IS YOUR RESCUE A “STAR”? - If you are interested in having your pet appear in our featured pets, send an email to feature@ddaf.org with a photo and tell your story in 300 words or less. All entries are reviewed for consideration. Thanks for sharing your stories.

LILY – Katrina Survivor

In September 2005, the Hurricane Katrina diary on the Doris Day Animal League website motivated the rescue of Lily, the totally adorable Shi-Tsu in the “after” photo here. The daily posts from DDAL volunteers who helped in New Orleans with the rescue of the thousands of homeless cats and dogs made a lasting impression on Lily’s rescuer. “The courage of those women, as well as the images they were able to put into words,” led to Lily finding a forever home.

Like many others left homeless by Katrina, when Lily lost her home in Mississippi she languished for months at a Louisiana shelter waiting for someone to claim her. It wasn’t until March 2006 that her turn came for what must have been yet another frightening journey for her – across the country to one of many rescue groups taking in unclaimed Katrina animals. And then, in 2006, with heart worms and a broken heart, Lily was posted on the Washington Animal Rescue League website.

Lily’s soon-to-be guardian saw the photo and immediately went to the shelter and filled out the papers to adopt her. Her heart worms cured and her broken heart put back together, Lily is now “one of the best dogs ever!” Her new guardian’s life has been changed forever also, and she finds herself “committed to helping homeless animals.”

Tammy

Before….

After…

Tammy’s life began the day she was rescued from a puppymill in Missouri when a wonderful woman rescued Tammy and her cage mates on a fateful day in 2007. Her new forever mom was looking online at different rescue sites, saw Tammy, and it was instant love. Love is amazing because at that point Tammy had lost most of her hair, had only one tooth remaining, and had severe dry eye.

Tammy had lived for seven years in such deplorable conditions that it’s hard to imagine how she survived. Surely it was fate that brought her to the attention of her new Mom, who instantly saw the sadness in Tammy’s eyes. Whatever the case, Tammy’s new family drove all the way from Kansas to Nebraska to bring her home and has never regretted it.

Tammy is a spoiled lady now. She has her own stroller for walks because she has bad knees and doesn’t see too well. Her favorite thing is to lay on the front porch in the sun. She loves the yard!!

Tammy is just one of “MANY” puppymill breeder dogs. She was the forgotten one when others only saw her pups in the pet store windows. But her new forever family knew she deserved a great home too and they say Tammy’s love has forever enriched their lives.

SUSHI

Our dog, Sushi, is an 18 month old Chihuahua mix. In case you’re wondering, my father named him Sushi, claiming that his coat color looked like “a walking sushi roll” from afar. I found him at a high-kill L.A. animal shelter about six months ago. My family and I had wanted a dog for quite some time, and we agreed to adopt one from a shelter instead of buying one from a store or breeder. From the first moment that I laid eyes on Sushi, I knew that he had to come home with me. Sure enough, he has been a part of our family ever since.

Sushi has always been a very friendly, energetic and high-spirited dog, so I instantly knew that there was something wrong with him when he starting acting differently. He was so lethargic. Once he stopped responding to his name, I knew we had to take him to a vet as soon as possible. The first vet we went to was not much help. He assumed Sushi had been put through some type of trauma. Sushi’s chest was very swollen by this point, so the doctor prescribed him some antibiotics and anti-inflammatory pills and assured us that he would be better by the next day. The next day, and Sushi was even worse. He still didn’t eat, and by this point was so weak that he couldn’t walk anymore. He would defecate and urinate while lying down on his bed. We were sure we were going to lose Sushi at any second, and it was one of the saddest times of my life.

Little did we know, our prayers for Sushi to get better were to be answered quite soon. My mother told her boss, Vera, about Sushi, and Vera went into action. A dog lover (and guardian), she immediately called me and told me to rush Sushi to her dogs’ vet’s emergency hospital. As soon as I got there, they started to work on Sushi. It was a very long couple of hours, but then we were told that Sushi might have ingested rat poison; and it had been in his body for a couple of days already. My father had rat poison on a shelf in the garage, but we thought it was safely out of the way. I did recall seeing Sushi sniffing around the garage right before he got sick, so it’s possible pieces fell down.

Having the answers didn’t completely solve the problem, as Sushi would require a long hospitalization to get better. Vera came to the rescue again, and picked up all the bills. “If we can save Sushi’s life, the money doesn’t matter,” she told me. Day by day, transfusion by transfusion, our Sushi recovered and was able to come home. Sushi’s recuperation was a miracle. After nearly a week of having rat poison in his system, he still managed to pull through.

My family and I definitely learned our lesson with having rat poison even when we think it’s far away; and vowed to never have any sort of that stuff in the house again. That’s the lesson I want other people to learn from reading Sushi’s story. I cannot thank the team who saved Sushi enough. You’d never even know he had almost died. He’s back, and so happy to be alive.
Monica Magallanes - Los Angeles, California

GRACIE’S STORY

Gracie’s delightful story is lucky enough to have a happy ending. Rescued at approximately four years of age and weighing only two pounds at the time, Gracie and another dog had been tied to a clothes line to brave the elements with no shelter and very little food. The vet didn’t think she would survive - but Gracie and her rescuer showed him! She now weighs 5.2 pounds and is a “princess,” living near a Midwestern lake. She’s not too fond of the water, but she loves to chase the squirrels and rabbits!

