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I don’t know about you, but every time I’m at Home Depot I’m drawn to the adorable mini-barn storage sheds that line the parking lot, and my future animal sanctuary dreams kick back into overdrive… well one amazing woman in Pasadena, CA has already turned that dream into a special reality! Her Cat Cottage Senior Sanctuary is an inspiration to cat-lovers who wish they had more room to be able to adopt more cats – and maybe a bunny or two! All you need is a small space in your backyard, some DIY skills or handyman help to add heating, A/C, and cool cat customization catwalks and perches, and voila, instant cat sanctuary – and home office or guest room with en-suite feline company! We found out about this amazing cat getaway on one of our favorite blogs, Modern Cat – click here to see all their photos and let us know if you’re inspired to make your own cat cottage!

National surveys of pet owners show that only 25% of pets are adopted from shelters. Potential pet owners often believe that shelters are overwhelming and depressing, and that shelter pets are pets with issues – not realizing many shelters are now bright friendly modern facilities with up to 25% purebred pets and most are wonderful healthy friendly family pets who were just displaced due to no fault of their own. Enter a “new” kind of pet adoption center – the storefront! Last week we interviewed  Found Animals about their Adopt&Shop retail pet adoption center located in a mall, and this week we talk to Sante D’Or, who have a successful and very different type of pet adoption center and sanctuary, in what used to be a retail record store!

What is the goal of your pet rescue’s storefront location?
To bridge the gap between rescued animals and their potential adopters, as well as invite supporters and interested parties to see first-hand how we operate and how our animals are treated.

How did you come up with the idea for having a storefront?
It seemed the most logical solution for an efficient adoption process and operation transparency.

What’s it like inside?
We are mostly one large room, with a small front entry space for merchandise (t-shirts and tote-bags) and literature, and then a small back room where new animals can be acclimated, or sick animals can be separated for treatment.

How many paid staff & volunteers are in the store daily?
We have only one paid staff member, our Executive Director, who runs the rescue facility full-time, and we are otherwise entirely volunteer-run. Volunteers care for and interact with our animals during two shifts each day, seven days per week. The shifts are mornings 9-12 and afternoons 4:30-6, and our Executive Director is on-site during the in-between hours. Additionally we have a Vet Tech in weekly to examine each animal’s health.

What are the store hours?
12-5pm, Friday-Sunday.

How do adoptions happen from the store?
Application, consultation with our Executive Director and then a home check. Our Director also offers consultation during the transition to assist with any concerns and the bonding of new and existing animals.

How long are the pets left alone when the store is closed?
They are only left alone over night, at which time they are tucked away in their cages for safety and so that we can monitor eating and behavioral habits in the mornings to ensure optimum health. When volunteers are there to clean in the mornings and afternoons, the animals are able to run free and play and exercise. While they do have to be left alone during the nights, they have daily one-to-one interaction, exercise and socialization. While no rescue facility can take the place of a forever home, it is truly the next best thing.

When did it open?
We were founded in 2003, but our storefront was opened in 2007.

How many adoptions has your store had since it opened, and on average?
More than 1400 since opening, and we average around 8-10/month.

Where do the pets come from?
Almost anywhere. Many are either dumped at our doorstep, found by volunteers, or surrendered by owners. Others come from our vet who contacts us when there is a situation with a client who is unable to care for an animal or is requesting euthanasia for a healthy animal. During kitten season, we also have numerous people calling and stopping by with litters they have found on the streets, by dumpsters, on hiking trails, etc. We have multiple calls per day from people seeking assistance with strays or turn-ins. We actively seek to quickly secure loving, forever homes for as many animals as possible and increase our outreach capabilities so that we can assist in more of these situations.

Who planned the design of the store and/or the business plan to make it viable?
Our Executive Director and Board of Directors.

How did you find the location?
We are celebrating the 1-year anniversary of our new location. Our Executive Director and Board President sought out the location, as we were having difficult building challenges in our former space.

How much did it cost to get it up and running?
There were only a few costs associated to making it “animal friendly” which were funded by donations.

