Not all of the dogs we find at the shelters are networked. Some dogs slip between the cracks and the only way to find out about them is through a search on Pet Harbor.

When Shawna was picking up Comet and Vixenat South Los Angeles shelter, I did a quick search on Pet Harbor. I saw this adorable picture of a pug mix.

We just couldn’t leave her behind – she was adorable. The shelter said she came in lactating so she had obviously just had puppies and someone abandoned her.

My friend Patricia had a friend who wanted to adopt her – so we transported her from OC where she was in boarding to Patricia.

Patricia took her to her forever home and they absolutely love her!

She is great with kids also.

Such a great dog!

Donner was also alluding networking lists. He was at Baldwin Park Shelter.

Donner’s last chance for a home was at the Irvine Adoption Event.

Shawna grabbed him at an adoption event.

She transported him to Katella Animal Clinic to get healthy.

Donner was adopted by a wonderful couple – Jan and Denise. They’ve renamed him Sumo.

We’re so happy that Donner and Noel found homes for the holidays!

Holly was one of our most heartbreaking rescues. We first saw her picture on the OC shelter website. I immediately placed a hold on her. We arranged to have her pulled. But there was a mixup at the shelter and they confused her with an unaltered pug. So they shelter held her for a week for a spay – but Holly was already spayed.

We also at this time saw the picture of a sweet min pin named Vixen at South Los Angeles Shelter on the day we were pulling Comet and Noel. Sila offered to foster her so we pulled her also.

When our puller finally picked Holly up – she was already sick. We thought it was just standard kennel cough – but we were dead wrong. Dawn from Gone with the Dogs rescue – our favorite partner rescue! – transported Holly and Vixen to her foster mommy – Sila.

The first night went okay. Holly was sick so Sila took her to the vet. He said she had pneumonia and prescribed some antibiotics – but she wasn’t getting better.

Sila took her back to the vet and she wasn’t improving. Sila and her husband drove her 200 miles back to our amazing vet Dr. Ahmed at All Creatures Animal Hospital.

Holly was so sick by the time she arrived at the vet that he didn’t think she would make it. She wouldn’t eat anything. Pugs N Roses spent thousands of dollars trying to save her.

Holly tried to give up several times but the vet techs gave her love and she finally ate! After three weeks in the hospital she recovered. And she was adopted by a wonderful family.

Meanwhile Vixen spent the holidays with Sila but she went on vacation and we placed Vixen with another foster. But Sila missed her so much she became a foster fail and adopted Vixen when she returned from her trip.

So we are thrilled that Vixen and Holly found their forever homes!

We are still struggling with Holly’s bills. So if you can make a donation – it would be greatly appreciated.

One of our most heartwarming rescues was of Leo. On November 19, Baldwin Park Shelter put out a plea to rescue Leo.

Leo is a gorgeous four year old purebred cocker spaniel that was dumped at the Baldwin Shelter by his owners because they were moving. He developed severe kennel cough and was given until Sunday at 1  before the shelter vet was going to put him to sleep. Shawna rushed to the shelter on a Sunday and arrived at 12:30. Leo was so sick – he couldn’t even walk and had to be carried out of the shelter by Ric Browde, who is an amazing volunteer.

Poor Leo was so ill, he got very sick in Shawna’s car. Dr. Ahmed is an amazing vet. He immediately treated Leo but was guarded with his prognosis. After a month of hospitalization Leo made a drastic improvement.

Leo had been through so much that we were happy to find him a foster. Julie took him in and he quickly bonded with her dog, Buddy.

Leo was in foster care for at least a month. He thrived with Julie but we wanted him to have his own forever home. Our rescue was finally approved to be on Petfinder and within 24 hours of posting Leo – I received 2 calls about him. He ended up being adopted into the most loving home with Jay and Ryan. He has a fellow cocker brother named Harley.

We are so happy that Leo found his forever home!

In November, Shawna pulled Galahad and Zoey from Baldwin Park Shelter. She went there to pull a few other dogs but one was adopted while she was in the lobby so Ric Brownde recommended she take these two.

Galahad was a chihuahua puppy. He was found in La Puente. He was adopted to Shawna’s friend.

Zoey was a shih tzu at Baldwin Park. She was matted and dirty.

Zoey was adopted by Shawna’s father-in-law.

Comet was a pug mix on his final days at the South LA Shelter.

St Nick was a puggle at North Central LA Shelter.

Since we didn’t want St Nick and Comet to spend their Christmas in boarding and our foster homes were full, we transported them to Collar of Hope rescue in Washington. Here are pictures in their foster homes.

Please pray for Holly.

Holly was pulled from the OC shelter. She was already spayed – however the shelter thought she wasn’t so they held her for another five days. Though she entered the shelter very healthy for her age (she’s around 8), she contracted pneumonia. Our wonderful foster Sila gave her medication and love but she wasn’t making any progress. Sila and her husband drove her from Palm Springs to Murrieta to All Creatures Animal Hospital. The amazing vet and staff have worked with her around the clock. She is improving but still critical. Today she even kept food down – the first time anyone has ever seen her eat! And she ran away from the vet when he tried to medicate her. But she still has a long way to go.

