Carlee - UPDATE *****

Despite still needing round-the-clock supportive care, Conejo Valley Animal Hospital allowed Carlee to come home late last night (more on this further down)...

Test results have not yet come back to rule out pyrometria (infected uterus) and the vets still say Carlee is an anomaly in regards to what is making her so sick... 

Twice a day (and sometimes three times a day), Carlee's mom was in ER at the hospital, holding, rocking and comforting Carlee... 

For those that know Carlee (or who have seen her at our adoption events), although Carlee may not respond like a typical canine, she has a distinct personality and you can read her body language fairly easily enough... Carlee would 'perk up' when Mom arrived and each day, Carlee became more and more like herself... 

Despite being so sick, and going through so much mentally and physically, Carlee is still not 'out of the woods' because there is not a firm diagnosis (yet) but we are hopeful now we are close to knowing why she got sick, and then be able to do what she needs done to continue to improve overall... 

Carlee was REALLY happy to get home to her own backyard and wheelie late last night... Familiar surroundings, smells and sounds help even the sickest dog to feel better... I am sure even Mom slept better last night (despite the 'every two hour' feedings required)....

What's next?... Well, the vets ran liver tests yesterday and we are waiting for those results to come back... 

Thankfully, Cindi has consistently done full panel blood tests on a consistent basis with Carlee so there was clear benchmarks for them to compare too...

These past three days have been more of a 'stabilize first' and then a 'search and find' effort --- ruling out this issue, then that one --- trying to determine why she got so sick and what is wrong...  The cost of ER care is pricey... About $1,000 a day/night on the average with the tests they have had to run to uncover why she was so close to death's door... 

As of yesterday afternoon, the balance still due on Carlee's vet bills is about $2,500.  We started a GoFundMe when she first went into ER for $3,000 and we raised about 50% of it...  Yesterday morning, TLC picked up the percentage GoFundMe charges plus we bumped it by $110 to get it over the $1,000 mark.

Here is the link ~~~>
GoFundMe for Carlee, a Special Needs Dog


Now that her vet bills are over $5,000 and she still needs a test run for Addison's (about $350), we are desperately trying to help get these vet bills covered. She was able to be released from Conejo Valley Animal Hospital late last night without paying off the balance (and also avoiding another ER night), but these vet bills need to get paid.

They are still not sure what is wrong with Carlee, and could not run the Addison test last night because her veins are now all blown with the numerous tests run. Carlee needs to have a few days recovery before that test can be done, which will incur even more vet bills.

If TLC's work in the past 8 years has touched your life in any way, please consider donating towards Carlee's vet bills.  Or if you just want to help because a wee pup needs it, we will greatly appreciate that too!  EVERY little bit helps and we thank you for donating, sharing or challenging other companies or organizations to help raise the funds needed to save this precious baby's life!

Sincerely,
Linda Nelson
Director - TLC

Little things...

Being a dog rescuer is hard - if it was easy, everyone would be doing it... But every once in awhile, something happens that just gives you a MAJOR boost of affirmation that what you are doing is the right thing... 

Tanner from CRF Solutions called me a few weeks back and asked what kinds of things that the rescue were in need of... I laughed and asked how much time he had, and then gave him a long, laundry list of things we are consistently buying which then takes from the monies available for vet bills, one of our largest expenditures... 

Yesterday, a few of us TLC volunteers along with Momma and Snookers were asked to come to their office and pick up the results of their donation drive... We were overwhelmed with the generosity of the CRF Solutions' employees... 

And here is where the 'little things' come in... One of the CRF Solution employees had donated a can of milk replacement - something expensive but yet life-saving... 

As it turned out, on Monday evening we got one of those "911" contacts... A momma dog had been killed and left behind three small pups just days old... Usually I have at least one nursing mom in the TLC nursery (always the best solution) but currently there is only one nursing mom (and she's nursing her own three pups and two from another mom's litter who was not taking great care of her pups)... 

I put out the plea to the TLC volunteers Monday evening and one of the volunteers stepped up to bottle-feed the litter... Another rescue took the big, blonde pup in this photo, but Carol from TLC offered to take in the three itty bitties in the top of this photo...  You can tell by the size of this person's hands just how small and fragile these three itty bitties are... 