How much are the monthly or annual operating costs to your organization?
We average roughly $8,000/month, depending on vet bills and number of animals.

How does it generate income, and does that cover your costs?
Grants, donors and fundraisers. While we do cover our costs through these avenues, we are actively working on more sustainable funding initiatives to enable progressive, long-term growth.

If you’d like to visit the Sante D’Or storefront adoption center, they are open to the public from noon to 5pm Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, and by appointment during the week.
3165 Los Feliz Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90039
http://www.santedor.org

To train a puppy or dog to walk next to you on leash takes a lot more than just clipping a lead to their collar or harness and expecting they’ll follow you! This comes as a surprise to many new dog and puppy owners. Puppies may just sit there as you pull on them, looking confused, or may take off after an interesting sight or smell pulling you along behind them. But this doesn’t have to happen! In this article, I’ll cover one technique for teaching a pup how to walk next to you, so you and your dog will be happily walking along together very soon!

I’ve used this technique on many foster pups with great success. It works best  with dogs that aren’t super shy or super hyper, and who are treat, praise, or play motivated. (For others,  consult a professional trainer.) When reading this article, “treats” can be food treats, but also verbal “treats” (i.e. verbal praise) or playing with a highly valued toy.

You’ll see the steps take about 2 weeks. Some dogs can go through the steps more quickly, but rushing can lead to failure! Take your time and enjoy the process. To make the instructions below more easy to follow, I’m calling the example pup “Rover”.

1. Get Rover used to dragging a short lead around: This is while you supervise, not holding on to the leash. I use a 4-foot length of lightweight cotton rope (so there’s no leash handle to get caught on things), soaked in a puppy-no-chew liquid. Attach to Rover’s collar, and immediately start a game with another toy, feed him treats, and/or work on teaching “sit” and “come” while you walk around to make “leash time” fun, and to distract him from the new sensation of the rope dragging on his collar.

Do about 5 sessions a day, each 5 minutes long, for about 5 days. This works best in a place that Rover is used to, like his own fenced yard or kitchen, so he is focusing on you, not on new interesting smells.

2. Get Rover used to someone holding the end of the lead: After 5 days of playing and ignoring the rope dragging, pick up and hold the end of the rope while you do more 5-daily 5-minute play/training sessions. Try your best to NOT PULL ON THE LEAD! So sometimes he’ll be following you, other times you’ll be following him. Do this for another few days. Switch to a regular leash.

Trainer’s Tip #1: Don’t use a “retractable” extending leash. The changing leash lengths will often teach unskilled leash walkers to pull to get more slack. They are also unsafe as dogs/puppies can dart out into traffic or after a squirrel or cat, and with more than 6 foot of leash, you have no control even if you’ve put on the brake. If you must, they are safest used only within large areas like parks or beaches.

3. Teach Rover that tiny tugs on the rope mean come towards you: Try this on yourself… if someone pulls steadily on your arm, what is your natural reaction? To pull away from them! This is the same for puppies and dogs. So use tiny tugs, not a steady pull. I like teaching a word for this, and I use “here”… I find this blends well into “heel” later if you’d rather use that word for the command to walk next to you without pulling.

These sessions I make shorter, about 2 minutes. You can add them on to the end of your #2 exercise after a day or two of those.

While on a slack lead, give a tiny tug (think of someone tapping you on the shoulder to get your attention) and immediately say “here” and TURN YOUR BODY AWAY at the same time you reward with a treat, so you are not directly facing Rover. Think about this: if you are out walking with your dog on leash, are you facing your dog head on? No. You will be walking along with Rover beside you or a little behind you, and when you want to go a new direction, when you step away Rover may feel a tug on the leash as you are not facing him.

Rover doesn’t even have to move towards you at first. Think of it like “hey, (tiny tug) look HERE I have a treat for you in my hand next to my leg!” Also, by immediately, I mean right after each other, it’s like a tug-here. Timing in training is so important! Over the next few sessions or possibly sooner, you will see Rover quickly associate a tiny tug with a treat, and at the tug, will look up at your treat hand and even move towards it.

