March 2011 Archives

We wrote a while back about Coast & Canyon Wildlife Rehabilitation, a group that's based in Malibu but has several satellite volunteers here in the South Bay.

On Saturday they'll be sponsoring an online fundraising event called a "squirrel-a-thon." Live cams will give you a close-up view of a variety of wildlife being cared for and fed by volunteers. There also will be viewer question and answer sessions. Among the critters featured will be baby squirrels, chipmunks, skunks and opossums.

It runs from 12:02 to 4:02 p.m. and promises to be both fun and educational. Great for kids and families.

You can sign up for it here (scroll to the bottom of the page).

 

Yes, we know, their adoptions are every Saturday.

But we like to give a little extra plug sometimes to our many local rescue groups that labor year-round to re-home some really great animals.

Animals Rule holds adoptions from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays outside Creative Pet Supply, 305 N. Harbor Blvd., San Pedro.

Among the dogs currently listed on the group's website are Jake, a very cute black, mixed breed puppy (that's him at the left), and Tiny Tim, a 4-pound Yorkshire terrier (right) whose owner had to give him up to move into an assisted living facility.

The group also has a number of Chihuahuas right now. Check out all their dogs at the website.

It's helpful to fill out an application in advance for a specific dog (applications are available online). The website also has some helpful advice in deciding to adopt a dog. For information, email info@animalsrule.org

This may be one for the Dog Whisperer. But if any of our readers have any suggestions, I'm all ears.

Cowboy, my border collie-Australian shepherd mix (about 5 years old), has very recently begun balking at jumping into the back cargo area of my Jeep Liberty.



Worried that he was developing some kind of hip or back problem, I took him to my vet. The X-rays and blood work all came back normal. His back, hips, knees are all just fine (and when he does finally make the jump into the car, he does so with ease).

So. The vet said it must be "behavioral."

My first course of action was clearing out the cargo area as much as possible. Maybe some of the "stuff" was making him nervous (especially a baby gate I'd recently used as a makeshift barricade between the front seats and the cargo area). 

I've tried giving him a choice of doors, putting the seats up, putting the seats down. But he's continued to balk -- a couple times I've even resorted, after 10 minutes of unsuccessful pleading, to getting a friend at the dog park to help me just lift him into the car (I take the front, she takes the back).

I've tried putting his front paws up onto the folded down seat, but he strongly resists this and I'm afraid I'm only spooking him more by physically forcing the issue.

Cowboy loves riding in the car, which usually ends in a destination and activity he enjoys -- a hike on the Peninsula or a romp at the the dog park, the dog beach or a rare excursion to the snow in the mountains.

He's a rescue and has always been on the timid side. This issue has cropped up so recently, I just can't figure out what's going on in his complex doggie mind. My next strategy is to use some very high-end treats.

Any other thoughts?? Once he's in the car, he's just fine. Have any of you encountered something like this with your dogs?

Pumpkin and Oso have been at the shelter since Feb. 22 and appear to be great dogs -- especially if they can be kept together.

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PUMPKIN: ID#A1191256

I am an unaltered female, tan and black German shepherd dog. The shelter thinks I am about 7 years old. I weigh approximately 66 pounds.

It's all a fundraiser for Pedro Pet Pals, the nonprofit formed a couple years ago to raise funds and help support the Harbor Area Animal Care Center at 957 N. Gaffey St., San Pedro.

Los Angeles Police officer Joe Buscaino, one of five candidates running for San Pedro Honorary Mayor, is sponsoring the "meet and greet" gathering at a private home in South Shores. Pedro Pet Pals, one of the charities he's selected to support during his campaign, will be the beneficiary of the money raised.


Tickets are $25 for the Shorty Rossi event and available at Domenick's Pizza House, 28360 S. Western Ave. (that's in the Smart & Final shopping center), Rancho Palos Verdes. Tickets also are available at the door that night. The event runs from 4-8 p.m. Saturday (March 26).

Call 310-707-2108.

Animal welfare groups are doing their part in the wake of the three-fold disaster that has devastated parts of Japan in the past 10 days. 

*****Update: Chloe has been found. Thanks all. 

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From Julia at Basset Rescue: 

Anyone in San Pedro/Wilmington Please be on the lookout for this dog who ran from her yard when she heard fireworks! 

She has been gone a few hours and her mom is hysterical.....URGENT. Her name is Chloe and she is a bassador (basset lab mix)

Check out Daily Breeze columnist John Bogert's piece today on Diego.

So what do you think happened to Chuck the dog in the 4 years he went missing from his PVE family?

Today's Daily Breeze story by colleague Art Marroquin tells the story of how Chuck, adopted in April 2002 as a 2-month-old puppy by Eric and Lisa Nakkim, got out of their gate on Jan. 7, 2007, and vanished -- until last Friday.