As it turned out (and a fluke), I had picked up a can of the replacement milk last Saturday as a back-up plan for me one nursing mom not doing a good job... So I had that can of replacement milk to hand over to Carol ahead of time... 

But then to find a second can (and you go through this stuff like crazy when you are bottle feeding) in the CRF Solutions' donation was SO heart warming yesterday... Someone thought enough (or knew) what we go through, trying to save these hard cases and it just touched me so much, I knew I had to sit down this morning and blog about this... 

When the pups are this young and you don't have a nursing mom, they have NO chance at life if you don't have a volunteer willing to feed them every 2-3 hours around the clock for several weeks until they stabilize... There are only three volunteers in TLC that will take on bottle fed litters, in fact... These are so small, they are being fed with a syringe and a squirrel nipple attached to it... Pups don't know to wet and poo either at this age, so the bottle mom needs to take care of this as well... And keep them warm... And clean... And eventually, socialized and healthy... It is a MAJOR undertaking and not always successful... Mother Nature does a far better job than we humans do!

But again - thank you, Tanner, and all of the employees of CRF Solutions for your very generous support and donations to TLC.  Please thank them all, but especially the person who donated that replacement milk... Please share the photos of these itty bitty boys that will immediately take advantage of their donation!

Sincerely,
Linda, Director, TLC

If you adopted a puppy from us at TLC, these photos might be hard to look at... But on Giving Tuesday, we thought you might like to see where it begins and why we work so hard throughout the year in TLC... 

Dedicated to No-Kill in Ventura County, we pull from Ventura County Animal Services (VCAS) and fill every available foster slot we have... A dog gets adopted?... We go right back in and save another dog's life... If they have a pregnant mom or mom with pups, we always take them despite the difficulty and much greater expense to save this kind of rescue...

But we also have a commitment with another shelter that if we have room,  and they have a pregnant female or a nursing mom with pups, we will do our best to save both the mom and pups... We do not pull dogs older than 6 months from this shelter, always giving priority first to VCAS in an effort to support No-Kill in our county... From this shelter, my dear Momma came almost 4 years ago and I could not have asked for a better dog... She too came VERY pregnant to us and delivered 9 pups in my home office shortly after arriving into our hands... 

If you adopted a puppy from us in the past four years, it is very likely it came from Delano, the same shelter we got Momma from... 

Footnote: The mindset in the humane community is to spay and neuter, and if the mom is pregnant to spay/abort the puppies... TLC has never believed in this practice... We have also felt that if we had spayed/neutered puppies available for adoption, the general public is more likely to adopt instead of going to the Internet or to a backyard breeder to buy an intact puppy...  As all of our puppies are spayed or neutered prior to adoption, we know our puppies are not contributing to the epidemic of homeless, unwanted pets flooding into shelter by unwanted pregnancies... 

I am not saying our way of thinking is common and/or the norm... Most rescues do not want to take in pregnant moms or moms with nursing litters... They usually take the puppies and leave the mom behind... 

The mortality rate of the puppies is high because the mom might have gotten pregnant in poor health, and may not have good nutritional standards while being pregnant... Litters of puppies are fragile and it takes a great deal of care to insure all of them will make it... 

But when you see (as we have for the past 3-4 years), where these moms are coming from and the dire circumstances they are in, it is very hard for us in TLC to say "No" when asked by this shelter to save a mom and her pups... 

If a mom comes into this shelter and she's pregnant, she's going to be in an open kennel run with other dogs... 

This is the high desert and it gets COLD at night... With limited funds and virtually no walk-in traffic, these dogs have a hard time getting adopted, but a pregnant mom?... It is highly likely she is going to have to deliver her pups in an open kennel run -- then attempt to keep them warm and fed under some almost impossible situations... 

So this is where your donations go when you donate to TLC... We save these moms with their pups, give them warm, dry, loving homes to grow up in and with good nutritional needs being met.... When they are old enough, we start their puppy shots and at 8 weeks, we spay or neuter both mom and the pups... 