Please consider making a donation to her care – we cannot save any other animals until we can pay for Holly.

I’ve started a chipin below or if anyone feels more comfortable – they can call All Creatures Animal Hospital and contribute directly to the hospital. (951)600-0830

This was our biggest rescue mission of them all!

It’s very hard to adopt little dogs out in Southern California. However in Canada and the Pacific Northwest there are people who wait for small dogs. Here’s our crazy story of our first international pet transport.

Cast:

Sinatra

I pulled Sinatra from Animal Friends of the Valley. He was a senior and was slated to be killed. Carrie fostered him in Temecula. We tried to adopt him out but were unsuccessful even though he is the sweetest dog.

Joey

Shannon first noticed a picture of Joey on the OC website. It was such a bad picture that he got no interest and his time was running out. We saved him and Shannon fostered him. He is very sweet but again we were having problems adopting him out.

Lulu & Nina

Lulu and Nina are both chihuahua/dachshunds mixes that were on the urgent euthanasia list at the OC animal shelter. They had to be out by the end of the day on Monday. Shawna and Patt pulled them in the nick of time. But we had no fosters at that time so they had to go to boarding.

Edward

Edward is our miracle dog. Riverside Shelter thought he was exposed to parvo and he was scheduled to be PTS. Amy and I both called and were told that he had been PTS that morning. Someone on Facebook called the shelter back and was told he was alive but would be PTS at 5. It was 3:47. I lived an hour and a half away. Carrie rushed to Riverside and arrived at 4:54. But Edward was very very sick. The amazing vet – All Creatures Animal Hospital – called me in the morning to tell me that Edward had parvo! We fought it and after $1000 dollars he recovered.

Jacob

Jacob was at Baldwin Park Shelter. He was being held as evidence for a court case and was a victim of abuse. He wasn’t networked at all or even on their special pet profile list. We were told he had through the end of the day and Shawna pulled him to safety. We boarded him.

So we contacted a dog rescue in Canada – Dachshund and small dog rescue. They agreed to take Joey, Nina, Lulu, and Sinatra. They had many applications on all of them and they were all adopted out!

Jacob and Edward went to Lisa in Washington. She adopted Jacob and found a wonderful home for Edward.

Shawna saw a picture of Noodles, a pug/chihuahua on Baldwin Park’s faceb00k page. She fell in love with him and decided to save him. She actually adopted him herself!

On the same list, I noticed Peabody – a sheltie mix. I grew up with shelties and had to save this baby. I asked Shawna to grab him and we took him to the vet and boarded him.

Shawna adopted Noodles and now he is spoiled.  He lives with Shawna, her husband, and Buster and Dewey.

Peabody had tried to bite his way out of his cage at the shelter. Second Chance Dog Rescue in San Diego took him in and he was adopted into his forever family.

I was so happy to save these two precious doggies.

This was my first caravan rescue.
Winston – 5 year old pure pug, Nicky – pug/dachshund and Ziggy – pug/dachshund, were all rescued by Kristen from Baldwin Shelter. Shawna drove from her home in Anaheim to Kristen’s house in Studio City and picked them all up.

Then Shawna met me and my husband in Corona where we took the dogs.

And we took the dogs to meet Amy and her husband in Victorville.

Then Amy took the dogs to Las Vegas. Winston was adopted to Amy’s sister and Nicky and Ziggy both found forever homes.

I must say – this was my favorite rescue. The dogs were super sweet and well behaved – they all slept from Victorville to Vegas. And I met Shawna for the first time and she is so wonderful and has become a great friend and an amazing animal puller.

I saw Pluto’s picture on Animal Friends of the Valley – a high kill shelter in Wildomar. He was listed as a senior pug mix. Up until this point, I had only helped transport dogs that others had rescued from shelters but I hadn’t set foot into a shelter myself – except of course to adopt my own dogs. San Diego Pug Rescue authorized me to pull this mix. I headed to the shelter – very nervous. I had no plan for this dog – no idea if I could get him adopted. We picked him up and the shelter was very nice and helpful but my heart broke looking at all the homeless doggies and kitties there. How could I choose this one dog knowing that others would be killed later that day.

My husband and I drove him to a local vet and boarded him there. Then Amy, a dog rescuer from Las Vegas, drove up a week later and transported him to Vegas. He was very scared, a senior, and even snapped at her. The vet said he was deaf and just startled. Pluto found a loving home and has two canine siblings.

Here is a quilt I made for Rosanna Powers. She was a Marine who served with my husband. She tragically lost both her fiance (father of her 10 month old son) and her brother. Both men were killed in action in Iraq within 24 hours of each other.

I included the soldier’s prayer on the back of the quilt.