Dollars and Sense – Operation Safety Net
by Lori Weise, founder of Downtown Dog Rescue
Doesn’t it make sense that we should put more effort and resources into helping dog owners in underserved communities keep their dogs instead of taking them to the shelter? Shouldn’t we take every possible step to help them get their dogs out when they land in the shelter? Downtown Dog Rescue’s program Operation Safety Net does just that. We assist dog owners in a variety of ways so that they can keep their dog in his first home forever home.
BUDDHA
Margaret, a senior citizen living in the Jefferson Park area knew that her German Shepherd had an ear infection, he would hold his head to the side and shake his head constantly. She tried her best for weeks to clean his ears, even flush them with over the counter ear wash but it wasn’t working. When she left her first message on our hotline, her closing line was, “I don’t want to see him suffer and I don’t want to have to take him to the pound.” Living on a fixed income, dog owners like Margaret often feel that their only option is taking the dog to the shelter rather than watch their dog suffer. If one doesn’t have the money until the first of the month and that’s budgeted for other essentials, what’s the dog owner left to do, especially when they call various hospitals and the quotes range anywhere from $350 to $800! We paid $159 for the dog to be put under, the ear thoroughly cleaned out, antibiotic shot and meds to go home along with a medicated ear wash. Wow, was Margaret ever grateful to see her dog out of his suffering.
Sometimes, we get someone who just found a sick dog on the street and they want to keep the dog but they really can’t afford to treat the dog so there is no other option but the shelter. Alvaro was persistent, he must have called us five times in less than 24 hours. He found a dog that basically had an eyeball popping out. This is not a dog that probably would have been adopted had he taken her to the South LA shelter so we offered to pay to have the eyeball removed if he agreed to spay her. What a deal, $400 for the whole package including shots. He raised $100 and we paid $300, keeping another dog out of the South LA Shelter.
Watts Up? Another dog clinic in Watts
by: Lori Weise – Founder and Director of Downtown Dog Rescue
It’s Saturday evening around 7:00 and I’m just sitting down to read the LA times after a long day at the dog clinic in Watts. I’m really interested in the article written by Sandy Banks entitled “A Turnaround Experiment” which breaks down the challenges of Jordan High in Watts. I’ve spent a fair amount of time in Watts, definitely enough to see the poverty and the need for more resources of every type, including more free services for dog owners. According to Sandy’s article, only 3% of all students are proficient in math and 11% in English. Taking this information in and thinking about the text that I received from a community volunteer who was a no show at the clinic, “I’m with the family of a homie that was killed last nite trying to stop a war. Sorry for my absence.”, getting approximately 175 people to bring about 300 dogs to a parking lot on 103rd Street seems pretty good.
Our clinic, organized by both the City and County Animal Control Departments was a lot busier than the previous month. We had done a considerable amount of outreach this time, had a banner up on the fence the week of the event and had volunteers walking the streets. We also had a groomer named Sage Gallegos who worked for a solid six hours with her team, with a line of people 6 to 7 people deep, wanting their tangled poodles and matted cockers’ hair cut. She gave each client a bottle of shampoo and a bandana, all donated. Taking the time to groom the dogs and explain about fleas and ticks meant a lot to the dog owners who learned more about basic dog care. As with every clinic, there were so many touching stories of how the family dog was truly a family member. One in particular, a young mom who had a son with learning disabilities that only seemed to improve when their little pekenese “Pequena” was with him. She tried her best to explain in English and Spanish that she was being asked by her landlord to get rid of the dog but she just couldn’t. They also couldn’t move since they lived in Section 8 and to find another apartment would be like finding a needle in a haystack. She would be homeless with two kids and Pequena. We spoke about the possibility […]
Watts Family Dog Clinic / We need your support!
by: Lori Weise, founder of Downtown Dog Rescue
BUILD IT AND THEY WILL COME!
On Saturday April 21st the County and City of Los Angeles Animal Service came together to host a free vaccination clinic for dog owners living in Watts. This was the first of four monthly clinics planned for this high intake area. Downtown Dog Rescue was one of the nonprofit organizations involved in the project. The original plan was for the dog owner to purchase a $20 dog license and get their dog vaccinated and microchipped free of charge. Sounds like a great deal right? I thoughts so and we expected hundreds of dogs. I envisioned a line stretching down the sidewalk of 103rd street, maybe as far as Ted Watkins Memorial Park. Instead, we had two families holding their tiny Chihuahuas, waiting to be the first customers. At first, there were no big dogs, the types of dogs that I see roaming the streets every time I’m in the neighborhood.
WAKE THEM UP FIRST!
If the dogs didn’t show up, we had to go and get them, wake them up is what Dog Man said. He did just that. Volunteer Mike Parker and Dog Man took one of the banners that read, Rabies Clinic today 9-2:00, strapped it to Mike’s car and drove through Jordan Downs and Nickerson Gardens. Dog Man got out of the car and started knocking on doors, basically waking people up to get dog owners to come out with their dogs to the clinic. Back at the clinic, volunteers Keith and Olivia stood in the street, with the second banner stretched out, shouting out DOG CLINIC! to the passing cars.
AND THEY CAME FROM NEAR AND FAR!
30 minutes later, we had the pit bull owners […]
AKASHA – A Senior Beauty gets her Second Chance
A couple of weeks ago, I read a Facebook posting by Kim Wolf the community engagement specialist for Animal Farm Foundation that focused on the fact that not every rescued dog comes from a horrible situation. Especially when it comes to pit bull type dogs, this is almost always the assumption, but why? Is it that we, the ones that rescued the dogs feel better when we think that we have taken the dog out of a dramatically poor situation, even life threatening? I know I catch myself talking about a dog’s past more so when it was a bad one and this can become the dog’s identity and delay adoption. Labeling a dog a “bait dog” or assuming, as Kim pointed out in her blog posting that just because a dog has cropped ears, we often assume a bad owner. This is just not true.
