While much of the world is still rushing around trying to do their last bit of Christmas shopping, at the rescue shop we have been busy with last minute adoptions today... And there is always that air of anticipation on the small children's faces 'cause they KNOW who comes tonight... The day was always the LONGEST day for me as a kid... And worrying if I'd really been as good this year as I had told Santa! I am sure that TLC made it onto Santa's 'nice' list... As of December 24th, we adopted 29 dogs and puppies this month alone, but we went back into the shelters and saved another 24... This year, the TLC volunteers have exceeded last year's numbers by 24 lives... So it seems fitting to blog about this on the 24th day of the month...
With that mom and her two pups saved on Sunday, TLC has now saved a total of 2,059 canine lives, plus one kitten... And we do this one day at a time, one dog at a time... We have had some saddest this year when we did all that we could but we could not save a shelter animal's life... Some still weigh heavily on our hearts like Marvin, LoveBug, Pixie and little Atom2... But none died unloved or cared for...
As the end of the year winds down and we look forward to 2015, we are reminded that next year's fate of TLC hangs in limbo... With Simi Valley Town Center in the midst of redevelopment and remodeling, the rescue shop will be forced to relocate --- which is expensive and not something we have in our bank account to do... Should we be able to acquire enough funding to relocate, we have a dream of a much larger footprint - not to expand the size of TLC but to create a rescue center versus shop... Where ALL rescues saving Ventura County animals can come and showcase their saved animals... Be it a cat, a dog, a bird - just a homeless Ventura County animal... We envision a rescue center that allows space for owners rehoming their animals to come and meet prospective adopters in the hopes their pets don't become homeless and end up in the shelter system as well... We need the space to hold free workshops on pet retention, training, resocialization classes and senior citizen/canine citizen therapy sessions... Space to hold low cost shots clinics and microchipping... Space to stage multiple-rescue transports... And all of this will cost money... Money to buy an industrial washer and dryer second-hand, get it plumbed out and hooked up... Money to install an air purification system on the roof so we can limit the smell we battle so greatly against... Building out a new location is going to be expensive as well - just moving all of the current fixtures alone is going to be back breaking as well as costly... We anticipate the costs to be between $20K and $25K to do all of this... So at the end of 2014, we come to the community with proof of what we have done the past five years and ask for financial support to continue the cause of No-Kill in Ventura County - not just for TLC but for all rescues that can unite to create an even greater change... Your donations are tax deductible and will be used to create a legacy of the No-Kill movement here in Simi Valley for this generation and the next one forth!
At this time of the year, us rescue folks get a bit sad... Right before the holidays, the general folks start dumping their senior pets into the shelter systems... And right after Christmas, the puppies that were given as gifts start flowing in... sigh... So I want to share a beautiful story with you that made all of us at TLC a bit emotional... Especially at this time of the year...
In the summer of 2010, I pulled a 10-year old black Tricolor Chihuahua male out of one of the local shelters... Many of the other rescues look at me like I've slid off my cracker because I just don't believe old timers should have to die... If they are healthy, they deserve a second chance just as much as any other dog that has been abandoned... We named him "CookieBear" and he became my husband's best bud quickly - watching sports on TV with their eyes closed... Hanging out in the family room on the couch... Sunbathing in the back yard... CookieBear got along with the other fosters and unless you woke him up from a sound sleep, he was not a problem to foster...
Right after we pulled him out of the shelter, my husband noticed a lump at the back of his neck... Off to the vets we went and there was a mass exploding underneath the rabies injection site... Not common but according to Dr. Novy, life threatening... We had no choice - he had to have surgery and that mass removed ASAP... And through no fault of his own, he was an older dog, homeless and now an expensive $620 surgery later, the rescue is deeply 'in the red' to get him healthy again... Plus he's a blackish dog and is going to be one of the last to get adopted because of the Black Dog Syndrome...
I bring this topic up because many of the general public believe rescues get huge discounts and make money doing what we do... Facts are, we are NEVER 'in the black' (and especially if you are doing rescue the right way)... TLC's mission statement is that 'We will do whatever it takes within our means to save the life of a dog unless it is illegal or immoral' and we consistently take one hard case for every four dogs we save... Once we got CookieBear healthy, we brought him to every mobile adoption, but there never was a lot of interest in him... He got along fine with the other dogs and didn't mark in the house, learned the doggie door immediately and really?... He was an easy dog to foster... Sometimes the very most you need is a warm bed and decent food - you would be amazed how easy it is to fall in love and adopt a senior dog - they are my absolute favorites (and I do a LOT of fostering of pregnant moms and puppies)...
We tried all kinds of different ways to improve CookieBear's 'curbside appeal'... We'd dress him up, take different photos of him, talk to potential adopters... People would hear his age and immediately move onto another dog... We'd scratch our head and wonder why he was still with us... With people's lives being so busy, and folks surrendering dogs that were high maintenance or with behavior problems, we just couldn't understand why CookieBear wasn't getting adopted...
So CookieBear continued to be my foster and each week, we'd go to adoptions and I'd bring him back home for another week... He'd curl up with my husband on the couch and continue to be a bud, watching TV with his eyes closed... One night, another foster decided to pick a fight over a specific place on the couch and CookieBear got the worst of it... One of those late night flights to the vets, but again - we had no choice - CookieBear's eye looked horrible... There goes another vet bill... sigh.... He's now a $1,000 eleven-year old black dog with no prospects...
But you know? Here's the thing... If we humans gave up on every 40-year old human and said they had no right to live, what kind of a society would we be, ya know? The smaller the dog, the longer the lifespan... So an 11-year old Chi mix is about the same age as a 40-year old human... Still young, vibrant and full of life... Could you just imagine if we started discarding 40-year old humans like yesterday's newspapers? CookieBear stayed in the TLC rescue for 653 days - he is our record as a matter of fact... It is what you do... You just don't give up on a dog unless their quality of life is not what it should be... That is what No-Kill is all about... And in April of 2012, CookieBear got the million dollar lottery ticket... Two very nice folks drove in from Los Angeles to meet CookieBear in person... and went home with him that day! He could not have a better home and we stopped the clock from ticking - giving him enough time to find the folks who would love him to infinity and beyond... I mean, how great is that? CookieBear's furparents continue to use one of the TLC volunteers to pet sit for them when they have to go out of town because they don't want to kennel him... And the TLC volunteer just sent me a photo of CookieBear at her house... Beautiful, healthy and VERY MUCH loved... Merry Christmas, CookieBear! We know you got all of your Santa wishes answered in 2012 by having such great folks adopt you and love you just as you are!
P.S. Get out there adopt the older dogs, folks... They all have an attitude for gratitude because they KNOW how bad things CAN be and recognize when they find a GREAT furever home!
