Month: September 2008

A 10-year-old dog abandoned by her owner at the pound…a pit bull confiscated by police after his homeless owner is arrested for beating him…38 unsocialized corgi mixes removed from the home of a mentally ill man…an elderly chow mix rescued after spending over a week on the side of a Los Angeles freeway…what hope do dogs like these have? The answer: Pooch Heaven, a non-profit rescue, where there is no such thing as a lost cause.

Located on an 800-acre ranch in Southern California, Pooch Heaven is home to 50-70 adoptable dogs at any given time, as well as eleven “sponsored” pets (those who are not adoptable due to serious health or behavioral problems). One look at Pooch Heaven’s pet list will tell you all you need to know about this organization: they believe that all pets deserve a chance at a happy life, no matter their age, breed, or background. Many of Pooch Heaven’s pets have special needs due to physical disabilities or medical conditions, or are difficult to place because they are older. Once Pooch Heaven takes in an orphan, the lucky dog is set for life—literally. Pets who don’t find homes live out the remainder of their lives at Pooch Heaven, and adopters must agree to return their pet to Pooch Heaven if they ever become unable to care for him or her, no matter how many years have passed since the adoption. “Once we rescue a dog, we consider ourselves responsible for that dog for the rest of his life, and we wouldn’t have it any other way,” says Jamie Lee, Pooch Heaven’s administrator.

Pooch Heaven is always full to capacity, and adoptions are sometimes very slow. “The puppies and young small dogs we rescue are very easy to find homes for,” says Lee, “but when we take in an older dog or a maligned breed like a pit bull or a rottweiler, we know that it may take months, even years, before that dog is adopted. We never give up hope, though, no matter how long a dog has been with us. Every one of these wonderful dogs deserves to live in a real home with a person or a family who loves them. We believe there’s a family out there for each of them.”

If you live in Southern California and you’re looking for a pet to adopt, check out the pets at Pooch Heaven! You can be the home that one of these pooches has been waiting for!

This story comes to us from Robyn R. of Los Angeles:

HappyBeginnings! I googled “rescue dogs” and got a plethora of photos from Adoptapet.com. I was overwhelmed by the amount of animals in need of a home. One of the first pictures I got was of a Cocker named Dakota. I knew this dog was for me and my two boys. We raced over to Friends of Animals shelter and a woman was just about to walk a dog and I just knew that it was Dakota!! I said, “Dakota!” and he looked up at me, and the volunteer looked at me incredulously and said, “Oh, you know Dakota?” Even though the photo I’d seen was just of his face and very small, I felt such a connection to this dog I knew it must be Dakota. I adopted him immediately! He is approximately 7 years old and doesn’t let a tennis ball leave his mouth! He has brought such joy into my life and my family’s. I kept receiving Search Saver e-mails about other available dogs and couldn’t resist getting him a buddy. We went back to the same rescue foundation and adopted Max, a very spirited 1-year-old Cocker. He is the clown of the family and keeps us laughing and moving! I get stopped on the street daily to tell me what beautiful dogs they are!

Thank you for enriching my life with these wonderful animals. Not only did I save their lives but they are saving mine by giving me unconditional love and happiness.

This month, we’d like to introduce you to Southern California’s Bichon Furkids Rescue, a very special organization dedicated to saving the lives of a very special breed: the Bichon Frise (they also work with Bichon mixes and Maltese Bichons). They do a great job of it, too—although they’ve been in operation for less than a year, they have rescued and re-homed an incredible 80 dogs! Why adopt a Bichon? Explains Marti Colwell, co-founder of Bichon Furkids, “Bichons are wonderful dogs; they have an independent spirit and are intelligent, affectionate and lively. They are, by nature, happy and loving, and they respond well to training…and who can resist those adorable little faces with those huge black eyes and noses?” Marti and co-founder Mena Thiers are dedicated to making sure each Bichon goes to a wonderful home where their needs are met: “Bichons are naturally sociable,” says Marti, “and they’re happiest when they are part of a family that interacts with them a lot.”

Bichon Furkids is currently trying to find a forever home for a wonderful pair of pooches with a sad story. Casey and Bitsy (pictured) came from a home where they were neglected, never taken to a vet, never groomed, and never cared for. They slept together in a small, hard plastic crate with only each other for comfort. By the time they were lucky enough to be taken in by Bichon Furkids, both of them were suffering from terrible ear infections. Despite everything, they are affectionate, happy, playful as can be, and READY FOR A NEW HOME! They are a bonded pair, and must be adopted together. If you’re interested in being the hero who provides the happy ending to Casey and Bitsy’s story, contact Bichon Furkids!

