This little kitten hungrily gobbles up food after she was rescued from a storm drain this afternoon. People passing by the storm drain could hear the kitten calling out from below the ground but couldn’t see her. Oakland Animal Services received numerous calls about this kitten in distress and Animal Control Officer Valladon responded. He called for City Maintenance to come out and they opened the drain for him. However, it seemed hopeless – there were three long tunnels for the kitten to go into – two over four feet long and another that seemed endless. The kitten was cold, shivering and very scared and kept backing up deeper into one of the holes. After much patience, Valladon was able to grab the kitten and bring her back to the Shelter. She’s now well fed, warm and waiting to go into foster care with Hopalong Animal Rescue.
Success Stories
Headed for Search/Rescue After 8 Months!
That Something Special: Oakland Animal Shelter Dog Becomes Potential Search and Rescue!
Update 5/13/10: Photo of Lucy training in Red Rock, Nevada
Update 5/8/10: Photo of Lucy starting her training in Nevada
Sometimes a dog just has that special something. And even in a busy animal shelter where the number of “residents” can top a hundred on any given day, that something can still shine through. And for one particular dog named Lucy that something—in this case an unstoppable spirit—has carried this retriever/pit bull mix far from Oakland and into a new life in Las Vegas that has great promise.
As of Saturday, April 30, Lucy the stray became Lucy the potential search and rescue dog. A plane ride to Las Vegas. A home of her own. The possibility of working as a search-and-rescue dog. . . . It’s an exciting beginning—a new chapter—for this unstoppable pup, and a great ending to an eight-month-old story that began when Lucy showed up at the Oakland Animal Shelter in October 2009.
Almost from the moment Lucy arrived at the Oakland Animal Shelter, staff and volunteers could see her intelligence and enthusiasm.
“It’s funny how some animals are suddenly ‘volunteer favorites,’” noted Oakland Animal Shelter Director Megan Webb. “Lucy just struck a chord with everyone she met. She’s so smart; that and her drive—and her spirit—gave us high hopes for a good match for her, whether it was as a search-and-rescue trainee or part of someone’s family.”
Knowing little about Lucy’s past life, shelter staff and volunteers were amazed by how quickly she picked up on things. “She learned t sit in a few minutes!” wrote one volunteer on the online volunteer board. “Does everyone know Lucy can open the kennel gate?” wrote another. “I do now.” And Lucy, everyone also soon learned, was all about the ball. Volunteer mentor Amy Haddix commented, “She’s a great retriever, and she’s also good at sniffing out her favorite toy. We would put her to work in the exercise yard looking for tennis balls that had been lost in the ivy. She would find seven or eight of them in a 15-minute play session. And she loved every minute of it.”
It was Lucy’s passion for the ball, in fact, that led staff and volunteers to think about her potential as a search-and-rescue, or SAR, dog. “We put her through several tests to assess her ability to train as a search-and-rescue dog,” Webb explained, “These tests included throwing a ball, spinning her around in circles to see if she would still go look for the ball, hiding a ball to see if she was able to get it . . .and she passed them all!” Haddix particularly enjoyed videotaping Lucy’s SAR evaluation, which was conducted by Animal Care Coordinator Martha Cline. “We purposefully left the video unedited so that the evaluators could see that Lucy was spot-on for every task. She found the ball every time with no distractions. It was like watching your child ace her final examination. We were very excited with her results.”
Even though Lucy had passed difficult tests with flying colors, finding a group to take her into a SAR program wasn’t easy because of her “part pit bull” background. Fortunately for Lucy, her backers weren’t giving up. They contacted Best Friends Animal Society for advice in promoting shelter dogs for search and rescue. Best Friends provided a nationwide list of SAR organizations, and volunteers started distributing Lucy’s video via email to the various groups. Word spread through the SAR community, and a few days later, Lisa Myers called from Las Vegas, looking for a dog to train for search and rescue. She had seen Lucy’s video and knew the dog had potential. Myers, a nurse as well as a dog trainer, is part of the Nevada Search and Rescue Task Force, the vice president of a new Schutzhund club Der Nevada Schutzhund Verein, and a Canine Good Citizen (CGC) and therapy dog evaluator.
And in that moment, Lucy’s life changed.
As Lucy’s new handler, Myers has high hopes. “Lucy is in the evaluation phase, which will last for a while,” she explains. “I want her to have ample opportunity to prove her abilities. Right now we are getting to know each other, and she is getting to know my other two dogs. She is learning the boundaries of the house and yard and the routine. We play ball, and she searches for the ball in the house. I am looking at her desire and willingness to follow through despite distractions. . . and her desire to hunt.”
Myers plans to train Lucy and either keep her as one of her dogs or find a spot for her on the Nevada Search and Rescue Task Force. “There are many things to look at for a disaster dog: hunt drive, prey drive, solid nerve, agility. She looks good right now,” Myers said. And she added, “She is a very sweet-natured dog.”
Where Lucy goes from here depends a lot on her abilities. Sure there’s more to it than that, but ability is where it starts . . . that and a special something. . . .
Lucy’s Video of Her Being Tested for Search and Rescue
Lucy Getting Ready for Her Flight to Las Vegas!
Traumatized to Socialized
This is from Valerie a foster for OAS: “Last year, I became a cat foster for Oakland Animal Services. The four cats I was asked to foster had been left by a citizen outside the Shelter in a sealed plastic container in the hot summer sun. Luckily, they were found by Shelter staff before they died from heat and suffocation. They were so traumatized when OAS found them that they were in danger of being euthanized if someone wasn’t willing to foster them, until they were socialized and adoptable.
The next day I picked them up the nuclear family of cats – a mom, dad and their two tiny kittens.