These moms are not delivering in a puddle of water or having to protect their pups from other dogs walking about, thanks to your support of our efforts in TLC... We, as a small rescue without taxpayer dollars cannot afford to do this kind of rescue without the community's support and donations... Last year's vet bills were over $100,000 and we are always behind the eight ball, trying to do a lot with very little...

So on this Giving Tuesday, we ask you to dig deep and donate to TLC so we can continue the kind of rescue work we do... 

Donations can be done online at our website - http://www.tinylovingcanines.org/donate.html

or you can donate through our Wall of Love on our Facebook page.

With your help, you insure puppies survive, thrive and find their own furever homes!  Thank you!

Linda, Director, TLC

Another "+" for a Pitty!

Pit Bulls get such a bad rap that I try and point out good things that happen with this breed... At the end of 2012 (the day after Christmas), TLC rescued a VERY pregnant Pit Bull with her 6 month old daughter... The report came into

Delano Animal Services that there was a 'mean and vicious set of Pit Bulls in the lemon grove by my house'... A TLC volunteer drove to Delano and saved these two - the mom was originally named "Lemoncello" because of the grove... Her daughter got adopted out almost as soon as we got her spayed and up to date on shots... 

Lemoncello (to be renamed "Momma") had her 9 puppies two weeks later in the VERY small office in my home... It was a 14 hour effort with all family members chipping in to keep the whelping area dry and clean as Momma delivered her pups... One pup we almost lost and were it not for my husband's efforts with resuscitation and care, she would not be a healthy Pitty today... 

Momma's puppies all became adopted right away and my volunteers kept turning down each adoption application we got on her... They wanted her to become a 'shop dog' and eventually she started coming home with me each night from the rescue shop... She's smart... REALLY smart... Each challenge I throw at her, she achieves and exceeds my expectations... 

Now that you have her back story, let me share some more with you... 

Not only has Momma traveled to Vegas to attend a Best Friends rescue conference, she has been an ambassador of the breed to MANY young children and folks afraid of this breed... She'll lick you to death given half a chance... A few of the TLC volunteers she absolutely LOVES, and spotting them from way off, she will get totally nuts with excitement and overjoyed with the anticipation of lovin' up on them... 

We called on Momma to save a little puppy's life who needed blood transfusions.... I rushed this pup to our vet's office, convinced he would die before I got there with him and Momma... 

I put Momma in a 'sit-stay' and she stood while they pulled blood from her artery in the neck and transfused the pup... As God is my witness, that pup was prostrate and near death... But in less than 10 minutes, he was up and howling, jumping around like all puppies do... The vet techs could not believe they did not need to muzzle Momma to get the blood drawn and then even more surprised with Momma's blood saved this pup from dying... 

Now, let me share the fourth 'save' Momma has done... This 'mean, vicious Pit Bull' that she is... (being sarcastic here as I truly believe Momma knows she is helping other canines and people get over the bad rap Pitties get)... 

A little over a week ago on Saturday, August 27th, one of the TLC volunteers let us know that her dear Fredo had been admitted to Conejo Valley Animal Hospital in severe straits... 

He had some red blood-like bruises on his belly and blood tests confirmed that he has very low counts on platelets (14... and they admit dogs with under 70,000 for ER care)... Fredo was actually bleeding out internally... 

At the time, they did not really know what was wrong with Fredo and were doing everything they could to save his life... They were treating it very aggressively and he continued to deteriorate... 

Getting no better, the next day I suggested that Momma could donate blood to Fredo on the hope it would help... Eventually on Tuesday, August 30th, a blood transfusion became literally his last hope and we rushed Momma over for the donation of blood... Again, she was great and well-behaved... I truly do think she knows she is doing something good for other dogs...  I really do... 

And Fredo is a SWEET Schnauzer mix... Full of love and young - he's only 4 years old!... Very much loved by his fur-parents and has always received the best of care... 

That afternoon they transfused only half of what was drawn from Momma and Fredo started perking up... He ate the fresh chicken his mom had brought for him... 

Diagnosis? (per his mom)

Fredo has an autoimmune disorder that causes Thrombocytopenia which causes his own body to destroy his platelets. There is no known cause. It usually goes undetected until it becomes life threatening. Usually in younger dogs it's hard to find because they don't get blood work done as often. They admit dogs with low platlets at 70,000 and he had 0. He's really lucky to be alive. He has bleeding in his GI tract because of Meds or that the platlets can't clot the bleeding. Once in remission, he can start to be weaned off the Meds slowly and monitored closely within 6mo-year. It might come back "with a vengeance " but we are not going there yet. 

