October is a great time to find a new best friend. Kathy Vara reports for the NBC4 News at 11 p.m. on Sunday Oct. 22, 2023.
If you are thinking of adding a furry friend to your family, October may be just the perfect time since it’s Adopt a Shelter Dog Month.
At any given animal shelter, rows of kennels house dogs seeking their fur-ever families. As they wait to be whisked away and welcomed into a loving household, animal networkers, volunteers and fosters do all they can to help make their lives comfortable until these animals get adopted.
“Our goal is to get every dog out there every day and it’s great when potential adopters come in they can see their personality,” said Don Belton of the LA County Animal Care and Control.
With shelters beyond capacity, many dogs are limited on time in joining their forever household. In an effort to truly showcase the dogs’ true temperaments, LA County does what it can, such as hosting events around the region.
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Clear the Shelters
“You get to see the personality of an animal far beyond what they may look like in a kennel,” Belton said.
As hundreds of dogs in the county wait for their adoptions, those running the animal shelters are in need of any help they can get. That assistance comes in the form of volunteers and low or no-cost veterinary services.
“There’s many people on the front lines who work so hard every day to get one single dog out of the shelter,” said Viola Sator, an animal networker.
Sator runs Pawlyamorous, a website selling dog-themed clothing, and donates a portion of her profits to animal rescues. She also has a passion for networking dogs to get them adopted.
“Every now and then one gets to me really badly and I try my best to network them and somehow get them seen,” she said.
Viola tries to help dogs that don’t show well in their kennels or get little or no interest – like Lucy and Pondy, two longtime residents at the Baldwin Park Animal Shelter. Although these two pups are staff favorites, they’ve yet to find their own homes.
“They are so gentle. They take treats very gently,” Lisa Lindberg Arnold, a volunteer, said.
In all the months they’ve been at the Baldwin Park shelter, these pups have truly blossomed thanks to the hard work of the staff and volunteers.
“The first time we saw her tail wag, it brought tears to our eyes,” Arnold said.
So if you have space in your heart and in your home, just know there are people doing their part to help you find that perfect pet.
With it being Adopt a Shelter Dog Month, adoption fees are waived for dogs at all County Department of Animal Care and Control’s animal care centers. For more information, click here.
Those who are interested in adopting Lucy and Pondy can find them at the Baldwin Park Animal Shelter. Lucy's ID is A5571807 and Pondy's ID is A5571809.
