My Heart
Going The Extra Mile For Animals
That’s Downtown Dog Rescue in Los Angeles, which focuses much of its efforts on area shelters with high kill rates. Radish, a 10-12 year old Chihuahua was scheduled for euthanasia with her kennel mate, Cookie, when one of the DDR volunteers spotted these senior four-leggers after receiving DDAF’s grant for seniors.
Radish
After being diagnosed with kennel cough, which turned into pneumonia, Radish went on an IV immediately and when she finally began recuperating and eating a bit more, Downtown’s foster went to the hospital two and three times a day to hand feed her. Thankfully, she and Cookie both recovered and had a chance to get some well-deserved R&R at one of the group’s foster homes. Recently we received a wonderful update that both of them had been adopted! We were happy we could help Downtown Dog Rescue and truly want to thank them for what they are doing for shelter dogs in Los Angeles.
St. Louis Senior Dog Project
Truffles
Who knows why Truffles was there? There are myriad reasons an unfortunate dog could have ended up at the old St. Louis City shelter, or any other shelter across the country for that matter. But for Truffles, only minutes away from euthanasia, amazingly enough it was his lucky day when regulations forced shelter staff to “reduce dog inventory.” Personnel put out a panicky call for help to area rescue groups and in only a couple days almost every adoptable dog had been rescued before the “inventory reduction” could be put into effect. It didn’t look lucky for Truffles as he still sat there in his holding pen waiting – as he had been waiting for several months already. But the big brown teddy bear dog who was a favorite at the shelter for his friendly nature and goofy smile really did hit the jackpot that day. Maybe fate was just waiting for the right time, the right place, and the right people, who knows? But that day Truffles went home with the founder of St. Louis Senior Dog Project, a terrific rescue group focused on senior dogs where he was adopted by a family whose earlier senior dog rescue – “Sweets” – had recently passed away. Now he’s a valued family member enjoying his forever home. [St. Louis Senior Dog Project Website]
The animals need your help! Please consider a donation to the Doris Day Animal Foundation. …And [here] are even more free and easy ways to support DDAF simply by searching/shopping online and your grocery purchases!
YOUR DONATIONS AT WORK
The Cheboygan County Humane Society received a grant last year and wrote us recently to report on how they had put it to use. You’ll be happy to hear that eight-year-old Sadie, a shih tzu who had been given up by her owner due to the expenses of caring for the dog, has been adopted. Sadie was in really poor condition, needing to be shaved completely, severely infested with fleas, and an infection that had developed in an area under the matted hair. She came through with flying colors though and found a forever home in short order once she could show how beautiful she was when groomed and energized!
Muttville Senior Dog Rescue
DDAF’s grant supports the adoptions of 25 seniors in the “Seniors for Seniors” program, which pairs elderly dogs and senior citizens. This program smooths the way for a successful transition, sending adopted dogs to their new forever homes with food bowls, collar and leash, doggie bed, and a month’s supply of food and any necessary prescription medications. Muttville even offers senior-friendly home modifications at no charge; improvements that can include doggie doors, baby gates, sofa steps, and bed ramps, making a new life together easier for dogs and humans alike.
All of Muttville’s rescued seniors are fostered in private homes with volunteers. They receive plenty of socialization, love, and care, with visits to veterinarians and medications as needed – and hospice care for life when needed. Muttville Senior Dog Rescue has been in existence since 2007, and the volunteers have many years of animal rescue experience. Visit their website to read about one of their senior adoptions - http://www.muttville.org/. Thanks to all the volunteers at Muttville for the wonderful work they are doing.
DDAF’s recent grant to Muttville Dog Rescue in the Bay Area for their senior rescues made a splash at www.dogtipper.com. See more on Muttville on our grants page.
Feeding Our Souls
Mahogany
Throughout most of 2010 and 2011 DDAF has focused on assisting senior companion animals in need – dogs, cats, and likely a few guinea pigs, ducks, and a pot-bellied pig or two through one of our grants to rescue groups across the country. Of course spay / neuter and our Horse Adoption Center have been central to our efforts also. READ FULL STORY
In the News
Jobs for Working Dogs
Dog photos can make us cry, cheer, laugh, and even donate to rescue funds! This link to www.boston.com’s picture series spotlights dogs in the news earlier in the year. Dogs saving their humans from fire, war dogs at work and play, assistance dogs, dogs in floods, street dogs in trouble - we love them all and always wish there was more we could do to help those who need us. Send us a note to let us know about the dogs - and all the other companion animals out there - you know and love.
In 2009 one of DDAF’s grants supported the annual cost of veterinary care for the dogs of the Working Dogs for Conservation Foundation. In remote areas of the world these dogs work with their handlers to search out evidence of invasive or endangered species – both animals and plant life.
Over the millennia, dogs have been bred for specific jobs – herding dogs, guard dogs, and similar breeds. More recently dogs are being trained as assistance dogs, therapy dogs, or search and rescue dogs.
If you find news of dogs at work – send us a note, we thought we’d look at a few of the ways dogs contribute to our society.
Back in 2006 Flo and Lucky (see below) learned how to sniff out DVDs to help customs agents and law enforcement personnel cut down on DVD / CD piracy. On a special project in Malaysia in 2007-2008, they were very successful, and more dogs have been trained for the task.
MPAA Trains Dogs to Sniff Out Pirate DVDs
Two black Labradors are being employed in the fight against piracy in the U.K.
By Jeremy Kirk, IDG News May 11, 2006 8:00 am
The Motion Picture Association of America is putting some bite behind its bark in its fight against illegally copied CDs and DVDs.
The movie industry group has funded the eight-month training of two black Labradors, called Lucky and Flo, who can now sniff out optical discs at customs points and other locations. The MPAA worked with its U.K. counterpart, the Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT).
While dogs have long been used to detect illicit drugs, the new mission aims to slash away at the profits from movie piracy, which FACT estimates were $519 million in the U.K. last year. [Read the full story]
Increase Rescue Adoptions 100%? Wow!
In case you didn’t catch CBS Sunday Morning recently, see the video (Watch Now!) from a recent segment on Dallas photographer Teresa Berg. A similar article can be found at Popular Photography (View now!).
We’ve all heard a picture is worth a thousand words, and Ms. Berg certainly puts that into action! She’s putting on training sessions to teach animal rescuers photography tips and asking professional photographers to “adopt” a nearby rescue group to help.
Thanks for caring!