ddaf.org

Thought our readers might like to learn more about the Elliott Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, one of the non-profit organizations DDAF is able to help. [Read More]

SPAY DAY Celebrates 16 Years with Hundreds of Events Taking Place Nationwide. 

Discounted or free spay/neuter services and educational events among the happenings throughout the month of February. 

Read the [Press Release]

Seven Canines and their Human Partners Help Save Lives

Read the profiles of these heroes who are part of just one public service organization DDAF helps support. [Read Profiles]

L.A. County Search Teams staged for deployment to Haiti at March Airforce Base, January 14, 2010
Front row (L to R): Bill Monahan & Hunter, Jason Vasquez & Maverick, Jasmine Segura & Cadillac;
Back row (L to R): Ron Weckbacher & Dawson, Gary Durian & Baxter, Ron Horetski & Pearl

The Search Dog Foundation is receiving ongoing updates from our teams on the ground in Haiti. The handlers call or text-message when they have a chance, telling of the desperate situation they face, and the awesome work of their canine partners.

Saturday afternoon, SDF Search Teams Jasmine & Cadillac, Jason & Maverick and Bill Monahan (working as Search Team Manager) were brought in to verify the presence of a survivor when tapping was detected under the rubble of a daycare center. CNN’s Anderson Cooper and his camera crew were at the scene and reported live as the Search Dogs showed interest in the area. Sadly, after searching for almost eight hours, L.A. County Task Force determined that no one was alive under the concrete.

Ron Horetski & Pearl, Gary Durian & Baxter and Ron Weckbacher & Dawson searched throughout the night for survivors buried beneath the rubble of a bank. They returned to the Task Force Base of Operations at 4:30am on Sunday. Jasmine, Jason and Bill set out again at 5am to continue searching in their assigned area.

The teams are working long hours, stopping only long enough to let the dogs rest before starting to search again. Once they begin a search operation, they work until the effort is complete – no matter how long it takes. The handlers are sustaining themselves on military rations (MREs) and hot water; the dogs have food brought for them by their handlers.

Bill Monahan reported to us via text message: “Dogs are searching great. All eating and drinking. We’re working to make it ‘fun’ for them so they’ll stay motivated.”

He later shared by phone: “It’s a giant team effort. From the canines, to the logistics team, to communications, everyone is working at full capacity, using everything we’ve been trained to do to find survivors. It’s an honor to be here.”

Back home, with several days of heavy rains predicted in Southern California, SDF teams that didn’t leave for Haiti stand by for deployment to neighborhoods threatened by mudslides or flooding.

For up to the minute updates on SDF’s Search Teams in Haiti and at home, join our Facebook fan page at http://www.facebook.com/NationalDisasterSearchDogFoundation and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/searchrescuedog.

Hello Again Everyone,

We have incredibly exciting news……Our dog Hunter, a red and white Border Collie with his handler Bill Monahan just found 3 little girls trapped in a collapsed building. Hunter alerted on the pile and stayed with it until Bill was able to confirm that there were victims inside. He was able to get the girls water by taping water bottles on to the end of a stick to pass to the girls. The only English word he understood was “thank you”

As I write this there are tears of joy streaming from everyone here at the office. Our dogs DO MAKE A DIFFERENCE.

Thank you everyone for everything that you do to make this possible.

I will continue to keep you posted as the stories start to roll in….

Karen

Six of the Canine Search Teams you support have been deployed as part of California Task Force 2 to find people buried alive in the wreckage.

Gary Durian & Baxter L.A. County Fire
Ron Horetski & Pearl L.A. County Fire
Bill Monahan & Hunter L.A. County Fire
Jasmine Segura & Cadillac L.A. County Fire
Jason Vasquez & Maverick L.A. County Fire
Ron Weckbacher & Dawson - Civilian

Canine Disaster Search Teams Deployed to Earthquake Stricken Haiti. Your Support In Action.

By now, you’ve heard about the Haitian government and their request for the U.S. to take a lead role in responding to the most devastating disaster to hit the island in 200 years.

