As we closed out our first year for the South LA Shelter Intervention Program, I want to share our year-end stats with everyone, hoping that this will inspire other cities and counties to think in terms of expanding existing resources for families in need with pets. Most of the 2041 pets that we assisted were dogs – 1789, 241 cats and 11 rabbits. At the South LA shelter, we just see more people with dogs asking for help.  We realize that when kitten season starts up again, in early spring, we will be better equipped to help more cats.  With that being said, I want to thank Stray Cat Alliance for covering many of the spay/neuter surgeries.

Spay/neuter was very important and while the numbers were huge – 986 pets (almost 50% of all reasons why a family was considering surrendering their pet), we have to consider that in many cases, spay/neuter might have been the first reason, but the situation was often multi-layered. For example, a family might not qualify for a voucher due to lack of ID or other reasons. We paid for the surgery but they also needed pet food, a dog house, maybe a gate or fence repair and often other medical needs, such as a cherry eye surgery or an ear infection; all very treatable issues.

Without the support of the ASPCA spay/neuter grant, we could not have said “YES” to many families with pets who needed our help and their pets were spayed/neutered only because of this grant. To get the spay/neuter surgeries done most efficiently, we used two mobile clinics, Spay4LA and Amanda Foundation and two local hospitals, ARC Animal Hospital and North Figueroa Animal Hospital. I want to personally thank Katie Larkin, president of Angel City Pit Bulls and her team, who sponsored many of the surgeries for our intervention dogs in the month of December. They also volunteered at the intervention desk every Wednesday on Amanda’s day off so that we could cover the days the shelter was open.

We offered 151 pets a more humane end of life.  This number represents how many senior and terminally ill pets were humanely euthanized with their family present at Ber Mar Animal hospital in Inglewood, instead of being surrendered to the shelter South LA shelter.  All but one person, who was offered this service, gratefully accepted this alternative option.

Lots of dogs were right on the edge of being surrendered because of barking, pulling on the leash, aggression and more.  Thanks to Larry Hill, lead trainer at Puppy Imprinters, who worked tirelessly with countless dog owners, inspiring them to not give up, try one more day, stay committed to your […]

On Saturday December 14th DDR and the Amanda Foundation are teaming up to do our annual Watts Dog Clinic at the Youth Opportunity Center in Watts. We are asking our volunteers and supporters to donated food items for the families who will bring their dogs to be spayed and neutered and their pets. Canned food such as soup, pasta, beans, rice and other non perishable foods will be gladly accepted the day of the event at the Youth Center located at 1513 East 103rd Street near Compton Blvd in Watts as early as 9:00 A.M. Volunteers will also be accepting all brands of dog food both canned and kibble.

Each year, the Amanda Foundation’s mobile clinic performs 50 free spay/neuter surgeries which includes free vaccinations for dog owners in Watts. All dogs must have an appointment and services. We are also grateful for the support from the Watts Project volunteers this year who will be organizing activities for the children who live in the community. Our goal is to offer a food basket for 100 families in need. Please be part of this special day by stopping by to donate your canned foods or donate online to support our work.

Found Animals Foundation has generously funded the majority of the South LA shelter intervention program since we started in April. The program was considered a pilot project, with a goal to prevent 400 pets from entering the South LA shelter in 2013. As of October 31, we have far surpassed that modest goal. We have prevented more than 1,700 pets from entering the shelter.  The South LA shelter , when compared to the other five shelters, has a high intake and struggles to adopt out the wonderful pets that await their forever home. While efforts continue to increase adoptions, keeping pets out of the shelter is a big help in working towards our  goal of no kill for the South LA shelter community.

