Update on Layla... Surgery photos

Sweet Layla had her bladder stone surgery yesterday and under the careful and highly experienced hands of Dr. Amsel, it went very well... Thank-you, Dr. Amsel!  You're one in a million and we at TLC just love the amount of compassion and dedication you have for these rescued furbabies!  ♥

Elizabeth was kind enough to pop in throughout the surgery and take photos for me... I saw the stone yesterday afternoon when I came to pick Layla up and having held this little girl in my arms, it was even more shocking to see the bladder stone in person... It is about the size of a business card with the edges rounded off... 

 Probably weighs half a pound and Layla weighs about 7 pounds... Poor baby!


 

Sleepin' with the dawgs...

Not to bore you too much with details of my personal life but I have a lot of back issues and don't sleep very well... Haven't for years, as a matter of fact... Too many hours in one position, and 'Brumhilda' (as I call my blasted back) will wake me up and 'talk' to me in a manner that I don't care for... "OUCHIE" does not describe it either...  And for those with back problems, I know you can relate...

At my house, my 'alpha' is Peanut (or 'PeanniePeannie' as she is known)...

By sleeping with me I gave (and give) her alpha status in the canine pack language... She just turned 16 years old, and other than her midnight 'I gotta go' tendency, she still acts like a puppy.... 

About 2-3 years ago,  she stopped going down the doggie steps and outside to do her widdlin at night...

After numerous (and many) tries to change this behavior, I realized it was old age creeping up and had no medical basis... So.... Rather than wake up with that 'OH NO' wet feeling, I moved Peanut moved to a crate for sleeping at night... It is at bed level and right aside of my bed,... She retains her alpha status but there are no accidents in my bed...

This was right around the time my doctor starting going on and on about allowing my dog to sleep with me... If you have problems sleeping at night, it is one of the first things they ask you... "Do you have a dog and does it sleep with you?  If so, you need to stop doing this and you'll sleep better."

The doctors give you a whole, long laundry list of things to do in a routine to sleep better at night and although I have put almost all of them into practice, I still don't sleep much better (overall)... 

I've sorta/kinda resigned myself to climbing into bed at 9PM, falling asleep around 10PM and waking back up around 2-3AM... Usually I get up and get to my computer, knock out a few hours of hard work and when I eventually get sleepy (if I do), I'll try and catch the other 2-3 hours of sleep I feel I am missing... It is a very weird schedule, but I have learned to work around Ms. Brumhilda if I want to get through each day now...

For about 18 months or so, my husband and I slept without any dogs in bed and two things became evident to me - 1) I don't sleep any better without a dog in my bed and 2) I don't like sleeping without a dog in my bed...

My husband is a late night TV watcher who can't sleep with the TV on, and I am not a TV watcher, but like the TV on for the white noise to sleep...

Otherwise, even small noises wake me up and then I get to lay there, staring at the ceiling and thinking or listening to the fan go 'whirl, whirl, whirlwhirl, whirl, whirl, whirlwhirl' while he snores (and not in unison with the fan)...

Not quite a year ago, one of my fosters developed a strong attachment to me and I resisted it for several months... After all, Momma is a Boxer/Pitty and I am not a fan of big dogs the older I get - I just don't have the strength to hold onto them in training modes...

But one of the major positive aspects of adopting a rescued dog is they all have this 'attitude for gratitude' somehow... I have always described it as they know just how BAD life can be, so when they get a good one, they appreciate it MUCH more, ya know?

Eventually Momma was more determined to become a Nelson than I was about resisting her unlimited devotion to me... When I finally agreed to adopt her outright, she was going to have a job and work for her keep...

I started training Momma around the last part of March in 2013 and by the end of May, she had her CGC certification done... 

Momma now is an ambassador of her breed and will basically lick to you death if given half a chance... It helps when you are trying to show kids at the rescue shop that not all big dogs are to be feared... Momma has done a LOT of good in the past year and brought much awareness to the statement, "It is NOT the breed, but the owner"...

I had trained Momma to sleep in her bed on the floor alongside my side of the bed and she was great about it... That lasted only a few months until my husband invited her into our bed one night when he retired early and wanted to pet her... 

After that, Momma would sit up with her head plopped down on the side of the bed, JUST STARING at me with those big dark almond colored eyes --- pleading to be allowed to come up into bed... I'm a tough broad but I can only take so much of that behavior and caved in... And almost immediately I realized just how much I missed having one of my dogs sleep with me...

With PeaniePeanie, I would pet her belly and she'd fall asleep curled into my belly as we both drifted off to sleep... It was almost like counting sheep at night for me... 

