We want to share a story. An incredible story, told first-hand by one of our volunteers, about our relationship with a community member and his dog, LaLa. It’s a story about helping an owner and pet in need, following through with promises, and moving one step closer to no more homeless pets in the Metro East. Thank you, Sara Cordevant, for sharing your story.
LaLa, aka Layla, was seen during outreach pretty big and pregnant. We couldn’t get in contact with her owner, but after trying the owner showed up at Gateway Pet Guardians Shelter asking for help. So GPG jumped into gear and took her in. She had all her puppies in a foster home (thank you Shanda for all the hard work with Layla and her pups) and they went on to be vetted and found forever homes. Then it was time for LaLa to get some TLC of her own. She went through heartworm treatment with us, which her owner helped pay for. He honestly had no idea what heartworms were until we shared knowledge of the disease. After that, she was spayed, and then after she healed from her spay we returned her to her owner. Some people may say well why? Can’t you make him surrender her?
This is why I love Gateway Pet Guardians and their mission! I couldn’t ask to be a part of a better organization! Not only are we helping out the animals in the community, but we are also helping out the people. Helping out the people and sharing knowledge about proper animal care is what is going to make a difference in this world! We could do rescue for the rest of our lives, but if we educate and help the people of the community become better pet owners, we hopefully one day won’t need to do rescue.
Don’t get me wrong, this wasn’t as easy as I thought it was going to be considering I get pretty attached to my foster dogs (I may have cried). But I believe LaLa is loved at her home and now her owner is armed with information on pet ownership and knows there is help out there. When he thought there was nowhere to turn to and didn’t know what to do, we didn’t judge him. We helped him. We love you Layla girl!
P.S. We are able to still see her and get updates on how she is doing. She is also on monthly heartworm and flea/tick preventatives now.
#keepingpetswiththeirpeopl
If you would like to learn more about how you can make a difference as a foster family, visit www.gatewaypets.com/foster. For more information about our community outreach program, visit www.gatewaypets.com/community-programs.