Two days later on September 1st, according to his mom -

"Fredo has improved significantly!!!! The vet said they are having a celebration in the lab because he has 104,000 NEW PLATLETS!!!! Thanks to Momma for buying him some time and new medications he might be able to come home tomorrow! He's not out of the woods yet, but this is the best news we've had in 5 days. Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers.

And on September 2nd, Fredo was well enough to come home... He's on tons of meds and needs to take it easy of course... Even just moving around slightly,

our muscles do these little mini-tears, causing micro bleeding and if you don't have platelets or your body is not making them, the body's natural system cannot clot this mini-tears.

I have now joking referred to Fredo as being a 'Schn-itty' having been infused with Momma's blood (her mom was a American Staffordshire and dad was a Bull Terrier, according to the DNA we ran)... 

We continue to pray and wish for good thoughts for Fredo... 

BTW, Fredo's mom 'gives back' by doing all of the gorgeous photos of the dogs and puppies we rescue these past several years... And the TLC volunteer group is very much a family, extended and large, but all of us pull together when one member or their furbabies are in danger... I am grateful Momma has such strong, rich blood and she readily is willing and able to donate blood to other canines in need... 

So the next time you see a Pit Bull, and immediately think bad thoughts of the breed, consider how many of these noble dogs are giving back ~~ and in BIG ways ~~ to others and the community... 

I know Momma 'gives back' to me every night as she listens to my day and gets her pats and cuddles... 76 pounds, but tons and tons of heart and love for everyone she meets... I wish everyone would get these 'Momma blessings' that I do!

Love ya, Momma!  ♥♥♥ Thanks for saving another dog's life! ♥♥♥

Celebrating - Jake!

We wanted to celebrate Jake's story with you... As a puppy, Jake was involved in a house fire and surrendered to a vet for care...

Jake made a full recovery but the scars remained...

A local firefighter felt compelled to give Jake a home despite the horrible shape the puppy was in...

Now Jake hangs out at the fire station with his dad!  He travels around with his dad, giving out educational information regarding fire safety and is a mascot of the fire department.  He has even been sworn in as an official member of the department!

Just goes to show you one more time that ANY dog can rise like a Phoenix from the ashes and be a contributing member of the community if just ONE person cares enough to commit to being a furever dad or mom!

Jake also has his own Facebook page now ~~> CLICK

IT JUST TAKES ONE PERSON TO SAVE THE LIFE OF A HOMELESS PET.

Have a ♥... be that person today!

Go adopt a homeless animal and save their life!

2 sides (??) to every story???

It is said there are two sides to every story...

So, dear owner, allow me to share my side of this story... Sometime between us closing the rescue center on Saturday evening and 7AM on Mother's Day, you climbed up our steps and left your dog at our doorstep... 

No food, no water, no collar, no note, no information... nothing.

TLC volunteers came in to open and found this poor sweet lady curled up on the artificial grass mat inside the gated area on our front patio... 

How could you do this to your pet?

We have named her "Jane Doe" at this point, and have tried numerous different foods in the hopes of getting her to eat... 

Finally I was able to convince her to eat part of my smoked bacon/cheddar egg sandwich from Starbucks this morning... The first thing she has eaten for us since her arrival... And we tried EVERYTHING at our disposal... We know absolutely nothing about this dog, and how can anyone be so cruel to abandon a dog like this?

We noticed she left blood spots when she urinated, so she (at our expense) is at the vet's office right now... So far, she has badly infected ears, has a skin condition and an ultrasound has been run to see if she has bladder stones causing the bleeding... 

The vets believe she is about 12 years old... 

If you have a side of the story, we'd love to hear it... And yes, we have security surveillance tapes of her being dumped like this... 

If you did not have the funds to provide her with medical care, VCAS does have a program that they can help you out... If you had called us ahead of time, we might have been able to help as well... Instead you chose to throw away this dog like yesterday's newspaper... 