But with Momma?... She's FAR too big to curl into anything!... She developed an affinity to stretching out along my back, so we'd end up back-to-back as we both drifted off to sleep... It is like a giant heating pad and while I still don't sleep 'well', I fall to sleep easier and stay asleep more readily now... Make sense?

A few months back, Momma developed a new behavior in bed at night... At first, she'd get up with me on the 2-3AM stirrings and follow me into the office... Didn't take her long to realize when she did that, she left a nice warm bed and eventually I'd come back to either find her or crawl back into bed...  "So why bother?" she must have said to herself, ya know?

Now, if I get that 2nd shot at a full night's sleep, Momma stands up, waits for me to crawl into bed and get readjusted with the sleep body pillow, my neck pillows and my covers... She continues to stand there, staring at me, until I lift up the edge of my covers and invite her in underneath them!

Momma may only weigh 65 pounds, but she can dive in underneath the covers with the brute force of a Blue Whale!... Once underneath, she puts her paws over the sleep body pillow and now lays her head upon MY pillow! 

OMG!

At first, I wasn't keen at all about this new development and we had a few discussions about this... I didn't want her breathing into my face nor any of these slobbery kisses in the middle of the night either... Plus she snores (like my husband does) and between her, him and the fan, it was next to impossible to get back to sleep!

Eventually we adjusted like anyone does who loves a rescued dog... 

As long as there is no washing of my face at night and she's not snoring in my face afterwards, I can adjust and she's happy as a clam to be under the covers and sharing the warmth in those wee hours of the morning... 

They don't happen every day, but when they do?... They are precious to experience and bring about warm fuzzies about what I do as a rescuer...

Recently, I started fostering a small 3 pound Chihuahua that has a hard time holding onto her weight and eating like a normal dog... She, unlike any other dog I have ever fostered or seen, has taken to sleeping on Momma during the day like a pillow...

Deva has learned to balance herself on Momma's back and while I can find no other reason than the warmth, Momma doesn't even lift her head when Deva climbs on... 

It is the oddest thing, but I guess Momma spreads 'good sleep' wherever she goes?

So what's the moral of this story?  

For those of you who have already rescued a shelter dog, you already know... 

But for those you who have not (yet), there are many, MANY extra blessings that come with an adoption - beyond just knowing that you have saved this dog's life... Seldom have I found a rescued dog to have any habits I could not correct and the majority of them arrived in a shelter situation through NO fault of their own... They are not 'broken' or 'defective'... In fact, most of the rescued dogs I know, have met or have loved are BETTER than any puppymill puppy or purebred puppy/adult I have come across... 

And I also know that for every small bit of love I give a rescued dog, they give it back to me a hundred times or more... For sure, I love sleepin' with my Momma every night and she has enriched my life tremendously... 

So the next time someone gasps in shock when they hear you 'sleep with the dog', ask them how many times they have woken up with someone they'd rather have NOT slept with... ... I'm sure that will quieten down the negative look and comments!

As Always,
Linda  ♥

Prayers for Layla

Update on this sad tale about Layla:

This sweet, sweet girl is having that HUGE bladder stone removed tomorrow (2/25) by Dr. Amsel, an esteemed veterinarian in our area.  Dr. Amsel has a heart the size of Texas when it comes to the rescues who end up in our shelter system with such horrible, horrible medical conditions.

Please good thoughts and wishes going for Miss Layla - this is an extensive surgery with a long recovery period!

For more details about she ended up in TLC's hands with such a horrible medical condition, please see the previous blog post on Layla HERE.  As always, any financial help you can provide towards her surgery costs is greatly appreciated!

Party with St. Patty & TLC @ SVTC!

Don't forget to mark your calendars and be at the St. Patty's Day Party - great things for pets and people alike!

 

Wretchedness of the human species....

Periodically we hear complaints about our adoption policies....

"Why are you asking for all of this information?"
"How DARE you turn me down for an adoption!"
"HOW much is your adoption fee?  OMG! It's cheaper at the shelter!"
"Why not give these dogs away for free - you'd adopt more!"

After 30+ years doing dog rescue, I've probably heard it all by now... All of us on TEAM TLC smile politely, shake our heads and walk away when we hear these things... Me personally?... I don't have a lot of patience with the human species after all of these years... I don't even think I have any friends who are pet-less as a matter of fact!  (smile)... Something about not having a pet in your life that keeps you on a different wave length than me, I guess... 

Last week we pulled a cute little female dog out of Camarillo... TLC heavily supports and advocates stepping up and pulling our county's dogs in the shelter whenever we are asked, and Camarillo had gotten too close to capacity... So we pulled 7 dogs at one time, and Layla was one of these saves...

