane euthanasia and more FREE spay/neuter surgeries. Help us help more families with pets living in poverty http://www.gofundme.com/lori-s50thbirthday

Thank you for your support!