So now, we as a nonprofit rescue are picking up the tab and trying to put this dog's story together like a jigsaw puzzle... We don't know if she's had her shots and is up to date... We do not believe she is spayed... She has no microchip... All of the things any responsible owner would do if they loved their pet... 

Awaiting your call or email to explain your side of the story, "Jane Doe" sits and wonders why she was left at our doorstep like this... 

"Jane Doe" - abandoned our our doorstep in the middle of the night on Mother's Day, 2016

P.S. If anyone wants to help out with her vet bills, we certainly could use the help.  You can donate through PayPal on our website - http://www.tinylovingcanines.org/donate.html

Food for thought....

Most situations in life are pretty much cut and dried... There is a right way and there is a wrong way... You speed with your car and get caught, you are going to get a ticket... You write a check for more money than you have in your checking account, the check is going to bounce, the bank will charge you fees and hopefully an apology to a business after making your check good will suffice... 

We rely, as humans, on the dependability of having few options and not too many choices to make... Most of us mature adults realize quickly that too many options, too many choices or too much of anything translates into stress...

And then every once in awhile, I come across a situation that is not so cut and dried... And I continue to 'percolate' on the matter in my head, trying to figure it out and what is the right answer versus the wrong one... 

So today, I bring one of these situations to you... So that I can share my inability to determine exactly what is right and what is wrong... 

Let's call this lady "Mary"... She's an elderly lady and has a darling little boy furbaby that she loves dearly named "Pepe"... Pepe has an affair and Mary decides to adopt one of Pepe's children, who she names "Prince".... Prince has been raised since a pup with his dad, Pepe, and this is one happy little family... 

Because Prince has been raised with his dad, he has a very strong bond with Pepe... Dogs are very social creatures and isolation is not something they like any more than we humans do... 

When Mary starts getting sick, she makes a hard decision as to what is to become of her two little furbabies when she passes... Having no one to take care of her two furbabies, and knowing just how bonded and close they are, she also realizes that splitting them up is not an option... Nor a kind thing to do... Not many folks want to adopt two dogs together at one time... 

Mary writes in her will that when she passes, if one or both of these furbabies are still living, she would like them humanely euthanized and their remains cremated with her... 

One would think that your last will and testament is binding and that after you die, the people left behind will honor your last wishes, right? Or why do we bother with doing something like this if after you are gone it means nothing, right?

So Mary passes onto Heaven, but Pepe and Prince are still alive... During this sad and tragic time, it is decided by a vet that fulfilling Mary's last will and testament is not an ethical thing to do, so Mary is buried without her two furbabies' ashes... 

Mary's niece now has Pepe and Prince... But because of the city ordinances, she cannot keep Pepe and Prince because it will put her over-code... In the meantime, Prince and Pepe become even closer to each other because their dear mom is gone and in a dog's situational way of thinking, they don't have a clue what has gone on - just that Mary is no longer here and they are in a strange home... 

Natural for them to bond even closer with each other... 

Even Mary's niece tells me these are really great little dogs, but she is ill with cancer and cannot deal with additional problems because of the city's restrictions on how many pets a person can have... She has her maximum by law and that's all there is to it... 

Makes me wonder yet again why we have the laws we do regarding the number of pets a person can have... If a city's restrictions are four, it doesn't matter if you have four 150-pound Mastiffs or four 5-pound Chihuahuas... Four is four is four... And you can state in the law it is for environmental purposes, but four 150-pound Mastiffs leave a TON more poop behind than four little dogs!!

I get it... These laws are to attempt to prevent people from becoming hoarders... But to whom really does these laws have the most effect upon?... 

People who live in a city that has a pet restriction of four, but want more, will simply not license any over the legal limit... The city simply loses the licensing revenue... People that follow the laws surrender dogs like Pepe and Prince... And the county budget is used to take care of little furbabies like this... These two end up in the county shelter and become the taxpayers' concern to house and take care of... 

Unless a rescue like TLC steps up and takes both of these boys because they are bonded... And continues to work extra hard to find an adopter that is interested in adopting not one dog (which is hard enough on a daily basis to find), but two dogs together at the same time so that Mary's last wishes are honored... 