The parents were indeed very frightened, but I felt confident that they would relax in a quiet home environment. We kept the family separated from our other cats in their own suite of rooms. I visited them frequently, petting them and talking to them, trying to calm them. Papa cat was the first to relax. He was a beautiful, svelte young grey tabby with enormous sea green eyes. He decided pretty quickly that he liked his new home, and started to seduce my husband and me with his good looks and charming ways. We had recently lost a great male cat, and papa cat, whom we called Griffin, let us know he would fit right in with our family.
Mama cat was more problematic. She was apparently traumatized by her experience in the plastic box, and I suspected she might have been feral. She was a petite little grey and white medium hair with stunning apple jade green eyes, and we called her Amélie.
The kittens were, of course, adorable, and quite lovely, with intense blue eyes; one sister almost white, the other grey. We named them Elsa and Emma after my husband’s nieces.
Griffin came down with a high fever in August. The OAS shelter director thought his symptoms may have been a delayed version of heat stroke from the plastic box trauma. Next Amélie came down with a fever, and then the little grey kitten, Emma, also came down with a fever. Willow, the volunteer “foster coordinator” at OAS and I were transporting cats and medicines back and forth between OAS and our house in north Berkeley for some time before everyone was well.
I hadn’t planned on my foster cats getting sick, but we’d already come to care for them and I didn’t mind the extra work. I’m most proud of little Emma, for hanging in there when she was so sick. I had to dropper feed her and give her two courses of antibiotics before her upper respiratory infection cleared. She started out the runt of the litter, but now she’s surpassed her sister in weight. And she is so loving! Her eyes turned a soft golden green, and both she and her Siamese-looking sister have big fluffy tails.
The kittens were easily tamed, being kittens, but Amélie was another matter. She was terrified of my husband, which hurt his feelings as he loves cats and is always gentle with them. I think Amélie may have been traumatized by her memories of a man putting her and her family into the sealed plastic box.
We still planned to give up Amélie, Emma and Elsa for adoption when they were well. But something happened along the way, and by the time everyone was well we had just grown so attached to the little family we decided in the end to keep all of them!
Something I’ve really enjoyed with this rare cat family is watching the papa interact with the kittens. He’s very sweet and tolerant with them, he licks and plays with them, and sleeps cuddled up with them. I had no idea.
Finally even our feral Amélie has grown tame. Now she lies on my chest and purrs her heart out, and even lets my husband pet her. Griffin decided that the food here was great and has given up his youthful figure for a more filled-out, paterfamilias form. We keep the cats indoors, but one night Griffin sneaked out under my husband’s nose and was out all night, but in the morning he was right by the back door, all big green eyes: All he wanted was to come home to his family. – Valerie
If you’d like to learn about fostering and make a big difference in cat/kitten(s) life like Valerie did, please click here.
A Silly Photo of a Handsome Dog
This is Bob the Dog – a dog who came from Oakland Animal Services. His proud adopters – Alex and Jesus – are active OAS volunteers. They are both volunteer mentors. Alex volunteers with rabbits and dogs and Jesus works with the dogs and helps around the Shelter with things that need his handy skills. Bob got lucky with these two! Except, maybe, when they dress him up as Lady GaGa! Poor Bob…but we have to admit it’s pretty darn adorable and a very happy tail! Read more Happy Tails here.
There is a Dog Under There…
This dreaded, matted ball of fur is actually a dog! We sometimes get dogs who have not been properly groomed for years.
We then enlist the help of incredible volunteer groomers who transform these sad, forgotten dogs into much happier, much more comfortable beauties who are ready for adoption!
And, yes…the handsome dog below is the same dog as above!
Coco and Her Sister
This is Coco. She was at the Shelter for nearly a year and became a favorite of the volunteers and staff. She was then fostered by volunteer, Krystell, for about six months but she had no luck finding Coco a home. Krystell then realized that Coco had truly become a part of her family and she couldn’t part with her. Krystell adopted Cooc almost at the same time she had her new baby! Here is Coco and her sister:
Happy Tails! Too Cute!
Happy stories of animals we have rescued who are now living wonderful lives makes our work so enjoyable and rewarding! Read about Hoss in his new home. If you’ve adopted an animal from us, please share your “Happy Tail” with us!
OAS Featured on ABC Nightline News
Oakland Animal Service’s work to find homes for the huge number of chihuahuas that come into the Shelter was featured on ABC Nightline News – see video here: http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/video/home-sweet-home-9814548
Original story: OAS Transports 34 Dogs to Denver!
A Photograph Can Change an Animal’s Life
Some animals at the Shelter wait a long time before they are adopted. People overlook them and just don’t see their true beauty. This is what happened to Widget. He came to the Shelter when he was only about 4 months old. He was a cute, wiggly puppy but weeks turned into months and Widget grew up in the Shelter. He was turning into a gorgeous dog but, still, visitors to the Shelter would walk past him and he wasn’t getting adopted. This is when an incredible photograph can make all the difference. Professional photographer, Sara Atkins, donated her skills, as she has done many times before, to take photos of Widget and capture his true character and the handsome dog he had become! We were then able to publicize these photos and get attention for Widget where none had been before!
Widget was adopted this weekend…nearly six months after he first came to the Shelter! Thank you Sara and all of our volunteer photographers for changing so many animal’s lives.
Real Bones – a Danger to Dogs
Dogs can easily choke on real bones. This terrier was brought into the Shelter by someone who found the dog wandering the streets. She stated that he had been drooling and not eating. When we examined him, we found that he had a huge bone stuck in the back of his throat – with just enough room to let him breathe. We pulled the bone out and he immediately started drinking water and eating. It’s hard to say how long he had been in that condition. (Dog with bone)