Downtown Dog Rescue in partnership with AngelDogs Foundation are offering a FREE AKC-certified “Canine Good Citizenship” Test given during the Coliseum dog class happening on Sunday 7/24. There is no charge for the test and ALL breeds are welcome to partake. There is also no penalty for not passing and it would serve as a great way to find out what you would need to practice on with your dog in order to pass.

Downtown’s goal is to certify as many Pit Bull-type dogs as possible and to give back to the surrounding communities that often lack the information and access to the Canine Good Citizenship Certification Program.

Also: CGC Certification is a VERY important asset for anyone who rents and also owns a Pit Bull-type dog. Passing CGC could mean that your dog may be the exception to any draconian “No Pit Bull” rules that are often levied out against renters in apartment or condo complexes. This whole discriminatory reality is an awful problem in and of itself, but taking this step would only give you more justification for going up against a landlord hellbent on stereotyping your dog.

If you have a friendly dog and are interested in taking advantage of this free service, please RSVP to: Lori@Modernica.net

Class begins at 9:30AM in front of the entrance to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum off MLK Blvd. (Park at the Hoover lot)
Coliseum address = 3939 S. Figueroa St.

How’s this for a story? The truth hurts, and this happens ALL THE TIME.

Owner adopts a 6-month-old puppy out of Carson shelter.
Owner takes her home and names her Bebita.
Owner has her for 6 years as a family pet.
Owner brings her back to the very same shelter (Carson) that she was adopted out of and dumps her back on their doorstep 6 years later.
Carson shelter takes her in on 7/6.
Carson shelter kills her on 7/14.
Owner probably never bothers looking into how things turned out–but we did, and she is dead.
RIP to Bebita, as these pictures speak to her submissive and sweet personality…

So I’m creating these types of posts as surefire ways to backup important Facebook notes prior to them being “deleted” by Facebook.
Unfortunately in this specific case, Facebook altered my page and totally did away with the below note… No judge. No jury. No legitimacy to the complaint whatsoever. Yet it was still deleted, and then threats were levied my way by Facebook’s dictatorship. Awesome. Well, nothing shall be deleted here!

To see my entire note in screenshot form, click the below thumbnail:

»Karen’s note, concerning the discovery of Riley’s dead body«

To see Karen’s note in screenshot form, click the below thumbnail:

»Kyle Stotler: DNA/DNR/DNT Facebook group«

So I’m creating this post as a surefire way to backup an important Facebook note prior to it possibly being “deleted” by Facebook due to some anonymous person (ahem, Diane) reporting it…
Sadly, this actually happens!! And Facebook does nothing to check the legitimacy of the complaints–they just scrub material and move on, as seen HERE.

»My original note, posted on April 4, 2011«

To see the entire note in screenshot form, click the below thumbnail:

How does one feel it’s okay to play the role of a “victim” when in reality they are most definitely NOT any type of victim at all?
It’s one of the strangest things–and based on how this situation played out privately, I have no problems with putting the truth out for all to see.
After all, it could have cost Pirate his life. Luckily it didn’t, but Carson could have killed him at any time. His review date was 7/1. The manager over at Carson emailed me personally on 7/5 (because I had a networking IP on Pirate) and told me “you have until tomorrow to CTA the dog or your networking hold will be removed.” We found rescue the day of 7/7, and then an agreeable puller–and for the next 75+ hours were told 1 thing by the puller while she did (and didn’t do) another.

Below is the situation in her own words. Nothing is being twisted by me, as I show you the entire conversation from both sides. I would have never released this publicly but after it was made abundantly clear by Parisa how she would play her cards, I felt it highly appropriate.