What is wrong with this picture?... And where is the right and the wrong in these situations?

I don't have an answer, and I've been grappling with this since we pulled these little guys out of Camarillo... So, your thoughts are...... ????

Update on the Vikings litter...

Arrival at TLC - probably a day old

On the 19th of this month, VCAS contacted us about a litter of puppies that had been surrendered to them from the general public... By California law, unless an animal can be spayed or neutered, they cannot be adopted by a shelter or a rescue organization... 

And this litter had no mom and was but a day or two old... 

In other words, a bottle-fed litter... 

Not having a foster mom or dad to take on this challenge, they became my fosters and 'so it began' as the story books say... 

So how do you do something like this, you might ask?... With a lot of help and patience (and little sleep)... Luckily, my family members believe deeply in No-Kill for Ventura County and what TLC does... So I get a lot of support from my husband and daughter - not everyone in rescue is as lucky as I am... 

My husband came up with a great solution to my first obstacle to overcome - making sure each puppy got fed... With four white ones, it would be really easy to miss one, thinking they'd already been fed, ya know?

TWO crates, both with heating pads, so that as you fed a pup, you could move them to the other crate... And when you run out of puppies, you are done for the next three hours! (smile)

I have told numerous friends that when folks tell me they don't believe in God, I want them to bottle-feed a litter of puppies... There is absolutely no way you can tell me God does not exist if you do something like this... As you watch them nurse and actually live through the most dire circumstances of their very young and tender lives, you have to believe in the magic and Greatness of God above... 

And the other amazing point?  Momma dogs are incredibly efficient and effective... How they do what they do and successfully raise a litter of puppies is beyond me (and then some)... 

Because they have no momma, it is up to me to keep them clean... Momma dogs constantly groom their puppies and clean up after them, making sure their 'den' is nice and tidy... In my case, it means they end up getting baths every two days... 

First you have to fed everyone a little bit or it becomes like a shark feeding frenzy... They all go nutso when it is time to nurse... So if you at least take the 'edge off', they go through the bathing process much easier!

Once bathed, as you're drying them off, they all have a different way they like to nurse... There is the 'side saddle' pup... If you give him a finger to push up against, he's just as happy as a piglet in mud... 

Another one is a pushy/puller... She pushes the bottle with her feet and pulls the nipple with her mouth at the same time... I'm guessing she's getting more milk that way, but I can always tell it is her 'cause the bottle jerks back and forth as you struggle to hold onto it!

This little girl likes to lay on her back when she is eating... In fact, both of the two dark females like to nurse on their backs, so you constantly have to watch to make sure they aren't nursing too fast and it is coming up their noses by accident... 

One of these puppies 'sings' throughout the nursing process... She makes puppy sounds nonstop for some reason... 

It is an ongoing process... Adjust the water temperature, give them a bath, dry off most of the water and then start them nursing so you can really dry them off with the microfiber drying towels... Once you have one done, you start the process all over again with the next puppy!

They are now 12 days old, so most of them have started opening their eyes... 

They have now figured out that when there is light coming in from the front of the crate, it must be feeding time... So they will gang-rush the gate door, all demanding to be fed at the same time (and I only have two hands!).

Halfway there and an hour later, three are clean and have very full bellies!  Time to snooze and nap... Ah, to have the life of a puppy, huh?

One of the puppies is a 'bottle holder'... He is not going to let that bottle disappear or go away from him... So he tends to hold on tightly (or as tightly as you will let him!)... 

And those little claws?... You'd be amazed at how strong they are for as young and tiny as this litter is!

"This is MY bottle and I'll give it up only when I want to - not before!"

The runt of the litter is really teeny tiny... This is the one I stay worried about... I usually feed her at the beginning and then again at the end again... Her belly cannot hold that much milk at one nursing, but by the time you go through the entire process, she is ready for a small 'second helping'.... 

She weighs 3.4 ounces right now and is about half the size of her bigger siblings... But even for her small size, she is a determined little creature... She's fighting for her portion of the feeding time... 

Makes you marvel at the amount of natural instincts each puppy is born with... And the amount of maternal instincts each momma dog has... They do this with no books or the Internet to reference to... Just know what needs to be done and how to do it, even if it is their first litter...