The officer at the Simi Shelter, Rebecca, told me that she thought Layla might have an urinary tract infection so once at the rescue shop, we immediately put her on the appropriate antibiotics, lined her area with white towels so we could track any urine and its color, etc...

Observing her and after interacting with Layla, we could not quite determine what was really going on with this dog... Sometimes she would be fine and at other times, she would let out a blood curdling scream without warning... As we tried to isolate what was causing the pain --- was it previous abuse or something physical --- we continued to monitor the results of the medical care she was getting... The pinkish hue to her urine was disappearing but the behavior was not changing or continued to be unpredictable or sporadic...

After a week of meds and several volunteers recommending that she go in for Xrays, one of our volunteers took Layla in yesterday...

We were told by the vet she had never ever seen such a huge bladder stone in a dog before... 

But ya know what is the worst about all of this?... Without a doubt, the previous owner that dumped this dog into the shelter system most likely had known about this... We recognized within the first few hours of being around her there was something going, and it takes months (a year or more?) for a dog to grow a bladder stone the size of this one... 

If this gives you a comparison of JUST how bad and painful this bladder stone must be, here's an image of what a normal full bladder looks like in a dog of Layla's size - this bladder stone must be at least 2-3 times the size of her bladder when full!

Now folks, I'm not talking about a 'mean junkyard dog' here... Layla is a sweet, sweet girl with a loving heart and great disposition...  Why would you not seek out help in getting the medical care this little one needs and deserves???... And if you couldn't afford to get the medical care for her, why would you dump her into the shelter system without advising them of what is going on and what she needs???... At least give her a chance with quick and proper medical care... 

No, the owner took the coward's way out and without honor, expecting Ventura County taxpayers to either pay to kill this dog or for an unsuspecting potential adopter to fall in love with Layla, adopt her, bring her home and then discover what we did... 

Obviously Layla had given the owner tons of love and this is how you return that unconditional gift of love?... I don't get it, folks... Like I titled this blog post - the wretchedness of the human species... This is what jades rescue folks and why we grow into the kind of people we are - extremely passionate and committed to giving every animal the kind of care and compassion they deserve... 

So, where do we go from here?  Well, we don't abandon this dog to a short life of misery - we have the surgery done the owner SHOULD have done and didn't... The two estimates we got yesterday ran between $1,200 and $1,500... We will need a stone test run afterwards to determine which kind of stone formed (reoccurring or the one time kind) so that Layla's new owner will not be blindsided like we were... 

It will be a long recovery period as she heals from the surgery and then she will go up for adoption once she is healthy again... Dogs are situational thinkers so my guess is that once she no longer has the stone, she will not fear urinating... Unlike us humans, things like this imprint upon us and we think ourselves into fearful situations... As for me?...  I will keep trying to understand why people allow such bad things to happen to these precious little ones, but for today?  I don't have a clue why this happens...

If you would like to donate towards Layla's surgery (or our huge medical bills), you can do online at our website via PayPal and/or your credit card.

Stay tuned to our Facebook page and this blog for further updates on Layla.

Sense of community responsibility

All of us have suffered the past years through the economic depression this country, state and county has gone through... For each sad story I have heard from a friend who has lost their job or home, it just adds one more 'burr under my saddle' about the REAL reason our friends and family suffer --- a lack of community responsibility.

At one time in this country, you grew up, lived close to your family and friends, probably bought a home not far from where you grew up and although we did not know it at the time, created and built the building blocks of a strong economy... We did business and socialized with those we knew... We patronized local businesses... We supported local causes and if a member of the community suffered a tragedy or major set-back, there were many in the community that jumped to help out... 

And with a strong sense of community responsibility, the local business economy flourished... 

As this mindset changed, so did the strength of the local business economy... So when the economy took a major hit, so did the now-fragile local community... Mom-and-pops went out of business, replaced by larger corporate-owned businesses that had headquarters out of state...

And in the humane community?  This impacted us just as hard, if not harder... People felt no sense of betrayal to their community when they walked into a pet shop and purchased a puppy birthed in Missouri, Oklahoma, Iowa, etc... It didn't matter to the buyer that their hard earned dollars did not stay in the local community, but in fact, was supplying income to communities located out of state...

In particular, the Greater Los Angeles area is the third largest market of puppymill puppies... And because of the HUGE business of the puppymill industry, our hard earned (and highly taxed) dollars flood into other states while our own state suffers to make its budget each year... The puppymill industry is a multi-BILLION dollar industry... That's right - billion, not million...

