Save Dogs

Celebrity Pit

Okay...
So I'm totally swamped at work and I haven't even uploaded videos of Ladybug's departure.
Sassafrass--the new chihuahua rescue--is 100% recovered from her surgery.
I paid the thousand dollars myself and I'm debating whether to ask for donations this time, since Ladybug's surgery garnered many donations and I feel a bit guilty asking for more money.

Anyway, here is Jessica Biel with Tina, whom she adopted from me.  To see more pictures of Tina as a puppy, click on the category "Charlotte" on the left-hand side of the page.

Ticket to Denver

Ladybug has her bags packed...
she's  going to Denver on October 7th with her new mom Jewlee.

I got the ticket using my American Airlines miles from AA credit card.
Jewlee contacted me a few months back and she was in love with Ladybug from petfinder.com

I thought it was a longshot to get Ladybug to Denver, especially given how busy I became with work in recent months.  Jewlee wrote a comment a few weeks ago--months after we intially got in touch.  You can read it here.  That was enough to motivate me to get the plane ticket and make this a done deal.  Some things are just meant to be and I think this situation is another lucky bit of fate for little Ladybug. 

I'll make sure to post pictures of the farewell next weekend.

Meanwhile, here is one of my favorite pictures from the last year.
Jessica Biel took this photo of me and Tina (formerly Charlotte) this past winter.  Jessica adopted Tina and it seems like every other week I see more photos of the two across the Internet.  It's a match made in heaven.  Here is the one of the last pictures I have of me and Charlotte:

Thanks for keeping all the rescue dogs in your thoughts!
Much love,
Jon

Mother's Day

Pirate aka Pie-Pie is going to be adopted by Vivianne--who is a neighbor and friend of mine.  She is also a long time supporter of this blog and has donated to my rescue dogs in the past.  Pirate is doing very well and I will update everyone with pictures soon.

Meanwhile, Tina the pitbull is still doing fantastic with Jessica Biel.  Here's another photo of them from the Internet:

Also, there are still idiots who read this blog and think that it's a platform to complain about their dogs.  Take this recent comment that was left on one of my posts:

"I just can't consider our dog a part of our family, like a child. Its an animal, preditor, just like the animals feasting on my garden every night. I hate our dog, my wife dislikes her, and my daughter loves her. So I am stuck with this beast whether I like it or not. She terrorizes the kids in area, hates all other dogs, has figured out how to get across our Invisable Fence. Barks all the time. Chases everything in sight, I cannot sleep at night because she HAS to be on our bed. She is cute as hell, but a demon at the same time. If any asked me if a Rat Terrier is a good dog, I would tell them to not walk away from one, but run. Do not be tempted to even try. We had a Jack Russell named Cuju before this beast, but it hated my daughter, and bit her. So, I bit her back, and brought her to the rescue that same day. I guess I am not a dog person.
On a side note...I have a really good dog to give away. Rat terrier named Lucy. Free to good home. Calm and friendly. Never barks. House trained. Good with kids. (is this what you are talking about?)"

Paparazzi Hound

So I get an e-mail from Julia (Monkey's Godmother) with a link to a Gossip Blog.  Though the "article" focused on Jessica Biel and boyfriend Chris Evans, I focused on Charlotte...the dog I bailed from Downey shelter just a couple of months ago.

Charlotte, now named Tina, is seen receiving a kiss from Jessica and having the time of her life at the dogpark.  I always wondered if Tina was going to make her way into the public eye---and it seems like this is just the beginning.  Thank you again to Jessica and Chris for being awesome new parents!

(p.s.  These photos do not belong to me and were not taken by me).

 

Tina

Here's a picture of Charlotte, now named Tina, when I visited her at her new home in Brentwood about a week ago.
Tina was adopted by actress Jessica Biel, who is making an awesome new mom for Tina.  In fact, Jessica flew Tina with her to Vancouver while she is shooting her new movie.

To imagine that Tina, a little mangy puppy in the Downey shelter, is now living the life she had always deserved, makes me beam with joy.  I think it's a testament to the fact that every dog has a home out there for them...