Exciting news, announced at a recent gala event hosted by Found Animals, the South LA shelter intervention program will be funded in 2014,  which translates to a $100,000 donation.  Think of how many families in need with pets will benefit from this generous donation! Think of the positive impact this donation will have on the community as a whole. When we can tell a family that they do not need to surrender their pet and that we have the funds to pay for a needed medical procedure or help them with dog training, pay license fees or something as simple as supply them with a monthly donation of dog food, we are providing a safety net and offering compassion to people who may otherwise not know where to turn. We have already seen how lives are changed when we can keep a family and their pet together. An example of this is Marlon, who is currently living in his car with his dog Toby.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91s8k5N3RjE, video created by Jeff Fleiss.

The South LA Shelter intervention program took about ten years to get off the ground and running full time. None of this would be possible without the support of Found Animals Foundation and the leadership from Aimee Gailbreath the executive director who believed in our vision and continues to support our work. Our goal in 2014 will be to prevent over 2000 pets from entering the South LA shelter.

We’d also love your support. Please consider donating to Downtown Dog Rescue. All donations go straight to the program. If you haven’t already, please follow us on Facebook and/or Twitter. You can also help by continuing to spread the word. Downtown Dog Rescue is a non-profit 501C3 (#46-1958507) tax deductible charity.

Download our infographic here.

Petco has been an invaluable supporter of Downtown Dog Rescue from the very beginning.

Back when we started DDR in the late 90’s, our first dog adoptions were at the Pasadena store on Arroyo Parkway. It was just me, a dog and a 3 ring binder with photos of dogs that needed homes.

I would pick up a dog at a local homeless camp, give the dog a quick bath, take him to Petco and hope that I could adopt him that day. If not, I’d drive the dog back downtown and then put the dog back with the people in the camp to hold until next week. With little funding, no place to keep dogs, we did what we could and Petco was always supportive of our work.

Almost two decades later, thousands of dogs have gone to our weekly Petco adoption events and met their future families there. 

We love our current Petco store in San Gabriel and value our partnership with our store manager Mike. His passion for animals/rescue and Petco’s continued support of adoption events, play a big part in connecting DDR dogs to families.

When we began the new DDR kennel project, I wrote to the Petco Foundation, asking their support with our new kennel property and our plan to make DDR all that it can be – with a grooming area, play yards and offices to expand our work. The Foundation’s Executive Director, Susanne Kogut, took time out of her busy schedule to discuss our project in detail and suggested we submit a grant request.

We are ever so grateful to the Petco Foundation for the $25,000 grant to support the Downtown Dog Rescue capital building project.

Without the generous support of the Petco Foundation, we wouldn’t have been able to complete the remodeling of our new kennel. This grant will enable us to completely finish our build out, move the dogs in very soon and allow us to expand community outreach efforts and increase adoptions.

Many thanks to Petco for believing in DDR from our grassroots beginnings and their generous support of our local vision.

Lori Weise, Founder

Downtown Dog Rescue

This week, The Hounds of Love, an art show benefiting Downtown Dog Rescue, closes.  It’s not too late to buy an affordable piece of art and support DDR.

Check out the show online by visiting: http://bit.ly/15LzWt9

Proceeds raised from this show will be used to prevent more pets from entering the South LA shelter.  Since our shelter intervention program started back in April, we have prevented over 1200 pets from entering the shelter.  How are we doing this? By offering free spay/neuter, vaccinations, dog licenses, medical care, fixing fences and gates and supplying monthly dog food donations to needy pet owners in the South LA area. When you purchase a piece of art, you are also part of the positive change that is taking place in the South LA community.

DDR wants to send out a special thank you to the two volunteers who put this show together, Marcos Saldana and Nicole Bruckman.  This was their idea, they recruited all of the artists and found the gallery space.  What an amazing show they put together!  We also want to thank everyone who attended the opening and already purchased a piece of art.  However there are lots of great pieces left so GO SHOP!