The black Labrador/pit bull mix had gotten loose before, but always returned home. This time, he never came back. The family took out newspaper ads and posted fliers, but Chuck never turned up.

"Every night, especially when it was cold, we would think about that dog and wonder where he was," said Eric Nakkim, an emergency room doctor at Torrance Memorial Medical Center.

Then, out of the blue last Friday, a woman called the family to report that she'd found their dog near the Torrance Civic Center. Linda Sheldon had just got off a bus and was walking to her job at City Hall when she spotted Chuck near Maple Avenue and El Dorado Street.

An animal lover, she coaxed the dog over to her and noticed his collar with a silver tag -- the same collar and tag Chuck wore when he escaped. The last number of the phone number was rubbed bare, so it took a few tries, but Sheldon finally reached the Nakkims.

After a checkup with the vet, Chuck is happily back home -- thin, but otherwise OK -- and enjoying a lot of attention from the Nakkims and their two children, Kai and Koa.

Daily Breeze photo by Scott Varley


"We're just so thankful that this good Samaritan took the time to check on a missing dog, and that he's finally home with us," Lisa Nakkim said. 

"It's just like seeing a long-lost friend," her husband said. "I'm ecstatic and overwhelmed with emotion."

Oh, and Chuck is now sleeping indoors -- all the gates to the home are now secured.

So where was Chuck all that time -- and with his tag still on, why didn't anyone report him sooner? Was he perhaps hanging out with a homeless companion?

The Nakkims will probably never know for sure. And Chuck's not talking.

Spring is coming, a time of new beginnings.

So how about joining a dog obedience class with your pooch?

These classes are invaluable in providing a good bonding experience between dog and owner -- but also for getting some of those basic skills down. The groups are usually small enough that personal help is always available from the instructors; they're held at local parks so you can get out in the sunshine.

Need more reasons? They're really a lot of fun.

The Lomita Obedience Training Club offers classes for dogs and owners at all levels, from beginning obedience to advanced workshops. If you want to have some fun -- and your dog has had beginning obedience and knows the fundamentals -- how about learning how to get your dog to do some tricks to music?

Most classes meet on Tuesday nights, with a couple offerings on Wednesday mornings, beginning this week (March 8 and 9). The class sessions last for six to seven weeks and cost $70 through the Lomita city recreation and parks department.

Click here for the class schedule. Signups (cash or check only)  are in the office at Lomita Park, 24428 Eshelman Ave., Lomita, which also is where the classes meet. If you can't sign up this time, new sessions will begin in May again.

There are descriptions of all the classes on the website also.

Questions? Call 310-530-4814.

 

One of my colleagues brought my attention to this tweet by the Torrance Fire Department. Apparently Carmi, a cocker spanel, wound up stranded on a cliff on Sunday. Rescuers arrived, but the dog managed to make her own way down the hillside and wound up at the bottom (unharmed) where she was reunited with her owner.

On Sunday, responded to the cliff at Via Valmonte & Hawthorne Bl for a stranded dog, (Carmi the cocker spaniel). Fire units placed themselves at the top & bottom of the cliff and set up a rope rescue system. As our Firefighter daringly made his way down to Carmi's location, Carmi began to traverse the hillside on her own. Upon reaching the bottom unharmed, Carmi was reunited with her owner.

California ferret owners think so.

SACI - ID#A1192010 My name is Saci and I am a neutered male, black and white Shih Tzu. The shelter thinks I am about 6 years old.I weigh approximately 16 pounds. I have been at the shelter since Feb 27, 2011 Nothing wrong with this handsome little boy, that a good bath and a bit of grooming didn't take care of.  He still looks a bit dazed in this photo at having all of that awful, matted hair removed, but he's ready to go -- just needs a rescue to help him find a new home!!!

TOFFEE - ID#A1178488 My name is Toffee and I am a neutered male, tan Pit Bull Terrier mix. The shelter thinks I am about 8 months old. I weigh approximately 32 pounds. I have been at the shelter since Feb 13, 2011 Is it a bird, is it a plane??  No, it's a very cute puppy with great big ears!!!  Adorable little pitbull mix.  But one eye is damaged and, I believe, blind.  Hey, nobody's perfect! ---  He looks a bit bull terrier-ish, so he's a smaller build than a regular pitbull.  He is now out in the general kennel population, but needs your help, please?

The folks at Basset Rescue are sending out a plea for donations to help a dog named Rex, recently taken in by the group and being treated.

The dog was one of two hounds reportedly dumped near Acton in September. But no one could catch them. When a new family moved into the neighborhood, one of the children was able to leash Rex to a bush and contact rescuers.

He was brought in on Thursday and has eaten several small meals but is very underweight and the prognosis is "touch and go." A veterinarian is working with Basset Rescue as they try to nurture him back to health.

You can read more about Rex at their website. There also is a place where people can contribute to his ongoing care.