With this request for help and thanks to your ongoing support, the Search Dog Foundation is now in action mode. Here’s why.

The State Department, the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance are coordinating rescue efforts. California Task Force 2, based in Los Angeles, is one of two U.S. Task Forces charged with responding to international disasters.

CA-TF2 includes a critical disaster response resource: Canine Disaster Search Teams trained by the National Disaster Search Dog Foundation to find people buried alive under the wreckage of disaster.

SDF’s Executive Director Debra Tosch said, “Our hearts go out to our neighbors in Haiti, and we’re honored to be able to help find survivors of this terrible tragedy as part of CA-TF2. This is the day that our teams have trained for: when the unthinkable happens, SDF Teams stand ready to respond, bringing hope and comfort to victims and their loved ones.”

There is no doubt, they will find many individuals buried; if they can gain access to those sections of the Island. And, because of your support and ongoing belief in our mission, we can say Thank You for Being Part of the Search.

You can follow their updates on http://twitter.com/searchrescuedog.

In reading the newspaper the other morning, I was shocked to find out how many families are still having to give up their pets. I can’t understand how they can do this. It’s like giving up a child. I’m hoping that those of you who look at my website please, if you can, take another doggie or kitty cat and help with this horrible situation.

The other thing I would like for you to do is to go through your cupboards and find some blankets and other items you don’t need and take them to the local shelter or humane society. I know they need blankets, and it gets cold even in summer, as you know.

One of my friends recently adopted a wonderful lab from a local SPCA and was shocked to feel how cold it was where the dogs were kept. There were no blankets for the dogs, and it really upset her – and me.

Do what you can in that area, and I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed, that more of our precious four-leggers are going to nice homes.

I’m on board. Today, we’re packing up a big bundle to take over there this weekend, and you can do the same in your communities. This isn’t just a local problem. It relates to all shelters.

It’s bad enough that dogs and cats are still being dropped off in droves by people losing their homes. Let’s all get together and help those we love the most – the animals.

I shall be forever grateful to all of you who do this.

Love,

Doris

P.S. By the way, I’d love to hear that you’ve taken as many blankets as you could and also that you’ve adopted a precious little – or big – angel. Let me know!

Doris Day is one of the world’s most-loved and most-honored women. Although it has been decades since she last starred in a motion picture, her name continues to top the “most-admired” lists and polls, and her movies are among the most-popular on television and DVD.

Doris Day made 39 films, beginning in 1948, with “Romance on the High Seas.” She also had two television series, “The Doris Day Show” for CBS (1969-1973), and “Doris Day’s Best Friends,” which ran on CBN Cable Network/Family Channel in 1985 and 1986.

Scores of scripts and movie, television and singing offers continue to be submitted to Doris Day, and she jokes that she might decide to make a movie, “Just to take a rest.” In 1998, the Arts & Entertainment television network produced a two-hour special for its “Biography” series, which brought the network some of its highest ratings ever. A 1991 PBS special, “Doris Day: A Sentimental Journey,” also produced large audiences.

Today, Doris Day’s full-time career is her work with animals, and her non-profit organizations, the Doris Day Animal Foundation (established in 1998) and the Doris Day Animal League (which recently merged with The Humane Society of the United States).

The Doris Day Animal Foundation, which pioneered such landmark projects as “Spay Day USA” – responsible for more than a million-and-a-half spays and neuters — is returning to its roots to “help animals and the people who love them.” The organization will be helping to fund other non-profit, public service projects not aimed at goals like passing legislation, but at helping other non-profit (501© 3) groups who need help in their work caring for and protecting animals.