4. Get Rover to follow you after a tug: Now you can add a small step away from him Rover in between the tug and treat. Take a small enough step so the leash is still slack after the step. So… tug-here, step, treat. Look mostly where you are going, not at Rover. You are luring him to follow you. When Rover moves towards you, then next time add another step away… tug-here, step, step, treat. Rover eventually will be following right along next to you, anticipating that treat! HOORAY YOU TAUGHT HIM TO WALK ON LEASH! Now you just need to cement that behavior for longer durations and in new places, so keep reading.

Walk around doing this exercise, staring with 2 minute sessions, gradually adding in more steps between treats and lengthening the sessions up to 5 minutes. If Rover looses interest because of too many steps (or he’s full of treats), stop the session for at least a few hours until he’s hungry again, or the next day.

5. Get Rover to walk on leash in other places: It’s one thing for Rover to walk on leash next to you around your kitchen or yard, and quite another out in the “real world” with new exciting/scary distracting sights, sounds and most importantly for a dog – smells! Gradually try one new location at at time. The first few sessions in new place, do your best to have Rover really hungry so he’s more likely to focus on you and your treats, like first thing in the morning before his breakfast.

Trainer’s Tip#2: Dogs don’t generalize well so be patient if it seems like Rover totally forgot how to leash walk! He didn’t, he just needs to set the behavior in a new environment and you’re there to help him with that. Patience and gentle, positive energy will help him realize he can walk on leash just as he did in his kitchen, but now in this new awesome environment. Be prepared with higher value treats as you move to the outdoors. The greater the distractions, the greater the rewards should be for him to realize the best behavior is always based on checking in with his handler.

The first new area could be your front yard, or a short stretch of sidewalk right in front of your house. Repeat steps 3 and 4 until he is walking and following you. You can also add in other training exercises (sit, come, etc) while in that new area. This might take a number of sessions/days.

Try to pick a quiet time for the new area where you’ll be less likely to have people or other dogs adding to the distractions.

You might want to start off by letting him have a minute of ‘free time’ while on leash but not focusing on you, to smell the entire new area before you start “work”.

Trainer’s Tip #3: Plan a few “free time” sessions (at times YOU decide) during your walks when he can just relax, be a dog, sniff and engage in silliness! That way he won’t try to force those times himself.

Don’t let Rover pull you around! If he starts pulling, get him to refocus on you. If he won’t refocus, take a step back to the kitchen/yard and do another few days of reinforcement, then try the new area again. Teach him can only sniff and explore if he’s NOT pulling on the leash. You will have to be the judge, and the positive, patient leader.

Soon you will be walking along with Rover happily next to you on leash, where ever you want to go!

Trainer’s Tip #4: Once Rover is walking with you on leash, you can start pairing down the treats. Sometimes he gets one for walking on leash next to you, sometimes he doesn’t. It’s kind of like us when we play slot machines!

Written by Adopt-a-Pet.com’s Jennifer Warner with
tips by Katya Friedman, CASI Certified Dog Trainer.

The number one way dog bites can be prevented? Spay and neuter! You might not be aware of what a huge connection there is between dog bites and unaltered pets, but statistics kept by Animal Control agencies across North America show that unaltered dogs are responsible for almost ALL of the dog bites which are recorded. Recently a sad story hit the newswires about two dogs that escaped from their yard, attacking three people.  Los Angeles Animal Control sent out a press release with some very simple, helpful tips for the right way to prevent dog bites, with a focus on what we can teach our children to be safe. We’ve included this information below. Please share these tips to help keep our communities – both pets and people – safe from unnecessary dog attacks.

“The Department of Animal Services Harbor District Animal Control Officers responded to a call about two large dogs that attacked and injured three adult victims who were transported via ambulance to St. Mary’s Medical Center. The injured were a 71 year old woman with multiple severe lacerations to her buttocks, back and both legs, a 63 year old man with multiple severe lacerations to his arms, legs, thighs and chest, and a 35 year old man with multiple severe lacerations to his legs and feet.

