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 continuing to spread the word. Downtown Dog Rescue is a non-profit 501C3 (#46-1958507) tax deductible charity.