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!

Morally corrupt....

Enter the term "how has Facebook changed animal rescue" into Google and you will find over 13,000,000 responses... It is apparent that most animal rescues have found that they can reach out to the general public with their Facebook page, and get more animals adopted!

And in a country that kills over 8,000,000 animals in our shelter system, what a GREAT use and medium, huh?

That is the positive side of Facebook... A medium that is but 11 years old, it has as many members as the Catholic Church (scary thought, huh? when the Catholic Church is a little over 2,014 years old)... And spawned the term "social media" that became a household term even the young children have heard bandied about, watched their parents glued to their cell phones and dogs get walked - one hand on the leash, one hand rapidly checking a cell phone.

Good?... Well, maybe NOT so good... 

And then you have the downside of social media...

Kids that were playground bullies grew up and found the Internet to be a whole new playground to play on in cyberspace... They don't have to worry about being physically punched if someone stands up to them - they just create another online persona and continue on... 

It does not take a lot of courage to sit behind a computer and vent, bully and/or slander - especially if you can do it and the person or organization you are venting about cannot read it... And we all know that EVERYTHING on the Internet is deeply researched and truthful, right?

Last August, I started my 34th year in animal rescue... I've seen small dogs returned months after being adopted because the owner changed the carpet and the new carpet does not match the dog, so the dog was surrendered back to us... 

We've had a dog returned to us because the pooch liked to sleep in bed with its owners... And because the owners also sleep with their Cockatoo, they were worried... Why anyone would sleep with a Cockatoo is beyond me, but we took the pooch back at the rescue... 

And I would have to take off my shoes and use my toes also to count the number of times one of the volunteers have placed a dog or puppy, gone over and over the basic items... 

"This puppy has just been spayed and cannot get a bath for 10 days until the incision site has healed", "We know this dog was potty trained at the foster's home, but we suggest you don't let this dog run free in your home until they know the rules, where to go and adapt to your schedule.", etc.

... to later learn they took the puppy home, gave it a bath the next day and now the incision is infected.... or they gave the dog free roam rights and it urinated on their carpet!  Then a complaint is posted somewhere on the Internet with only their side of the situation explained... And of course, if it is on the Internet, it must be true, huh?



To me, it is a morally corrupt individual that hides behind a computer screen to trash a nonprofit dog rescue like this...

And all of TLC volunteers have all been given a 'No Bash/No Trash' directive in regards to ever discussing another rescue in public - it is quite clear how I feel about this to every TLC volunteer... Rescues should be backing each other up to save more animal lives - not the other way around... Especially because all rescues are painted with a broad brush in the general public's perception... 

There is always two sides to every situation (sometimes there is three even), and for the majority of complaints regarding TLC I have investigated, the vast majority of them are posted on the Internet because we turned them down on an adoption, it was not a good fit for the puppy or dog, etc.

I can't also tell you the number of times adults with or without their children have come into the rescue shop and were verbally abusive to the TLC volunteers... We have had children climbing into kennels as we've asked the parents to not allow their children to do this, for not only our dogs' safety but for the children's safety as well... And then to see a terrible post on the Internet later about our organization... 

There was someone who came into the rescue shop and when asked to leave, turned around and threw a red colored smoothie drink at the volunteer and all over our meet & greet area... We've had parents come in with children and M&Ms, leaving them behind like bunny buds as our dogs scrambled to eat them (and many got sick with explosive diarrhea in the next hours for the very few our volunteers could not grab before eaten)...

We once had a mom whose child have projectile vomiting over half the rescue shop (that had just been cleaned and mopped)... The mom stood there, comforting her child, who continued on with the projectile vomiting of their dinner (salad and other assorted items from Soup Plantation next door)... No attempt was made by the parent to even help clean up, nor leave with the child as I am running around behind them with towels, trying to limit the amount of vomit we all had to clean up off of floors, cabinets and walls ... 

These things DON'T make the Internet... No one posts in a private Facebook forum -  "I just went into the rescue shop and was rude, verbally abusive and called the volunteers some very offensive and vulgar names"... or... "My child left half a bag of M&Ms scattered all over the floor at the rescue shop as those dogs tried to eat them, and I know chocolate is deadly to dogs, but I just wanted my child to see the puppies!  So it is OK!  They are just dogs and volunteers, ya know?"

In over 5 years and with over 2,000 adoptions, TLC has had but one complaint to the Better Business Bureau... From a woman who put a deposit down on a teeny tiny Chihuahua puppy... California law prohibits rescues from adopting any animal over 8 weeks still intact... And the spay clinic does not spay or neuter puppies until they are at least 2 pounds or more... When her chosen puppy was still too underweight to be fixed, we refunded her deposit as we did not have the exact date the puppy would reach 2 pounds and then could be spayed... Mother Nature we do not have control over... Even so, she filed a complaint with the BBB.... Five years, over 2,000 adoptions - and even though this is not a legitimate complaint, it is the one and only... 

We consistently have inspections from the county, the city, code enforcement, the humane officers... And in three years we have never even been cited or had a warning even... In a time when other rescues and pet shops have been shut down by these same organizations!

So for every bad thing you read, please remember that there is two sides to every story... And you have probably only heard one... So as you read, ask yourself, "What is the motive behind that complaint?  Did the person actually discuss the issue with the owner or just resort to posting :poop: on the Internet because they could --- and the real truth could not be published along side of it?"... Is it from someone who was told 'No' on a puppy or dog they wanted... Or a disgruntled ex-volunteer?... One should ask before immediately believing the worst, ya know?  And silence is viewed as support by others... 

Linda
Director, TLC

P.S.  I purposefully left up a 'War & Peace' diatribe on Yelp after the adopter did a foster-to-adopt on a puppy and then refused to either surrender or adopt the puppy, stealing the adoption donation.  I did this just to allow folks to see what REALLY goes on... if you can steal from an organization that is saving dogs' lives, that's pretty darn low... or sit by and watch an organization's great works get dragged through the mud with false slander and/or comments --- that is morally corrupt in my book.

Christmas Eve musings....

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!

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!

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?