Goodbye….and New Beginnings!
January 23, 2012Should I Breed My Dog?
March 21, 2012The bond between dogs and their owners is undeniable. Because of this, many dog owners will go to great lengths to save a dog. Here at It’s A Dog’s World, we have 2 very special clients that have done that very thing and we wanted to take time out to reflect on the ways humans display acts of kindness for the love of
dogs.
These two stories reflect how sometimes we have to give up our time, and even sacrifice financially to give a dog the best chance at life. In both stories, the people felt that just saving even one dog’s life was worth it.
Kristi Schwartz , an original client of It’s A Dog’s World, somewhat accidentally found her way into fostering and re-homing dogs. Through searches on the internet and Facebook, she discovered MANY dogs that needed a home. One day she ran across “Odin” a year old, neutered male Pit Bull mix on Facebook with the announcement that he was to be euthanized by 5 p.m. that day at the Orange County Shelter. She immediately adopted him. Within the first week of owning him, she discovered that while he was loveable and friendly, he was also exuberant and needed obedience training. She felt that she needed to sacrifice financially in order to make him more adoptable and a future success story. With her own money she enrolled him into It’s A Dog’s World K-9 Academy, Inc. for a 2-week, intensive Board and Train program.
To document his success, she took video of him before entering the training program and again after finishing the program. The difference is remarkable! She says, “He listens a lot better now. I can call him now while he is playing and he responds.” She admits that while the 2-week training was intensive, she still has to do her part in maintaining the training by working with him every day to solidify what he learned. Since rescuing “Odin”, her eyes have opened to the severity of the pet over- population problem and there is no turning back now for her. Due to her love for dogs and her commitment to save even just one dog’s life, she has started a non-profit dog rescue called, “All Paws Rescue” in the hopes of gaining outside donations to continue adopting, then training and eventually re-homing dogs to forever homes. Her main goal is to not only rescue dogs, but to re-habilitate them so that they may become Canine Good Citizens in society and not bounce back into the system.
For more information about adopting “Odin” please contact Kristi Schwartz at kristilex@aol.com.
Answering an ad in the paper, Tonya Pace and Jacque Hicks brought home “Dakota”, a female Shepherd mix, at 10 weeks of age. They simply wanted to add a pup to their family. Their little boy fell in love with “Dakota” immediately. Unfortunately, within a short time they began to see “red flags” of aggression from “Dakota”. First it started with acting aggressively towards friends and family that visited their home. Over time, it eventually escalated to Jacque being bitten by “Dakota”. Knowing they couldn’t conquer this on their own, they began looking at professional dog trainers. They interviewed several before meeting Karen Widaman with It’s A Dog’s World. “Dakota” was only a 4-month old puppy at this point. They all agreed that she needed some serious intervention through intensive obedience and behavior modification training. Tonya and Jacque enrolled “Dakota” in 4 weeks of In Kennel training knowing that in the end they were going to have to re-home her. They knew having an aggressive dog, no matter how much training, just was not conducive to a home environment in which an eight-year old boy brings friends over all the time.
I
n the end, an Animal Behavior College intern fell in love with “Dakota” while completing his internship at IADW. Tonya and Jacque made a huge sacrifice to allow “Dakota” to go into a home with an owner that knew how to handle her. When they saw the “red flags” and could have washed their hands of her by taking her to the pound, they chose the love for a dog over their own convenience, heart break, and even sacrificed financially to give this dog the best chance to have a good life through proper training.