1500!

For those business-minded individuals, you will already know what a 'KPI' is, but for those not familiar with the acronym, it translates to 'Key Performance Indicator'...  So, why would I be writing about KPI today on a TLC blog?

Primarily because we keep an eye on our KPIs... 

And because we are a non-profit (and don't make much if any profit), unlike most businesses, the financial aspect is not a primary KPI for TLC... We track other things as our primary KPIs... Like how many dog lives we have saved since TLC as an entity was born... 

Allow me to introduce Boffo and Beaucoup:

And why are they important to us?  Because momma (Boffo) is number 1500 for TLC, and her pup (Beaucoup) is 1501 since June, 2009... Or not quite one dog's life per day... Both mom and pup came from Ventura County Animal Services (VCAS) which has also committed itself to No-Kill 18 months ago...

We as a rescue did not commit ourselves so heavily to taking dogs and puppies from VCAS at one time... And we fought hard for VCAS to commit to No-Kill, but now that we are both headed in the same direction, we do our absolute best to help our county achieve No-Kill by 2017... And how do you do that?... By one or two dogs at a time... 

VCAS vet techs, Dr. H and Linda Nelson with Boffo and Beaucoup

TLC reached this amazing number with volunteers, no government funding or corporate sponsorship... We do this through sheer willpower and a conscience determination to do what is right towards these small dogs dumped into shelters by irresponsible dog owners...  And yes, there are some months we barely can cover the electric bill at the rescue shop, but the level of the care these dogs receive from TLC is better than many pet owners give their dogs...

And there are some very kind and generous folks who make monthly donations to help us over that hurdle of 'too many dogs to save, not enough money to do it' set of circumstances... Others bring in items on our wish list (we do 14-16 loads of laundry a day - OMG! - so are always running out of bleach, detergent and softener, etc.)... Then others spread the word of what we are doing at the rescue shop among their friends and associates, advising folks that 'adoption is the ONLY way to go' when thinking about adding a new furbaby to their life and lifestyle... 

Just like it takes a community to raise a child, it takes all of a county's residents for a county to go No-Kill... Buy puppies off the Internet, from pet shops or from backyard breeders and you contribute to the 800,000 animals this state kills every year in our shelter systems...

Another KPI for us in TLC is that for every four saves we do, we will do one 'hard case'... And we save the number one breed dying the shelters, day in and day out... We also save one Pitty per month, despite not being set up for the bigger dogs...

This year I fostered a momma Pitty/Boxer and she had 9 puppies in our home in January 2013... Her pups grew up, were spayed/neutered and went onto furever homes... But the momma dog?... She adopted us as a family and we put her to work being an ambassador of this breed... Momma has now been certified for therapy and received her CGC certification in May of 2013... Every day she comes to the rescue shop that I do, she goes home with me at night... She loves traveling in the truck and behaves exceptionally well with our other dogs (two being under 4 pounds and Chihuahuas)... In fact, Momma posed for next year's calendar done by TLC:

There are three things about KPIs that are so crucial to every business, set of life decisions you make and even to the overall lifespan you spend on this planet.... And I believe, we at TLC, do pretty well at establishing good KPIs and staying on task towards our goals:

1. They must be the heart of it all... They must be as closely linked to your top goals - be it in life, business or in a non-profit...
   
2. They must be quantifiable to some degree or point... Granted, how can you measure the quality of a dog's life easily?... But you start with life and move onto quality, health and long, natural life spans filled with love and care...
   
3. They must be something you have within your control... Something you can focus on and improve, use as motivation to do better at... Something you can look at and say, "Yes, we can do better if...."
   

So, please join us in the celebration of saving lives #1500 and #1501 - Boffo and Beaucoup - as we march onwards and upwards towards No-Kill in Ventura County!

P.S.  "Boffo" means extremely successful and "Beaucoup" means many or much... Beaucoup Boffo - many extremely successful saving of dog and puppy lives!

MAJOR KUDOS to all of the TLC volunteers, supporters and TLC alumni who chose to adopt and not shop!