The 'Big Bucks'

A few weeks ago I was driving through a fast food joint and the gal at the window taking my money gave me a second look and said, "I know you... you work at the rescue shop in the mall"... To which I replied, "Well, I don't work there.  I am a volunteer, but yes, you've probably seen me there... I'm the Director."...

Expecting the next 'usual' question or comment ("I have a dog I am trying to get rid of" ~or~ "What kind of dogs do you have?  I'm looking for a...."), I was absolutely 'gobsmacked' as my British friend would say!.... The response to my statement?

"What do you do with all that money you make?"

HUH??? Double HUH, as a matter of fact... 

First of all, I don't make a salary - in fact, none of the five members of the TLC Board of Directors make a salary... And what donations we do get (and NEVER enough) go directly towards saving dogs' lives, providing for their care, keeping the electricity on at the rescue shop ($1200 to $1800 a month), cleaning supplies, etc... This doesn't even include the enormous vet bills we incur because TLC does NOT walk away from the hard cases... 

But perceptions are reality for the general public... And I have begun to think we should create an album of the hard cases we have taken in and gotten healthy, then found furever homes for...  We don't kill or ignore the older, sickly or behaviorially undersocialized dogs that end up on kill lists because the general public won't adopt them or other rescues pass them by... 

Four days ago, we took on Alfee, a very sweet and nice Lhasa who is about 10 years old...  Lhasas have an average lifespan of about 15 years but many have lived on to be 20 years or older... So to put this in perspective to a human, at 25 pounds, Alfee is about 35 years old in human terms... 

Originally adopted as a pup from Ventura County Animal Services in 2005, he was surrendered back to them in March of 2014... 

We do not know the circumstances surrounding his surrender, but I can only believe the owner must have loved them deeply because Alfee is VERY well socialized - likes everyone and is good with everyone - humans, kids, other dogs, etc...

The only thing I can fault the previous owner for is that Alfee was matted, matted, matted... sigh...

Maybe the owner fell on hard times because Alfee has not seen a vet in 2-3 years... And I want to believe that the owner just could not afford to have the tumor on his lower jaw removed... 

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But when I learned of Alfee being back at Camarillo with this medical issue, I could not just ignore him and pass him over... This is just NOT what we do at TLC... We will never get out of the 'red' at TLC and into the 'black', but what do you do?  Leave a great, friendly dog with a lot of living left to do just die because of a human's circumstances and/or decisions?... That's just not 'doing the next best right thing'... 

So, Alfee came to TLC and then onto our vet for an evaluation... His blood work came back PERFECT and he is in great health according to our vet...

Now to raise the money to get this tumor removed and sent off for evaluation... We have a foster willing to take care of Alfee as he recovers for two weeks after surgery... And we are sure he will cause someone to fall deeply in love with him - he is already as sweet as honey butter, so can you imagine what he will be like once he can eat properly and is not longer in pain?

If you'd like to donate to Alfee's surgery, you can do so at our donations page online... If you'd like to say some prayers for him, the surgery will be done on Tuesday (March 26th) if everything goes as planned...  

So, I say to the lady slinging burgers, "THIS is where the big bucks go!"