The two large dogs were unaltered and unlicensed and had escaped from their yard. Unaltered dogs are responsible for almost all of the dog bites which are recorded. Altered dogs are healthier, live longer and are much less likely to bite people or fight with other dogs.

If you feel you are in a dangerous situation, do not run screaming from the dog. The dog may instinctively give chase. Do not make direct or prolonged eye contact with the dog or hit the dog—a dog who feels threatened could perceive this as a challenge. If an unknown dog approaches you, stand very still. If a dog knocks you down, roll up into a ball and remain as still as possible.

Take time to teach your children some safety tips for behavior around dogs:

1. Teach your child not to run and scream around your dog or other dogs. This could be a signal for the dog to play a chase game. Most dogs enjoy a fast-paced game involving chasing, growling and tumbling with each other. Play for a dog may be too rough for a child.

2. Practice having your child act like a tree standing very still with arms by her side, not moving, or acting like a rock by curling up on the ground face down with hands over the ears. Ask your child to act like a tree or a rock if your dog or any dog seems to be trying to play too rough. This is the safest way to avert a potentially dangerous situation.

3. When you are out with a child and you see a dog on a leash on the street, model appropriate behavior for the youngster by asking if you can pet the dog before you go right up to the person. If the handler says that it is okay, ask if the dog likes children. If the dog does not like or know children, don’t try to get to know this dog.

By taking a careful and caring approach to training your child and your dog, you will teach your child to safely play with friendly dogs. Best of all, you will give the child the opportunity to experience unconditional love and acceptance at its finest.

And, if you have an unaltered and unlicensed dog, you may qualify for a voucher to get your pet altered for free or you can get a discount voucher from all six City Shelters if you are a Los Angeles City Resident. Having your dog altered and licensed is not only good for your pet, it’s also the law.”

If you don’t live in the City of Los Angeles, for low-cost or free pet spay neuter near you, contact SpayUSA http://www.spayusa.org

Adopting a senior pet is one of the most wonderful things you can do – not only for them, but for you! Western society often doesn’t have a lot of respect for older things or beings. With our culture’s focus on how “important” it is to have the latest car, computer, or gadget, sometimes we forget the wonderful wisdom that age can bring. As the caretaker of several senior dogs (my own and fosters) and two senior cats, and having fostered five senior pets within the last year, I am completely convinced that if more people knew how amazing it is to rescue, foster and share their life with a senior pet, senior pets wouldn’t be so passed over in our shelters. It is true they likely won’t be with you as long as a younger pet. But if you can embrace the unselfish philosophy of quality over quantity of years, you’ll be rescuing many, many more lives in your lifetime — and that is truly a beautiful thing! Plus…

So often seniors in shelters are there through no fault of their own. Sometimes their owners, also elderly, must move to a care facility that doesn’t accept pets. Or they had owners who did not had the foresight or finances to get pet health insurance, and find they could no longer afford to care for a pet that needs age-related medical procedures or medication.  Sadly, in some cases the owners superficially wanted a newer, younger pet – and discarded the older one like a well-used couch on the side of the road.  Tragic, but true.

Senior pets in shelters, more often than their young counterparts, are already trained, housebroken, and calmer. They often arrive in your home and are so well-behaved it feels a bit like they did spend their whole life with you. Seniors have just as much love to give as any pet!

There are many advantages to adopting mature animals. You already know what they are going to look like and what size they will be, and you will know their personalities sooner, rather than waiting through those sometimes very trying learning stages — senior pets are much less likely to chew your favorite pair of shoes or shred your couch or curtains!

You can find a senior pet to adopt at Adopt-a-Pet.com by clicking “Search Dogs“, “Search Cats” or “Search Other“. Then enter in your zip code, and select “senior” from the age menu.  If you can’t adopt that sweetheart yourself, click the orange “share” button to share a link to that pet’s information to your Facebook friends or Twitter followers, or simply email a link to all your contacts who might want to adopt or foster.  Let’s get those beautiful seniors out of the shelter and into the loving homes they so richly deserve!