DDR is honored to have been invited for the first time, to participate in Race for the Rescues that will take place on Sunday October 6^that the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. Race For The Rescues is a day when all ages of animal lovers come out to run, walk, shop or adopt to help save the life of a homeless dog, cat or horse. This event will have a mixture of serious athletes competing for times and people who just want to come out and walk with or without their dog to help support the benefiting animal welfare organizations. Not a runner? Then come join the fun at the Expo where DDR will be one of many rescues that have both dogs and cats available for  adoptions.  There will be a huge silent auction, entertainment, a dog costume contest, food trucks, pet psychics, unique pet products and more. IT’S A BLAST!

If you support the work that we do in the community, have adopted a dog from DDR, or just want to get involved,  JOIN OUR TEAM or donate to our general fund  All of the funds that we raise will go towards preventing more pets from entering the South LA shelter and rescuing dogs that deserve their second chance at a forever loving home.  While I can’t promise that Mr. B will lacing up his running shoes to race, he will be there, as will many of the DDR dogs who would love to see you there!  Show you support, get involved today!  This is DDR’s last fundraising event for 2013

Can’t join us? Please consider making a tax deductible donation towards Team Downtown Dog Rescue. No amount is too small and will go towards saving animals from euthanasia, providing the community with important programs like free spay/neuter and assistance with vet bills for low income families.

We are happy to report that we are 50% completed with our ASPCA spay/neuter grant for the Compton Community dogs.  To date, we have spayed/neutered a total of 344 dogs with this funding.  Imagine if every one of the 344 dogs had just one litter of puppies, we would see at least 2,064 more unwanted dogs in a community that already has a dog overpopulation. We can speculate that the number would be higher due to the fact that many of these dogs are large breed dogs that have much larger litters of pups.  The same types of dogs who often are the most difficult to adopt when they do end up in a shelter.

We have found over the course of seven years of running this program in the community that using the mobile clinic in  the park, taking walk ups, and signing everyone up who lives in the community and owns a dog and is willing to spay/neuter is the only way get to 1,000 surgeries per year.  Often the willingness to make the choice to spay/neuter happens over months of talking to a dog owner.  Because the ASPCA recognized that it’s necessary to be in the community, out in the park, providing immediate opportunities to “do the right thing” by spaying/neutering all dogs, we were able to continue our monthly clinics and expand our services by offering free spay/neuter at several animal hospitals, using a voucher system, as well as continuing the mobile clinics.

Access to free spay/neuter continues to be the greatest barrier for the most needy dog owners.  Our program is successful because, we accept all dog owners where they are today, even if they deny the free service.  We don’t require anyone to match up all of their identification cards or “jump through hoops” to prove that they are poor.  If someone says they need the free service and tells us they live in the community we serve, that’s good enough.  We accept all dog owners regardless of their legal status.  If the dog owner is 18 years or older and signs our paperwork, their dog is getting spayed/neutered.  Providing quality care, quality customer service with a caring non judgmental attitude is our goal at each and every clinic. None of this would be possible without the generous funding from the ASPCA who understands how important making connections within the community will save more lives, resulting in fewer dogs needing to be rescued from the shelter.

Please consider donating to Downtown Dog Rescue. All donations go straight to the program. If you haven’t already, please follow us on Facebook and/or Twitter. You can also help by […]

On Sunday, October 6th, 2013 Downtown Dog Rescue will be participating in the eight annual Race for the Rescues Los Angeles, a 5K, 10k run, 1K Dog Walk and Kids’ Fun Run. This event supports local non-profit animal welfare organizations that annually save the lives of thousands of dogs, cats, horses, wildlife and prevent cruelty to farm animals. We invite you to come out and join us. Whether you walk, run, or just come for vendor booths, dog/cat adoptions, dog costume contest, silent auction or to visit the expo area, we’d love to see you.

Please consider making a tax deductible donation towards Team Downtown Dog Rescue. No amount is too small and will go towards saving animals from euthanasia, providing the community with important programs like free spay/neuter and assistance with vet bills for low income families.

Always Grateful,

Lori Weise

Founder, Downtown Dog Rescue