Between the backyard breeders (who do NOT pay income tax on the sales of their puppies) and the puppymill puppies being sold in pet shops, we ourselves have created the drain on our own local economies, communities and businesses... So when community services are cut --- or that pothole that annoys you so much does not get repaired --- we have no one but ourselves to blame...

Same problem holds true for the shelter and rescue community... Although those cute, adorable puppies were not born here in our state, many of those puppies grow into adults who are then dumped into this state's sheltering system... Someone sent their money out of state, then dumped their adult dog into a shelter for every California tax payer to shoulder the burden of taking care of and/or eventually killing that 'cute, adorable' puppy... It is like a broken water main that gushes money, sending it to everywhere but where it should be - in our own local communities!

This morning I looked at Ventura County Animal Services' website... There are 190 dogs at our local community's shelter right now that are homeless... VCAS' capacity is 200 dogs... So, once again, they are bumping at almost-capacity...

Some of these dogs have been at VCAS since November for goodness sakes!

And for all of us that protested for years at the high-kill rates at VCAS, this is offensive to me... Now that VCAS has committed itself to No-Kill, we as a community have to 'put our money where our mouth is'... If we want this county to go No-Kill, we have to adopt locally as well as stop buying from out of county and/or out of state...

Same, same holds true for the rescues in our county... Rescues that go out of county to save 10-20 dogs or puppies are doing a disservice to their own county... If your local rescue is not saving dogs in our own community, you should be asking "Why not?"... You, as an adopter or as a buyer, have every legal right to ask where that puppy or dog came from... And if the rescue tells you Devore, Bakersfield, Kern County, San Bernadino, etc. you should be asking why they are not supporting their own local community first...

We cannot continue to save dogs from other counties when our own county's pets are dying... That makes no logical sense, and certainly no economic sense... We Ventura County residents and taxpayers have a moral obligation to adopt FIRST from within our own county and help VCAS get to a No-Kill status (90%)... Without our own personal support of the cause for No-Kill, Ventura County will never get to this goal... It takes EVERYONE'S efforts as a team to get to No-Kill status - the adopter, the rescue, the community, the county residents!

Now that you have read this far, I hope I have instilled a sense of community responsibility... Or at least made you aware of why our county is having such a hard time going No-Kill... Just as the 'Shop Simi First' program is designed to keep our own local economic community sound and thriving, we need to bring about an 'Adopt Ventura County First' grassroots movement...

I'm game... How about you?
Linda, Director, TLC

Volunteer of the Month - Kathryn!

It takes us 300 volunteers per week to do what we do and be open to the general public for 56 hours a week... Volunteers are like gold and diamonds to us... There is a direct link between the number of dog lives we can save and the number of dedicated volunteers who believe in the cause of No-Kill for Ventura County... 

But beyond the 300 hours of energy, sweat and hard work by those volunteers who come in and run the rescue shop, take care of the puppies and dogs, do laundry, clean up poop and run 16+ loads of laundry, it probably takes that many hours each week to get done all of the other things for TLC... Everyone comes to the table with their talents... So although someone might not be wearing one of our red smocks and you see them at the rescue shop, they might be working just as hard behind the scenes, saving dogs' lives...

Such is the case with Kathryn (Rutherford)... Kathryn started volunteering with TLC early in 2012 and at 69 years old, I only can hope and pray I have half as much energy as she does when I reach that age!

I have never seen this lady have a 'bad' day... If you meet her early in the morning, she always has a sweet "Gooooood Mornnnnning!" for you... I have never asked Kathryn to do something for TLC that she hasn't jumped in with both feet and both hands to grab the task, envelope it and make it her own... Initially Kathryn started at TLC as a dog walker and then as part of the Bathing Brigade... One day she came to me and said she wanted to do something 'more important' for TLC and I suggested that she take over our fundraising events...

And in 2013, there were some months that her events actually paid the huge electric bill we get ($1,000+) each month from dear Edison Electric...

Not only fundraising, Kathryn is one of our die-hard foster moms... More than once she has taken on a next-to-impossible save... Each and every one of them has blossomed under her care and dedication... Kathryn now has many 'feathers' in her 'guardian angel' cape!... For sure, Barkley and PandaBear owe their very lives to our dear, sweet Kathryn... Arabella was on death row with no hair down the length of her back and now, she's full clothed again, plump, happy and adopted!

This is the magic of TLC... Great folks on Team TLC who believe in the cause and do all that they can do with their talents to go that extra hundred miles to make a difference in the lives of the homeless dogs that end up in shelters through no fault of their own!

Congratulations, Kathryn!  And thank you so VERY much for all that you do!