Urgent Help Needed For Dogs At Lamar Dixon
Mark Steinway called me and asked me to cross post this immediately. These are the dogs that are left over, that no one wants to deal with. I have no idea what the future may hold for these dogs, but they're asking that they get to qualified people who cam check them out. They originally thought that they had a couple of days, but they just foudn out that they have an airlift tomorrow to L.A.
Pasado’s Safe Haven
Temporary Staging Area in Raceland, LA.
Contact: Kim (425) 283-8307 Pasado’s
Alternate Contact (not affiliated with Pasado’s Safe Haven): Pia (323) 899-4160 at Lamar Dixon
URGENTLY NEEDED: NEW FACILITIES AND TRANSPORT FOR REMAINING PETS IN TEMPORARY STAGING AREAS IN GONZALES AND RACELAND, LA
Raceland and Gonzales, LA At least 100 pets, mostly pit bulls, in the Lamar Dixon temporary staging area urgently need immediate transport and new facilities. Quarters at Lamar Dixon in Gonzales are slated to close Tuesday and Pasado’s temporary facilities plan to close as soon as possible. Many of these pets are hard to handle under their present living conditions. Pasado’s Safe Haven is dedicated to a strict no-kill approach, but there are no guarantees that other facilities will have the same standards.
“We’ve worked too hard for too long to deny these dogs the opportunity for a good home at this point,” says Mark Steinway, Pasado’s Safe Haven’s co-founder and humane investigator. “Everybody who can must step up at this point to see that these dogs have a chance to thrive.”
Many of these pets will need extra work, including training with experienced dog trainers and handlers, to rehabilitate them. However, all of the dogs initially identified as “aggressive” pets at Pasado’s have already improved behavior. (See Snarly’s story.)
STRESSFUL CONDITIONS: After the trauma of the hurricane, new stresses awaited these pets upon rescue. Their new quarters were crowded buildings teeming with other anxious pets, where they endured rushed care and handling by untrained volunteers. Some of these pets have become hard to handle, yet at Pasado’s staging area in Raceland, we have seen phenomenal successes when our “aggressive” dogs have had the attention of animal behaviorists who have, in turn, trained the volunteers. “They just went through a lot; every single one of them is placeable although there will be some that will require extra reassurance,” says animal behaviorist Prima Mosi of Protective Animal Welfare Services, who volunteered at Pasado’s staging area in Raceland.
“SNARLY’S” STORY: Take the case of # 1163, a skinny female pit bull. She spent her first two days in the shelter cowering in the back of the cage baring teeth to all who passed by. When she was pulled out to potty with a rabies pole her growls and screeches set the whole building’s dogs barking. On day three a volunteer sat by the cage, and without making eye contact, fed her wet food through the wire openings. On day four after only receiving food via hand feeding, you could look “Snarly” in the eye without a reaction. By day five she came out after careful noosing with a nylon lead and a food treat. On day seven she wagged her tail for the first time and hasn’t stopped since. This is the kind of time and treatment many of our “aggressive” pets need. Yet they may never get the chance if we don’t pull them out of their current facilities now.
Please help buy time for these dogs. Send the word out to all your pet contacts. We need to work together to find new facilities, transport, expert handlers, and foster and permanent homes.
CONTACTS:
Kim at Pasado’s: (425) 283-8307
Pia at Lamar Dixon: (323) 899-4160
Some of our volunteer animal behaviorists:
Prima Mosi with Protection of Animal Welfare Services: (512) 288-9856
Carol Christopherson with Florida Service Dogs: (800) 644-9963
Rhonda Steele of Pet Pawlor Inc. with Sarah Inc. (256) 759-0273
