One month ago, I loaded up Kirby into a crate in my car after she was spayed in the park in Compton. The man that brought her to the clinic, Daniel, was not her owner, nonetheless, she adored him and his dog and was upset when he filled out the paperwork and drove off. He would have loved to keep her, since she got along beautifully with his dog but he was living in his van, parking at a truck yard in Compton until he could find work as a cross country truck driver. The recession hit him hard, all he had in life was his cell phone, his van and his beloved dog. Then Kirby walked into his life. He could not bear to watch her have another litter of pups so he started to call around to see who could spay her for free. The Coalition for Pets and Public Safety sent him out to us and we gladly spayed and vaccinated her at no charge. Proving my belief that free is often the only way that high volume spay/neuter will work and reaching out to the most needy is often achieved only when using a mobile clinic.

February is national spay/neuter awareness month and there are lots of great programs out there providing low cost and even free spay/neuter services but it’s only for a month. Many people who need the services the most can’t find a clinic or can’t pay the “low cost” Most regular vets charge hundreds of dollars to spay a large breed dog and the most needy dog owners living in underserved areas of Los Angeles don’t have that kind of money so they wait and often this results in accidental litter of puppies. I listened to a call this week on our hotline. The caller sounded desperate, he can’t deal with more litters of puppies, there have been too many and he needs to “fix the situation” . If he can’t fix his situation, he finished his message by letting us know that he would have no choice but to take his dog to the pound.

I strongly believe that there is a small percentage of people who actually want to breed their dogs for money. Most people, if given the option to sterilize their dog and it’s free, very close to their home and extremely convenient, they will comply and they will refer their friends and family, as we see every month at our Compton clinic. The bad behavior of some people make it seem like everyone who lives in a low income neighborhood is bad and making money off their dogs by breeding and selling puppies. I can’t tell you how many nice families have brought their male and female Chihuahuas and all their “kids” to be spayed /neutered. The pups are given to other family members who show up to take advantage of the free service because no one actually wants puppies, it was just an accident. It’s fairly common for us to sterilize 4-6 dogs in the same household or family within a two month period. Now, this is not so easy with pit bull owners and yes, some pit bull owners that we meet in the park definitely want to breed their dogs and they are most likely selling the puppies to anyone and everyone who has money with little regard to what type of future the pup has once they have their cash. However, we get a lots of calls from great pit bull owners who tell us that they don’t want any litters because they know, there are too many of these dogs out there and no one wants them. What a sad thing to write, no one wants them, there are some of us who do but there are just not enough of us, at least not yet.

Someone will want Kirby, one day and until then she is doing really well at our kennel, playing with the whole pack, even Edwina, Freeway and Precious who can be extra tough on a new female dog. She loves playing with the big males, including Clancy, Charlie and Frankie. Her life is quiet, with two meals a day, clean water and a blanket, a dream life compared to where she came from where a dirt hole was her bed and her meal came out of a trash can when she could find it. If you are interested in learning more about our Compton Clinic, check out the video that was made by our friend and supporter Amy Tenowich for KCET, “DOG GUARDIAN ANGEL”