And Tina is turning out to be such a sweet little girl.  She's past her "terrible two's" stage and learning her manners.  I can't wait to keep visiting her as she continues to grow and live out a great life.

Where Has The Time Gone?

I've been showing my blog to people lately for reasons unrelated to dog rescue.  I'm a project manager at a web design firm and I use my blog to explain the importance of blogging from the webmaster perspective.  Blogs are incredibly useful ways to share information and rank higher in Google because you are providing unique content that helps Google to calculate how to rank your site.  For inst ace, if you type Save Dogs into Google, my site shows up 1st out of over 30 million sites.  That's pretty incredible, considering that I would never pay to have mine show up first.  It's just that I write about my rescue dogs, saving dogs from the pound, and adopting dogs out to great families.  Now, when someone is searching on Google for information related to dog rescue or shelter animals, Google knows to point them toward my site.

It's a pretty great concept that you can gain traffic to your site, just my writing about what you love.  I've been rescuing abandoned dogs for over 2 years now and I consider it an honor to talk about these dogs on line.  I've been inspired by others in the rescue community to share this information--and I think it's a great way to encourage others to save dogs (and cats or any other type of animal).

Meanwhile, Charlotte's name is now Tina and she has doubled in weight (according to her new parents).  I miss her but I know that she is going to have a fantastic life.  She really is one lucky dog.  She has a backyard and a front yard (both gated in) and she plays all day long with her doggy brother. 

If you have any stories about dog rescue, dog shelters, or dogs in general...please e-mail me because I'd love to share them on line.

All the best,
Jon

Brentwood

Charlotte now has a nicer home than I do!  She lives in Brentwood with a great young couple and their American/English bulldog mix.  I miss her sassy attitude but I know that she is living the good life with a yard, a pool, and a best friend named East.  I'll post pictures of her new family as soon as I can.

Meanwhile, thank you for your e-mails and comments about Bette Davis.  She was an incredible dog and a testament to the gratification of rescuing senior dogs.  There is not a person she met who wasn't touched by her story.

I'll write soon---I promise!  Jon

The Pound

So here's the quick version of the story with Charlotte:

I went to the Downey Shelter with my friend Sherri.  In all, we bailed 8 dogs out and convinced one person not to put down their sick Chihuahua.  5 of the dogs went to a rescuer named Shirley.  Sherri kept a Chi mom and puppy.  I took Charlotte to my place.  I named her Charlotte because it sounds sweet and old-fashioned.

She is on her way to healing from scabies (sarcoptic mange)--and kennel cough.  I think she might have a problem with her hips because her legs bow out.

The shelters in Los Angeles are just awful places to be.  You have some of the sweetest creatures being forced live in horrible and dirty conditions.   

Charlotte was in a locked part of the facility that most people don't know is OPEN to the public (you just have to ask the attendants to unlock it).  Being placed in that locked section is a death sentence for most dogs.  Like Charlotte, their illnesses go untreated while they sit waiting to be adopted.  Her skin was calloused and inflamed because she got no medical care.  I guess from their perspective, it isn't worth it (monetarily) to treat dogs that probably will be euthanized.

I guess a part of me can't bear to write about the shelter dogs of LA anymore.  It seems that unless a person has some crazy dedication to animal welfare, then these stories become just another sad part of society that people are numb to.  I invite you to check out a local animal shelter that is government funded--just look at the ratio of animal "dumpers" to animal rescuers.  It's crazy that every time I go to the shelter, somebody is dumping off a dog or cat (or many of both) because of some trivial reason.

Even if you can't rescue an animal, just try going to the shelter.  If you can't bear to be there, then imagine how these animals feel--this is the last place most of them will see.  Let's help change that..but we can't make a change without understanding the problem.

--Jon

Mange Baby Charlotte

DowneyJanuary2006-6.JPG, originally uploaded by savedogs.

Here is my latest rescue from Downey Shelter.  More info to come...my computer is in the shop, so it's hard for me to post for the next couple of days.

Charlotte is just the sweetest--I'm treating her for sarcoptic mange.  The whole story is coming soon.

Jon