I want to illustrate this point with Akasha, who was recently adopted by a wonderful man who loves her but most of all, he is prepared to handle her in a firm, disciplined manner, just what “Grandma” needs. He understands the balance between love and affection and structure and rules needed to create a calm balanced dog. Akasha came to me wildly anxious, barking, lunging, generally over the top and out of control around other dogs. Should I have assumed that she had a bad owner who dumped her at the shelter as an old dog and never cared about her? I didn’t because her temperament and manners didn’t support that. She also had no scars on her body, she had two eyes, all of her legs, a complete tail, ears were not shredded, no indication that she had spent time laying on concrete for years, in general she looked good for a senior dog. Once we started our walks and doing some agility, we bonded and I saw that she was very comfortable riding in a car, being in an office, going home with me, as if she had always done these types of activities. I play detective with each new dog and when she was adopted, I let Ron know that she probably had a decent owner who cared about her but for whatever reason, she could not keep her and brought her to the shelter at 9 to 10 years of age.
DOWNTOWN DOG RESCUE’S SENIOR DOGS NEED YOUR HELP!
Make a donation in the name of Cookie and Radish!!! Click here to donate!
They are Downtown Dog Rescue’s seniors! The vet bill for Radish came up to $1300 due to her advanced pneumonia but she made it! Cookie’s vet bill went up because of the emergency operation she needed for Pyometra (bad serious and ugly condition). ALL DONATIONS ARE TAX DEDUCTIBLE!
It’s a win win — please help senior dogs!
THANK YOU!!!!
Farewell Lizzy – DDR’s OG lady
Tribute to Lizzy
by Lori Weise
Today, Friday January 13th Lizzy my “OG” from the original pack of Downtown Dogs has passed away. She was estimated to be 18-19 years old. I met Lizzy 16 years ago when she lived with Benny, pictured here with Lizzy the Shepherd and Teri the pit bull.
What a great life she had. As a pup, she lived in a home and go to work with her owner who worked at Central Produce, every day until one day, she just didn’t want to go home anymore and began her 14 year adventure with Benny as his #1 Road Dog. Lizzy had a crush on Benny’s big black male pit bull named Iron Head who was a lot like Clancy and was the papa dog to my two original pups, Maya, who has passed and Yuki as well as Sandy’s Annie who has passed and Lezle’s Lucy. We all had Iron Head pups because at that time, Benny didn’t allow us to spay/neuter his dogs. Thankfully, Lizzy was spayed as a pup so she never had her own puppies but she raised a lot of litters of pups that Iron Head fathered and brought home.
What a different time it was. Benny had a spot in an alley, behind a gate, a hose for running water, an extension cord for a TV and a small shed with a bed where Lizzy and Iron Head and the rest of the dogs slept. As Benny called them, “The Night Ladies” came by to relax after a long night of work, to feel safe, wash their clothes, eat, watch tv and just hang out with the dogs until their pimp called them back to work. Lizzy saw it all, including the horrible event when Teri was cold heartedly shot by an LAPD officer, just missing Lizzy who lay close to her. Lizzy also was there when Benny was beaten unconsciously as she defended him and later was quarantined for biting a man. She attacked another man that tried to stab Benny. One thing for sure, Lizzy was a loyal old lady who never wore a collar until I made him license her and I never saw her on a leash, NEVER. She was a road dog who traveled from 7th and Mateo over to Soto and 4th over to 6th and Main and when Benny got too tired to walk home, he rode the bus and told Lizzy, “Go Home” and she did, often beating him back to the spot. I never saw Benny without Lizzy. Sure, I would be nervous […]
WEST LA SHELTER RESCUE ME SPOTLIGHT:BLUE — Sweet Old Man
From Chela:
Can you imagine this dog in his prime? How stunning he must have been, how sweet and beautiful before they chopped off his ears too short, before they neglected him to almost starvation? Can you imagine all the good years he lost to sadness and neglect, years where he would have loved to be so loyal and affectionate, how he would have loved to have been told he was a good boy by a gentle voice? I hope he doesn’t die without ever experiencing that…..
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From: ani newhopewla
Subject: A1260063 – Blue, 12 year old, male, American Staffordshire.
To: “ani newhopewla”
Date: Saturday, November 5, 2011, 9:57 AM
A1260063 – Blue, 12 year old, male, American Staffordshire.
Blue came to the shelter as a stray. He was in pretty bad shape when he arrived, emaciated and could barely stand.
He has gained some weight since he arrived and is now able to stand.
Blue is a very sweet old man that deserves a chance to live out the rest of his days, weeks, months or years in a loving caring home. Something he has probably not experienced in his last 12 years of life.
If you are interested in adopting Blue please contact me.
—
Samantha Westbrook
New Hope Coordinator / Baby Bottle Coordinator
West Los Angeles Animal Care Center
11361 W. Pico Blvd
Los Angeles CA 90064
Shelter: 213 485 0494/ 0495/ 0496
Cell: 213 7925811
ani.newhopewla@lacity.org
Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday & Saturday 7am – 4pm
Thursday 6.30am – 3.30pm
BE IN THE KNOW: Diane Carey, Animal Cruelty Case Update
Diane Carey president of South Central Stray Rescue pleaded guilty to animal cruelty charges avoiding a jury trial. An anonymous videographer sent me this link. It details the abuse that went on at her kennel on 61st Street in South Los Angeles. South Central Stray Rescue is still a functioning non profit that can accept tax deductible donations. Charlie, Amanda, Trixie and Pepper, to name a few, survived this hell.