Ah, this is the life, huh?... Full belly and clean coat... Warm, clean bedding and blankee to crawl into... 

Two and a half hours later, all six are fed and cleaned, ready to take their naps and relax for another 90 minutes before the process starts all over - but just nursing so that's only about 30 minutes with six puppies... 

Thankfully, this week they are nursing every 4 hours instead of 3, so we are getting more sleep now... Even so, there is two of us TLC volunteers bottle feeding this litter... And a momma dog does it all by herself... 

Aren't mommas just the most amazing creatures, regardless of the species?

Paws-itively Yours,
Linda
==================
P.S. Their names are:
Brown females - Siggy and Helga
White females - Lagetha and Princxess Aslang
White males - Bjorn and Ragnar

Stay tuned as they grow and eventually come up for adoption about mid May!

Looking for the perfect dog to adopt?

Dogs end up homeless and in our shelter systems for all kinds of reasons... And many folks believe when they adopt, there must be something with the dog for it to have ended up in the shelter system initially... So when they are looking for the perfect dog to adopt, they are disappointed... 

Simply put, there is no perfect dog or puppy... Each puppy is going to come with pooping on your carpets, chewing your shoes and its first year is going to be expensive and fragile with all of the puppy illnesses that are possible, even if vaccinated... 

Each adult dog is going to come with some form of baggage... It might be a simple as one day they were laying on their owner's couch, saw the leash and thought they were going 'bye-bye' and found themselves being handed over the counter to some strange place with a LOT of barking dogs they do not know... Even the most easy going dogs suffer some form of stress going through the shelter systems... 

And then there are the dogs whose owners did not seek out the proper medical treatment, but believing the guardian dog fairy at the county shelter would make everything all well and better with a wave of the unlimited power of the medical budget wand, fueled by the taxes paid by resident taxpayers... 

This is Sundae's story... Apparently having a history of upper respiratory illnesses or 'colds', Sundae was surrendered to our local county system... "This is just a sick dog I bought at a pet shop when she was a puppy"... Well, that should have been the first clue as to where that owner went wrong... 

Once we stepped up to save Sundae's life and made sure she received medical treat, our vet discovered Sundae had pneumonia and megaesophagus (or in layman's terms - an enlarged esophagus - you can read more success stories HERE)... 

And as her treatment for pneumonia began, her health condition improved dramatically very rapidly... 

Basically, when Sundae eats, her esophagus does not move the food down into her stomach and small particles were going into her lungs, causing the pneumonia... 

We do not know how long this has been going on, but for a pup that is only three and a half years old, this is sad - shame on the owner in my book... 

The medication is relatively inexpensive and a "Bailey's Chair" is needed... One of the TLC volunteers built one for Sundae and it will go with her when she is adopted... 

Using gravity, Sundae eats sitting up like a human baby does in a high chair... 

Sundae is really smart and learned quickly what we expected of her... Each morning and evening, she knows she'll get fed in her special chair and she loves her breakfast and dinner!

She will carefully lick her bowl clean - almost to the point you might not have to wash it - and then sit patiently for the 10 minutes afterwards...

As she sits, I am sure she contemplates the theory of the Big Bang, how the stock market is doing today and if she should wear "Doggie De Clare" or "BowWow Beautiful" tomorrow as a fragrance... 

Sundae gets along well with other small dogs that are even tempered and easy going... 

So I am just as sure she wonders what she had done to receive such special and unique treatment as her own, custom-made chair that only SHE can sit in and eat at!

As as she thinks about just how lucky of a girl she is today having TLC saved her, she tends to clean her paws just like a cat would... 

So is Sundae a perfect dog?... No, she's even better than that... She's a very unique and loving special little girl who has now been brought up to adoptable standards and ready to find the furever home of her dreams... 

Sundae is spayed, up to date on her shots, has received her rabies shot, is microchipped and will be licensed for the County of Ventura if a resident at time of adoption.... 

Her Bailey's Chair is included with her adoption along with her sweet disposition and a heart as big as Alaska - a heart that is just looking for the love of an unique human companion all her own!  Come into the rescue and meet Sundae but be prepared for her to steal your heart!

Everyone deserves a furever home....

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!