This month, we’d like you to meet Road Home Animal Rescue, an amazing organization based in Crossville, Tennessee. This outstanding group not only saves the lives of countless pets, but their work helps save the lives of domestic violence victims, too. How? In 2002, Road Home founder Howard Loftin realized that battered women are much more reluctant to leave their abuser if they’re forced to leave a beloved pet behind. In many cases, when a victim of domestic violence does leave a pet behind, the abuser uses the threat of harming the pet as a tool to lure the woman back into the dangerous environment. In response to this phenomenon, Loftin created a division of Road Home Animal Rescue called the Safe Haven Program, Tennessee’s first (and only) animal shelter devoted to providing a safe, temporary home for the pets of domestic violence victims. Since its inception, the program has helped over 1000 animals, and they now serve 48 counties in East Tennessee. No matter how full their park-like sanctuary is or how low funds get, Road Home has never turned away a domestic violence victim in need.

Road Home has many wonderful pets for adoption, which you can view here. Visit http://www.roadhomerescue.org/ for more information about Road Home Animal Rescue and to learn how you can support their work by making a tax-deductible donation or volunteering your time! You’ll also find information there about the Road Home and Great Creatures benefit concert, to be held August 12th at Blue Cats in Knoxville, Tennessee.

We’d like to thank Howard Loftin and Road Home Animal Rescue for the incredible work they do on behalf of homeless pets and domestic violence victims. We’re so proud to have this group in the Adoptapet.com community!

Meet Animal Lifeline, our Heroes of the Month! The folks at Animal Lifeline, based in Pennsylvania, do so many different things for animals that it was difficult to decide which aspect of their work to feature. They see themselves as a “rescue to the rescuers” and, through various fundraising activities, they are able to supply many private and municipal animal rescues and shelters with food, transportation, spay and neuter assistance, grant and medication procurement, kennel equipment, and just about anything else you can think of. They operate on the principle that people working together can accomplish great change, and they and their legion of volunteers are proving the truth in that statement.

In addition to their outreach, fundraising, and an extremely innovative spay/neuter program, Animal Lifeline has spent the past year building an animal shelter in the very poor community of Clay County, West Virginia. After hearing about terrible conditions at the existing shelter, they jumped right in, getting land donated and renovating a rustic shelter from the ground up. Volunteers from the Philadelphia area supplied most of the manpower. “Our volunteers do everything they can for the community,” says Animal Lifeline founder Denise Bash, “There have been friendships made that I dare say should last a lifetime. People from home send supplies to needy families, food for volunteers, and shelter and animal care supplies. It really is amazing how much more vested people are when they know where everything is going.”

Continues Bash, “There are plenty of ‘Clay Counties’ in the United States. Places where a ‘dawg’ lives on a line, cats are in even worse shape, there is no vet in the county, people are poor, and animals are destitute. Do you leave? Do you pretend it’s not happening? We have chosen to stay. There are many people in Clay who care deeply for animals. By investing in this community and teaching them, giving them the tools they need, Internet, shelter, feed, adoption outlets, grant procurement, we are saving countless more animals then we could on our own.”

This wonderful story comes to us from Jennifer Munch, a volunteer for
Pueblo Collie/Sheltie Rescue of Colorado:

The dog rescue group that I volunteer for, Pueblo Collie/Sheltie Rescue
of Colorado (“Collie-rado”) got a senior female sheltie from the Pikes Peak
Humane Society in Colorado Springs, about an hour north of here. The
shelter director called us directly when the sheltie came in because
this dog was old, and the director knew she would do very badly in a shelter
environment, and possibly die or never be adopted.

The director of Pueblo Collie/Sheltie Rescue, Hope Hemperly, went to get
this little dog from the shelter. Hope called me from the road and
asked me to meet her at a parking lot to get a photo of the sheltie for our
website. I took quick photos of a scared, confused sheltie as the light was
fading, with Hope holding her. This poor dog, whom we named Jade, was shaking with fear and her eyes showed confusion. She had obviously not been groomed in some time, and she had a case of “collie nose,” an auto-immune disorder.

The setting sun did not do much for the best photo either. Jade eventually blossomed into a lovely senior lady in her foster home. But the photo that ran on Adoptapet.com was my fairly lousy photo when Jade did not look her best. And yet…. a woman named Pat halfway across the country near Seattle, Washington, was looking at the Adoptapet.com website late one night. That photo really spoke to her.

Something in Jade’s expression reached out and grabbed Pat. Yup, this
has a happy ending! Jade was adopted to Pat, who has the honor of being the
adopter living the greatest distance away in our group’s 28-year history!
Jade was renamed Kelli, and Pat adores her… and even bought her
several rain outfits for the Seattle weather!

Pat is exactly the type of adopter whom we hope to find at Pueblo
Collie/Sheltie Rescue. Kelli is a true family member who is cared for
physically and every other way, adored forever and understood as her own
being. Thank you, Adoptapet.com, for helping to bring about such a love
match!

Sincerely,
Jennifer Munch, Volunteer