When was the last time you saw this???

I am so proud of the 13 Multnomah County Animal Shelter Pit-bulls that took part in the annual Troutdale Summerfest Parade. Our theme is "Pitties in Pink" (tm)! With over 80 participants in the parade, cowboys shooting blanks out of rifles, tuba and drum bands, and pouring rain, our pitties did AMAZING! Our volunteers are pretty special too! Thanks you guys for BRINGING IT!

To join MCAS's amazing volunteer team click HERE.

Maple modeling one of our "Pitties In Pink" looks!

An inspiring story that led me to Oregon

While living in Los Angeles, I met "Peaches" on a Tuesday at North Central Shelter. I found her in her run, a pathetic sight. She had made herself small enough to fit on one tiny hand towel that was placed in her run as a bed. She was clearly blind, and shaking... badly... to the point where I thought she might have some kind of nerve disorder or brain damage.

She had been bred, and was still lactating, no sign of the puppies.

When I inquired about her at the front, staffer Delicia exclaimed, "I love that dog!!! You have to meet her!" I agreed to take some pictures and network her.

Well, Delicia was right. Peaches was amazing. Super sweet and full of life. She was an owner surrender, dumped on Sunday, and red-listed because she was blind. Peaches had until Friday before they would PTS. I sent out an email blast that night.

By Wednesday afternoon, I had Luv-A-Bull Pitbull Rescue in Eugene, OR willing to take Peaches on. I had a foster lined up for her, and transport!

Thursday, I bailed her out! We promptly went to the eye doctor to have her eyes diagnosed: advanced Glaucoma due to blunt trauma. She was in severe pain (hence the nervous shaking) and needed to have an enucleation. Everyone rallied to raise funds to pay for her surgery, and a week later, her surgery was performed by Dr. Silverman at Complete Animal Eye Care, in Sherman Oaks.

Peaches recovered at my house, and three months later we were on our way to Luv-A-Bull!

Her transition to Luv-A-Bull went incredibly smoothly. She bonded instantly with the other dogs.

It was exactly what she needed, and I couldn't have been more pleased.

Peaches became particularly close to a handsome fella named "Rhino." He is pretty irresistable. Rhino would guide Peaches on the trails during their walks, and ALWAYS let her win at tug-o-war.

Peaches spent 2 months with her friends at Luv-A-Bull. Last week she was ADOPTED by an amazing family. Peaches lives in their home with their other special needs dog "Moxie" on a 40 acre farm! Peaches latest pastimes are snoozing in the sun, swimming in the creek, and riding shotgun on the ATV.

David Reeker (Peaches' new daddy) says on Facebook:

"So this is Peaches. Peaches is a rescue from a LA shelter. She has no eyes, but doesn't let that slow her down much. She is the newest member of our happy dog pack, and will live the rest of her life sniffing her way around the ranch. She is one of the sweetest beings I have ever met, and I feel very lucky to have her here."

She is truly a special girl!!!

Who is Maple?

This is Maple today. One year ago, she was dumped at East Valley Shelter in Los Angeles after being bred, suffering from scarcoptic mange and, a traumatic, high impact injury to her right hind leg, shattering her femur into 7 pieces. Here is her original plea video:

Veronica Perry sent out this photo as a last ditch plea to save Maple from being PTS.

Lee Goldberg from Animal Advocates Alliance left work in the middle of the day from her law firm job to pick Maple up and get her to a vet. (thank you lee!)

Animal Advocates Alliance took Maple to 6 different vets before they found one willing to put her leg back together. The first six wanted to amputate because it was in so many pieces. Thank goodness we fought for her.

She was to be spayed while under anasthesia, but surgeons decided against proceeding. It took them so long to put her leg back together, they didn't feel it was safe to keep her under anesthesia any longer. The spay was put off until one month later.

Two weeks into her recovery, Maple went into labor. She was pregnant through the whole ordeal! She gave birth to 2 live puppies, but with her scarcoptic mange, we had to find bottle feeders for the babies.

Happily, the babies survived and were placed into forever loving homes! It was at this time that Maple came to my house as a foster.

I quickly discovered that Maple didn't know how to take a walk. She was terrified of walking along the sidewalk. It took me about 6 weeks to get her walking comfortably, and going into stores.

But at my house, Maple was a perfect fit! After seeing how great she was with my neighbor's children and my own kitty, i introduced her to a litter of kittens I was fostering upstairs. It was love. She raised them as if they were her little babies she never got to mother.

All the kittens got adopted, but one, and she got older and older without any interest. Maple and her became great pals. However, a great home did finally come forward for Maple's kitten. The kitten's last night at our house was a sad one. It was as if Maple and her baby cat knew it was there last few hours together. There was snuggling, kissing, and tears on my part.

I do believe it was that evening that I decided to keep Maple for myself!

A few months later we packed up our things and made our escape from L.A. to the beautiful Northwest.

And here we are today!

And a video of Maple no longer scared to walk or run!!!