Rattlesnakes live in so many areas, and can be a life-threatening danger to dogs of all sizes. But with just a few preventive steps, you can reduce the chances your dog will get bitten and die from a rattlesnake bite! Rattlesnakes are very common the parks and trails that many dog-lovers use for hikes and walks with their dogs. More and more homes are being built in areas that were previously rural, making encounters with wildlife even more common. If you and your dog live in an apartment in a totally urban (cement city) area and never goes on walks in a park, then you don’t need these tips. But the majority of pet owners would be prudent in following them! Being prepared takes education about avoidance and – most importantly – a trip to the vet. Read on for our tips to prevent a fatal rattlesnake bite, and what to do if your dog is bitten!

1. Get your dog the rattlesnake vaccine.
There is a dog vaccine by Red Rock Biologics for rattlesnake bites. The vaccine is made from snake venom and works in a way so that if your dog is bitten, the reaction to the bite is REDUCED and may be delayed – it is not completely eliminated, so a vaccinated dog bitten by a rattlesnake will still need vet care as soon as possible.  “The rattlesnake vaccination costs about $25, and can greatly reduce the amount of anti-venom serum the dog needs and the severity of the reaction to the bite,” says Dr. Liz Koskenmaki, DVM. Since each vial of anti-venom costs between $500 to $1000 depending on where you live, you are not only potentially saving your dog’s life, but a lot of money!

2. Walk your dog on 6-foot leash.
If you hear a rattle or see a snake on the ground ahead of you, if your dog is on a 6 foot leash, you can avoid it. Vets say the vast majority of rattlesnake bites occur when a dog is off-leash or on a flexi-lead.

3. Avoid avoid rocky or dense brush or grassy areas.
On your walks with your dog, stay on the trail, and choose wide trails or roads over narrow brush-bordered trails if possible. That way you are more likely to see a snake sunning itself across your path, and be able to stop and avoid it in time. Also, keep your yard grass cut short and eliminate brush, piles of rocks where snakes like to sun themselves as well as hide.

4. Snake-proof your yard.
Your yard may be fenced to keep Fido safely in, but it won’t keep most snakes out unless you fortify it. Snakes can get under fencing that does not have a solid cement base (like a block wall). On wood fences or solid iron fences, use hardware cloth all along the base of your fence, including across any gated areas. You’ll need to dig a trench to bury 22″ of it into the ground, with 18″ above ground attached to the base of your fence. Hardware cloth runs about $100 per 100 feet — expensive, but if you live in a rattlesnake-dense area and want your dog to be safe in your yard, the cost may be worth it.

5. Know a dog’s rattlesnake-bite symptoms.
If you don’t recognize the symptoms of a rattlesnake bite in your dog, you might delay rushing them to the vet immediately – and that delay could be fatal.

Immediate symptoms almost always include:

• puncture wounds (can be bleeding)
• severe pain
• swelling
• restlessness, panting, or drooling

Depending on how much venom the bite injected into your dog, and the size of your dog, any of these more severe symptoms may appear quickly or within a few hours:

• lethargy, weakness, sometimes collapse
• muscle tremors
• diarrhea
• seizures
• neurological signs including depressed respiration

6. If you & your dog encounter a rattlesnake…
Calmly & slowly back away from the snake until you are no longer within striking distance (about the snake’s length) and until the snake stops rattling at you. Then carefully leave the area – if there is one snake, there are likely to be more in that same area.

7. If your dog is bitten by a rattlesnake…
If you can, carry your dog to your car. If you can’t carry your dog without them (or you!) struggling, walk them to your car. Limiting the dog’s activity will limit the venom moving around in their body, which is better. THEN GET THEM TO A VET IMMEDIATELY! The faster your dog can get the anti-venom and other emergency treatment from the vet, the greater their chance of survival.