Gracie is her rescuer’s constant companion and even accompanies her to work at the airport, where she loves to greet everyone and anxiously awaits the pilots who come in and see her. Even at home, if Gracie hears a plane overhead she looks to the sky and then the door. The pilots even call on the radio and ask if Gracie is available!!! Her stately little walk and oh so important demeanor are a joy to watch. Gracie must know how lucky she is because now her winning personality brings a smile to even the grumpiest of people.

LARRY& DARYL’S STORY

Hi. My name is Larry and I am a really great dog, so my owner says. I am part black lab and part really sweet dog - I’m the one on the left in the photo. I will be 5 years old soon. I was rescued to a new forever home when I was 1 ½ years old. My previous owner had to find me a new home, since I had a bad habit of running! I was hit by a car and had hurt my leg pretty bad.

My brother, Daryl and I were rescued and life has never been the same. We went immediately to obedience school and learned nice manners. Our owner says she began to see our TRUE heart and we began helping others.

We now travel to elementary schools and teach lessons on character education. We also go and help kids who are sad and may just need a dog to pet. We travel to visit our friends in the nursing home who have Alzheimer’s and we also travel to visit our friends who are in a juvenile justice facility. We feel that it is really important to share love with everyone. We try to give love and kindness each day. We hope to make the world a better place with our Helping Paws!

My brother Daryl is my twin and my very best friend. Together, we really love working and meeting new friends everyday. We still love to run, dig and chew and do so each day!

Submitted by:

Amy E. Hicks

www.helpingpawinfo.com

Editor’s Note: Larry and Daryl were rescued from the Cleveland TN animal shelter by Sue Little at Exclusively Shelter Pets (ESP), PO Box 4864, Cleveland TN. Today Larry and Daryl are members of Therapy Dogs International and Therapaws (a therapy dog group of Atlanta GA).

CINDY’S STORY

She wore an electric shock collar preventing her from wandering from within the grounds. One day her curiosity got the better of her and on chasing a rabbit she perforated her eye by running into a stick. Her previous owner left her with a damaged eye for two years and eventually brought her to the RSPCA centre stating she was not a good guard dog anyway.

The centre did wonders with her teaching her to walk on a lead and to lead a life with people around her. A year after being adopted she has now become a Pet as Therapy dog visiting a residential home for dementia patients and is tied for the Kennel Club bronze medal.

She has become the most obedient house dog any one could have.

Cindy From London, England

Cindy started her life as a guard dog living in a wood shed at a stable for seven years of her life..

LUCKY’S STORY

About 10 years ago, a concerned citizen called a small animal welfare group to see if something couldn’t be done about the cat who was chained to a truck tire in the subterranean garage of her apartment building. She had been trying to give him food and water him but he was fairly antagonistic at that point and she was afraid of him. A rescuer went out and unchained Mr. Lucky as he came to be known and brought him home to ensure his health, get him neutered and give him his shots.

As long as you just love him though, he’s a dear. Being a friend of the rescuer, our family agreed to give Mr. Lucky a try to see if he fit in with the rest of our crew. And it was lucky for us as well as him. They let him think he’s the boss, so he fits in fairly well with our other rescued cats. He’s very interested in meeting my clients every day, and he loves to curl up next to you for hours on end.

So he’s come to realize some compromises are necessary in life, although mind you, he’s still pretty sure things should go according to “his” rules!

Once he got to know the rescuer, Mr. Lucky became extremely social and friendly - until you tried to get him to do something he didn’t want to do. Like stay in a room by himself in quarantine to see if he was healthy. Or try and trim his nails. Or brush his beautiful long-haired coat. Or give him a bath. Or not serve him dinner fast enough when he thought he should eat. Or get him in a carrier to go to the vet or weekend adoptions. Or stay in a cage all day at weekend adoptions.So you can see it wasn’t likely he was going to be adopted any time soon.

DUDE’S STORY

Dude, a seven-year-old Chow and German Shepard mix, is quite a unique dog. He was adopted from the Santa Clarita, California, shelter by a caring family of two parents and four children in Acton, California. Sadly, Dude had been abused as a puppy, but this new family chose him because of his cute appearance, his sweet personality, and the fact that they knew they would be able provide Dude with a good, loving home. Dude has many interesting and endearing qualities about him. He loves to play with the chickens and the family’s 15-month-old boy. Also, Dude has a habit of chasing bees, but he learned his lesson one day.

As he was playing with the bees by the apple trees, he swallowed a few, which resulted in a trip to the vet. Dude also enjoys taking long walks around the block and trips to the local park, where he gets to interact with other neighborhood dogs and children. He resides in a wonderful, affectionate home and is one lucky pup. Dude’s really enjoying his life now and his family couldn’t have been more pleased with their choice in adopting him.

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