Greetings dog friends, friends of dogs and cats,
I am excited to announce our new blog series: Greet N' Sniff An Animal Do-Gooder! In this series we will be interviewing rescue organizations and shelters that we support each month. AND, all month we will be donating 20% of the proceeds from our webstore, rosiesbarkery.com to that organization.
This month is all about:
We sat down with Allison Lange, one of ADLR's founders to talk about what's going on with their organization.
What areas of Los Angeles are you a helper to?
A Dog’s Life rescue has rescued animals in all areas of Los Angeles. We don’t have a designated area. But we hold our adoption events at Tailwaggers in West Hollywood.
How did A Dog’s Life Rescue get started?
Julia Pennington and myself were both volunteering with another rescue when they decided to organize A Dog’s Life Rescue. We share very similar passions and ideals when it comes to rescue so it felt pretty natural to form a group together.
Describe a typical day at work for you?ADLR gets a couple hundred emails a day about animals in need so our mornings usually start with getting through as many emails as possible. We also have a number of animals under our rescue’s care. So making sure that any of the dogs in boarding are getting out and exercised is key. Every week we have several vet appointments to go to as well as meetings with new potential homes, trainers, etc. We also have emergencies that come up on a daily basis… from dogs left on the freeway that need help to one of the cats in the 2 feral colonies we manage getting sick. We are not really sure how it gets done but it feels like we are fitting 30 hours in 24 hour days.
These are hard times for animal friends and human friends, what are some of the challenges facing your organization today?
Because it is a very difficult time with the economy, it’s been more difficult for us to raise funds for our group. We have less donations coming in, but there are more animals in need because more people are losing their homes or losing their ability to afford care for their pets. It is very painful to witness what is happening right now.
I like happy tails, do you have a favorite success story?
We’ve had a lot of support from Tailwaggers and its employees since we’ve been showing there. Especially from a man named Bobby who works there. He has been a huge help to us at adoptions events, our benefit and had graciously offered to foster for us from the beginning. One day we met a plane coming in from Taiwan with two puppies that were rescued by a Taiwanese dog rescue group. The group had reached out to rescue groups outside of Taiwan for help because they didn’t have the resources there to find dogs homes and ADLR stepped up to take them (along with a 3-legged adult dog that would arrive later). One of the puppies was named Phillip, a Formosan mountain dog mix who was 3 1/2 months old. Phillip was found covered in mud and debris in a ditch in Taiwan.
When we got the puppies back to Alli’s home and opened the crate, Phillip cautiously stepped out and we saw this terrified little black puppy, who was still skin and bones with huge floppy ears that looked like they were suppose to be standing up but didn’t quite have the strength. Phillip was not sure what to make of us and we had to remember that on top of being a street pup, we look and sound differently than the people he was use to. He found comfort in his puppy friend, Harry, that made the journey with him, but we knew it would take some time for him to learn to trust and understand that he was safe and we were going to take care of him. This is where Bobby comes in…We had spoken to Bobby about Phillip and how nervous he was and that he really needed socializing and nurturing. Bobby was excited to help Phillip so we decided to bring Phillip to Bobby’s place to meet his dog, Hanna, and cat, Marble, and if they got along, Bobby would become Phillip’s foster dad.
Phillip was scared at first and hid behind Alli but became quite taken with Marble and started following her around. Then he played with Bobby’s dog, Hanna, a bit and gradually warmed up to being there so it seemed to be a good fit and Bobby started fostering. Bobby gave daily updates of Phillip’s progress outside on walks and in meeting new people and how much Phillip loved to play with Hanna and Marble. It was also clear that Bobby was falling in love. The next weekend we had an adoption event so Alli texted Bobby about bringing Phillip. Bobby responded with just ‘Ok…’ but then a little while later sent another text asking, “Do I have to bring Phillip if I want to adopt him?” So Bobby fostered for us for a week, and then became a new Dad to a very deserving puppy from Taiwan, who now knows he’s safe and cared for.
Do you serve treats at your dogs and if so, what flavors? I like peanut butter but I know there are other flavors out there.
I actually like to give my dogs Rosie’s Be My Sweetheart Cookie (so sweet potato and peanut butter :). ~Alli
Do you have any fun events coming up for party animals feeling festive?
We just had a successful benefit at Tailwaggers in the fall so we don’t have another benefit scheduled right now. But we are planning a thank you get together for our volunteers before the end of the year. Everybody works so hard to keep A Dog’s Life Rescue going and to help the animal and we don’t know what we would do without our volunteers. We are extremely grateful to have them and so are our animals.
What are the best ways humans can help their animal friends be safe and happy?
There are many ways to keep your animal safe. We recommend always keeping a collar and tag on your dog and/or cat because we always hear of dogs getting spooked by some noise or accidentally let out of their home by a gardener or other worker without collar and tag on. Besides being easier for Animal Control or Rescue Organizations to locate the owners when the animal is found, the general public is more likely to stop to help a dog or cat that they see wearing a tag. Micro-chipping is something else we recommend. It shouldn’t take the place of a collar and tag but is a good back-up.
Also, be aware of the holidays and how your animal friend handles that time of year. For instance, the 4th of July is a hard time for many animals. They don’t understand fireworks and are commonly scared of the explosions. This is a very busy time for Animal Control and Animal Rescue groups and unfortunately we find many family pets that have been hit by cars or injured in other ways as they run from the noise.
How can human friends contact you if they want to volunteer, donate or adopt an amazing animal friend that will change their lives with an increase in love?
You can visit our website www.adogsliferescue.org for information on how to donate, adopt and volunteer. You can also email us at info@adogsliferescue.org with any questions. We would love to hear from you and any help or support you can offer is greatly appreciated!!
Thanks for taking time out of your busy day to answer some questions for our human friends.