Each year, from 1948 until 1964, Doris Day was listed among the top ten box office attractions — the longest run of any female star in motion picture history. In 1989, she was honored with the Cecil B. DeMille Lifetime Achievement Award from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for her work over the years, and in 1991, she was given the Lifetime Achievement Award by the American Comedy Awards. Called “the most under-rated star of all time, since she could do so much and make it all look so easy,” the range of Doris Day’s work was without peer. She could sing and dance and act in films as different from each other as “Calamity Jane” and “Love Me Or Leave Me,” while playing everyone’s dream girl next door, to the career women she portrayed in comedies such as “Pillow Talk,” “Lover Come Back” and “The Thrill of It All.”

Her co-stars in films included Clark Gable (“Teacher’s Pet”), James Cagney (“Love Me Or Leave Me” and “The West Point Story”), Rock Hudson (“Pillow Talk,” “Send Me No Flowers” and “Lover Come Back”), James Stewart (“The Man Who Knew Too Much”), Frank Sinatra (“Young At Heart”), Jack Lemmon (“It Happened To Jane”), Rex Harrison (“Midnight Lace”), Cary Grant (“That Touch of Mink”), Jimmy Durante (“Jumbo”), David Niven (“Please Don’t Eat the Daisies”), and many others.

Doris Day did not set out to become an actress. She wanted to be a dancer, but an auto accident put a stop to those plans. While recovering, she began singing, and, as a teenager, was singing with some of the best of the Big Bands. Her breakthrough was in 1944 when Les Brown brought her the song, “Sentimental Journey.” The song became one of the biggest-sellers for decades, topping the charts at number one for nine weeks, and a movie career soon followed. Her other hit songs over the years have included “Que Sera Sera,” which won an Academy Award in 1956, “It’s Magic,” “Teacher’s Pet,” “Everybody Loves A Lover,” her first song to earn a Grammy nomination, and “Secret Love,” which also won an Academy Award in 1953.

The question asked most often is why Doris Day is so involved in animal welfare issues. She explains:

“The story of ‘Tiny,’ my dog, always stays in my mind. His companionship was invaluable when I was a teenager and was in a car accident with a train that resulted in a compound leg fracture. I was on crutches for more than a year. He never left my side, understood my moods and gave me the kind of companionship that only a dog can bestow.

“It was during this time that I began a lifelong love affair with dogs, a sentiment known only to dog lovers and, cat lovers too. Their affection and caring is a relief from tensions and anxiety. Tiny used to walk beside me on the pavement as I eased myself along on my crutches. One day, for no reason, he scampered away from me and into the street. Tiny was hit by a car and killed instantly. From that day forward I always felt deeply and passionately about dogs needing to be on leashes when in the street.”

That lesson has resulted in one of the most active animal welfare volunteer efforts in history. Now, with giant successes over the past few years, the Doris Day Animal Foundation will help where its help can be used most. The organization will not be accepting applications for grants or other fund-raising requests. Because of Doris Day’s longtime involvement in animal welfare, the DDAF is aware of so many places where our help is already needed. That’s where we will be headed.

Even though Doris continues to be recognized for her entertainment career – including Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2004 from President George W. Bush and a Lifetime Grammy Award in 2008, the animals are the “stars” in Doris Day’s world, and she couldn’t be happier about it.

© 2009 Doris Day Animal Foundation. Disclaimer

Grant Stories & Links

The Doris Day Animal Foundation is proud to announce that we have provided grants to some unique and innovative non-profit organizations in order to help animals and the people who love them.

The programs range from providing senior citizens with food for their pets to providing information for people caring for horses, supporting in-school humane educational and reading programs, training an assistance dog, rescuing greyhounds, and establishing scholarships for veterinary students specializing in shelter medicine.

Check out our Grant Stories…..

I was horrified and appalled to find out the Humane Society of the United States has an association with Michael Vick.

He is a criminal, who I believe should still be in prison.

I was not involved in making the decision and have nothing to do with this part of the Humane Society’s work.

I just want all of my friends to know, for sure, I have nothing whatever to do with this decision.  All we can do is hope and pray that something  good can come of it, as we must see an end to this cruel and hideous  “sport “ of dog-fighting not just  here, but around the world.

With my love always,

Doris and my Babies