We haven’t included rattlesnake aversion training classes in our tips. In some areas, “Rattlesnake Proofing” or aversion training is available, but be aware that they almost always involve the dog getting a fairly strong shock from an electric shock collar when they “find” a snake (yes, a real snake – a defanged/devenomed one). You lavish them with praise after they get shocked and yelp in pain and encourage them to come running back to you. In extreme cases where your dog must go out into an area with rattlesnakes daily, the one-second of pain of this type of “rattlesnake proofing” might be worth potentially saving your dog’s life, but we hope that with the totally humane tips above, most dog owners will not have to resort to a painful training to keep their dogs safe from a fatal rattlesnake bite.
Learn more about Jennifer, our blog author at Google+

Rattlesnake photo credit: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1056935

Daisy was born blind and deaf and was passed around through many homes before finding her happy forever home. Because of the instability and her special needs, Daisy didn’t know how to be a dog when she came to Maryam and Bruce her knew owners.  Daisy was afraid and anxious, and it would take another dog who could be her eyes and ears for her to be rehabilitated. It turned out Olivia was just the dog for the job.

Daisy instantly bonded with Olivia but not with her new parents, and it took eight months for Daisy to connect with them. Every day they worked on gaining her trust and letting her accept touch.  Now Daisy kisses and cuddles, walks and wiggles, and is a happy, healthy, playful pooch. Daisy’s parents hope to be a support system for other families willing to open their homes and hearts to special needs animals.  As they say, she may have needed to learn how to be a regular dog but ultimately they believe they were the students and Daisy the teacher.

To date Daisy has visited more than 1,500 students throughout California to teach them about tolerance and acceptance of special needs children and animals. Daisy’s strength and courage inspired Maryam to write a children’s book called “What about Daisy?”  This inspiring children’s story about a deaf and blind rescue dog in search of her forever home, and the adventures she has with her 4 and 2 legged friends, will entertain and warm your heart.

To learn more about Daisy or get a sneak peek into her book, check out www.whataboutdaisy.com

For all of us who adore our pets, the prospect of our homes catching fire while we’re away is truly horrifying. Many of us rely on the window/door stickers that say something along the lines of “Firefighter—Save my pets!” to alert firefighters to the presence of pets in the house. But do those really work? Recently, I spoke with a Los Angeles firefighter about these stickers, and what I learned is very important: although it never hurts to have those stickers, many times the location of the fire will force firefighters to enter through a side window, where stickers might not be present or visible. Smoke from fires can quickly render stickers black and unreadable, too. Actually, there are a million reasons why those stickers might go unnoticed in the urgency of the moment. So, what is the best indicator that there are pets inside a burning building?

The answer is: NEIGHBORS. Firefighters say that in many cases of successful pet rescue, a neighbor has quickly alerted them that there are pets inside the home. The same goes for children, too! So, please, make sure you and your neighbors know each other’s pets, just in case. Why not put together a directory of neighbors’ names, addresses, number/type of pets, and number of family members living in each home and distribute it to everyone on your street? Your pets will thank you, and so will the firefighters whose jobs it is to save lives.  Plus, what a great way to meet and spark a friendship (pardon the pun) with your neighbors!

On March 23rd, Adopt-a-Pet.com launched the latest in our series of regional pet-adoption -promoting campaigns, this one in St. Louis.  The St. Louis campaign featured billboards starring St. Louis Blues hockey star David Backes and his wife Kelly, and Chicago White Sox pitcher (and St. Louis native) Mark Buehrle and his wife Jamie and a corresponding televised public service announcement.  Check out Adopt-a-Pet.com’s executive director Abbie Moore and Kelly Backes on the FOX morning show with Tim Ezell at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IErjkqs1qWE

And here’s another great piece of news coverage about the campaign!

Immediately following the campaign launch, we received an email from a wonderful rescuer that brought tears to the eyes of all of us at Adopt-a-Pet.com.  We live for success stories like this! Read the email.

Do you have a Happy Beginnings story you’d like to share? Did Adopt-a-Pet.com match you up with your best friend?  Email us and let us know!

Before taking on the responsibility of owning a dog, it’s important to recognize that owning a pet is a long-term commitment. Be prepared to dedicate time, finances, and energy, as well as a good amount of patience to your new dog over his or her lifetime. Being a responsible dog owner involves more than providing your pup with basic needs such as food and shelter.  Click here to find out more.