9 Precious lives - No-Kill style

Eight beautiful puppies have their very lives today on this Thanksgiving Day due to the commitment to No-Kill in our county... 

According to California law, no intact animal can be adopted out to the general public unless they are spayed or neutered... And accordingly, any shelter has the LEGAL right under California laws to euthanize a pregnant mom who comes into their facility or a nursing mom with pups...  Folks believe that 'puppies will always get adopted - let's just take them into the pound and they'll find a home' (also the basis for their justification as to why their female is not spayed)... 

Facts are, our shelter systems were not built out to house the huge amount of incoming animals - nor do we fund the shelter systems to take on these kinds of animals... And raising a litter from birth to 8 weeks is a time-consuming, energy-depleting and expensive undertaking - something the shelters are not equipped to do... 

So today on this Thanksgiving Day, let us all give thanks to the employees of Ventura County Animal Services (VCAS) who made the commitment to No-Kill in the summer of 2012... By committing themselves to this mindset, you do whatever it takes to save the life of an animal... And in VCAS' case, they immediately alert their rescue partners as to the arrival of a pregnant mom into their facility... 

Today, Noelle (now renamed "Molly" by her foster mom) gave birth to eight beautiful little German Pinscher pups... So beyond just these lives, the commitment to No-Kill also saved Molly's life... It is a lot to be thankful for indeed!

People ask me why we work so hard to save the old, sick, preggers, etc. but also another fact of human nature is that everyone does love puppies... Not everyone is really prepared for the amount of extreme effort and expense that goes into a puppy's first year... But there are some folks that will go shop the Internet and buy a puppymill puppy if they cannot adopt one... Or they will buy a puppy out of the back of a person's car in a parking lot... 

We, at TLC, believe if we can invest the 8 weeks, the time, the energy and the love into these moms and their pups, we can stem the tide of people buying puppymill puppies shipped into our state from the 11 puppymill states... Where breeding for greed is a profitable business regardless of the horrific health and conditions these dogs live in, breed in and suffer through until they are no longer producing anything profitable.

There are some folks who will come in to adopt a pup, realize how much work it will be and in turn, adopt an older pup or adult, glad to be beyond the puppy chewing and pooping stage... And we in turn, go out and pull another dog from our shelter, saving their life... 

Molly did not have her litter in a cold cage where legally she just had to be able to stand up and lay down in (legal puppymill regulations)... Instead, she gave birth this morning in her foster mom's office and willingly laid with her pups, keeping them warm and loving them like a canine mom should be able to... 

This is how we SHOULD be conducting ourselves as a humane society... Not killing healthy, adoptable animals, but putting the brakes on the puppymill puppies and the sale of puppymill puppies in pet shops not only here in Ventura County, but around this country... Home grown and loved with TLC... 

No-Kill is not a sprint but a marathon with ALL of us doing our part... 

Just SAY NO TO PUPPYMILL PUPPIES

Say YES to adopting locally

Rescue Juice - Garth!

We LOVE to include the successful adoption stories - it is what we TLC volunteers call the 'rescue juice'... It's the stuff that keeps us going when things get really tough or hard, and we question why we are still trying to stem the tide of killing adoptable dogs... 

So here is your rescue juice dose of the day from one of adoptions recently:

Garth with his new BFF, Norma!

"Here is a picture of Garth with his new and exclusive human, my 93 year old mother, Norma.  (I'm on the right with my 15 year old doxie, Doodlebug). 

"Garth immediately attached to mom and adopted Doodlebug as his BFF.  He allowed me to clip him, removing the goatee and trimming all but his legs, ears, eyebrows and handsome mustache.  

"Norma has always had a dog during her life.  Garth is the FIRST to be allowed to sleep on her bed!  

"Garth has trimmed down and muscled up - loves racing around full speed.  He now lives on a ranch property, so he can race at will and not be endangered by cars, bicycles or whatever.  

"Thanks to TLC for the perfect addition to our family!

Musings from a rescue director....

Last night, I laid in my bed with my cuddler, Momma... She's a good cuddler and she'll even cuddle with an OMG Chihuahua.........!

There is something very relaxing about this nightly ritual... Gives me time to rethink my day and then think about what I need to get done tomorrow, the next day, etc... I'm sure some therapist could have a field day with this ritual... Momma stretches when you stop petting her or scratching... And it nudges you to start again - especially if you are deep in thought about things from the day... 

I digress... Last night, I was thinking about where I have been, where I am right now and where I want to be in the future... When I reflect back on some of my past work, I can get myself overwhelmed 'cause I never expected to accomplish some of the things I have... And as I journeyed around the mental hallways of my mind, I thought just how downright happy I am in SO many ways... 

I'm not wealthy... We are like most folks - we struggle every month... And with running a nonprofit small dog rescue for the past almost six years, even when there is a bit extra in our bank account, I can usually feel that a dog needs this or that much more than I personally need a few extra dollars... I know a few people who I consider 'wealthy' and sometimes?... I'm not so sure they are ever really, really happy... 

Yesterday, our rescue took in four 4-week old pups that had been thrown into the garbage (really)... The pups are now safe, clean and will go on to live furever lives... I thought about that person's soul who felt it was 'OK' to throw four lives away like that... What kind of home life did they have growing up to treat life so casually like that?... You can throw out yesterday's newspaper (actually, recycle it), but you just don't throw away life/living into the garbage... If you do, there is something wrong with you... And I felt sad as I thought about that person, but happy that when I had tough decisions to make in my lifetime, the majority of them were good ones... 

I had been contacted by someone wanting to surrender their dog 'because we are moving and the new place does not allow dogs'... And as I thought about that email last night, I was reminded of a conversation that I had had with one of my volunteers... 

She and her husband always favored BIG dogs and rented... And although she admitted it was not always easy to find someplace to rent that would allow her to have her furbabies, she always did... As I thought through this aspect last night, I thought to myself how many folks I interact with that have my highest respect for their level of integrity and for doing the next best right thing instead of taking the easy way out... 

My mother used to always say that saying - "Tell me the kinds of friends you have and I'll tell you the kind of person you've become"... And it is true - if you surround yourself with people of integrity and those you truly respect, life is just SO good and grand... If you can push out the negative people and energy, life is just so much easier to live each day... Last night I could not think of one person in my life (that I am close to and consider a friend) that I am not proud of, respect and consider a positive force in my life... I mean, just how cool is that?...

Maybe it is just being able to cuddle with a rescued dog that was set to die because her owner did not spay her and she was pregnant that can spawn happiness as I drifted into sleep... 

Maybe the positive force of saving a dog's life is such that it can bring you real happiness as you reflect upon the day's problems, solutions and joys... 

This is REALLY something to consider when you next look for happiness and are trying to decide if you yourself are really happy, ya know?