I recently had a good friend ask me why do we keep dogs like “Freeway”, since they are not adoptable and are “taking up space”. I guess what she meant is space in the kennel where we could rescue more dogs that are adoptable. I see her point, but I made a commitment to all of the dogs and this includes Freeway.
At our kennel, most all of the dogs are adoptable and are up for adoption. They might not all be what we call “Petco Dogs” , dogs that can go to Petco adoptions on Saturdays, but they do go out to adoptions and / or are shown by appointment at the kennel. However, I do have a handful of dogs that are off the table for adoption consideration and one of those dogs is Freeway. She is a special dog, one that lived with her homeless guardian almost all of her life. He went into a board and care situation, then Freeway was passed around for a bit and abused pretty badly during that time. I took her, biting, attacking other dogs, all of her! She wears a leash 24/7, which we don’t hold on to until we need to bring her in for a landing, into her run. She now trusts Billy and Richard and of course me. It’s all about keeping Freeway safe so that she can relax and enjoy herself. She “works” for Downtown Dog Rescue, helping us rehabilitate dogs that are adoptable. Same with Ms. Bertha, Simon and Chasui. They have a routine and they enjoy the dog pack life.
BERNADETTE
Our newest long shot adoption is Bernadette. She is extremely shy with new people, tentative with new dogs, just a ball of nerves. On top of all that, she is a black pit bull. What are her odds of being adopted? Pretty long, I’m guessing. I expect to have Bernadette live with us for years, not months. She will go up on Petfinder, where we might get an application this year for her but probably not. Should we not have taken her into the rescue and taken on more adoptable dogs, easier dogs?
There are so many beautiful, young, socialized dogs in the shelters being euthanized everyday just for space. I see the photos of the dogs that need to be rescued at the South LA shelter, knowing, if I had more space, more time, I could save more dogs. As Sandy tells me often, it’s a numbers game, we do the very best work we can do with the dogs that we have, get them out to adoptions, get them up on adoptions sites and pray we get the very adoptable dogs adopted quickly so that we can keep on taking in dogs like Bernadette who need us. Please consider adopting a Downtown Dog Rescue dog. If you can’t adopt, please share some of our dogs on your Facebook page.