This BEAUTIFUL dog is named Azul and he is currently at the Carson shelter in the 3rd building. His ID# is A4307392 and he is extremely shy and scared from whatever he has been through already in his young life. It takes awhile to gain his trust, but after 3 visits he finally felt comfortable enough to stand in front of me and show me he was no longer scared…

He is ABSOLUTELY NOT aggressive, and if/when Carson decides to get around to temp-testing him, that is probably what they will try to claim… They use “shyness” against dogs, they use “uncertainty” against dogs, they use “being frightened” against dogs, and so on and so forth… It’s a mislabeling fiasco over at this shelter–as many of my prior posts have attempted to illustrate–and hopefully we can continue to bring light to these continuous absurdities…

Please share/network the heck out of Azul’s video, because he has VERY limited time there… I have no doubt that the shelter will QUICKLY use his shyness against him and my fear is that they will be ending his life at the first opportunity that presents itself… This is as URGENT of a plea as a plea can be! Going out for 1 very special soul, and praying to God that they don’t extinguish his little light…

Him ~ “This is what we do for aggressi….., err I mean dominant breed dogs.”
Me ~ Wait, you just said aggressive…
Him ~ “Oh, no I didn’t.”
Me ~ Well, actually you did, you kind of stopped yourself…
Him ~ “Well, if I did I didn’t mean to, I meant dominant breed.”

A few minutes ago I read a despicable piece of news… It’s one of those things that literally makes your heart actually hurt from knowing that stuff like this ACTUALLY HAPPENS. The dog pictured below is Bambi (#A1221591). She was located at the Harbor shelter in San Pedro, CA…

I say “was” because Bambi was killed at 12:51p (yesterday/Sunday) WHILE HER FOREVER FAMILY WAS ACTUALLY WAITING IN THE LOBBY FOR HER RELEASE…

Does it get any more awful? I mean, just trying to put myself in that family’s shoes, I can’t. I cannot imagine how they must be feeling, and my thoughts go out to them on this day… Then you have the poor volunteers–who apparently had organized this situation down to a tee, and who were very much aware that her new family was coming in to get her… Pretty much devastating. RIP Bambi, for this kind of stuff is completely avoidable and should have never happened, ever.

So what gives? Which staff member erroneously made this counter-decision? A worthy question that at some point will hopefully have an answer. To me, there is just not an excuse in the world that would ever legitimately justify something like this happening, and it speaks to the supremely poor attention to detail by someone (multiple people?) working on the inside… Fact is that this call had to be made by somebody–15 dogs just don’t euthanize themselves mid-day on a Sunday when numerous kennels are already sitting empty… Hopefully there is going to be a push for some accountability, and not the pushing of this story down the memory hole!

Again, please click HERE to read a public Facebook note on the topic, written by Nicole Salter…

The Harbor facility is one of the LAAS (city) shelters being overseen by Brenda Barnette, who is the general manager for all of the city shelters… At this moment I personally do not have the name of the manager onsite at Harbor, so I guess the only suggestion I can make is to contact Ms. Barnette directly…

Department of Animal Services
221 N. Figueroa St.
5th Floor
Los Angeles, CA 90012
Phone ~ 888-452-7381
Fax ~ 213-482-9511

Brenda Barnette ~ General Manager
213-482-9558
brenda.barnette@lacity.org

Kathleen Davis ~ Asst. General Manager
213-482-9527
kathy.davis@lacity.org

Board of Animal Services Commissioners
Melanie Ramsayer ~ President
Ruthanne Secunda ~ Vice President
Tariq Khero ~ Commissioner
Theresa Macellaro ~ Commissioner
Kathleen Riordan ~ Commissioner

You can call 888-452-7381 to then be directed specifically to Harbor, but according to their website they are closed on Mondays.

This is something that I recorded a few days ago… It is meant to note my experiences with this specific institution, and my opinions based around different decisions being made & actions being taken there… Feel free to share, as the sole purpose of recording these pieces is to start a conversation about the practices that are being implemented at this location… Dialogue is always healthy, and I embrace it all, agreeable or not. This specific video is centered around the topic of “temperament-testing.” This will not be the last video.

THANK YOU ALL for heavily networking these dogs… Lots of work went on behind the scenes and I appreciate the hell out of those people who cared enough to make these saves possible! Lyla already has a FOREVER HOME, and both Bart and Pirate (the dog pictured in my “Surrendering” video) will be going to rescue.

Once more details are straightened out I will post how donations can be made towards both Bart and Pirate… In the mean time, here is a video taken today at the shelter:

As you can see, these specific dogs know what’s up… All 3 sporting big grins, they must know…