Teddy

Kate, Please use my experience to help support The Dog Spot Rescue in your battle to keep your organization going strong and saving lives of animals. I had been looking for the right dog for over a year and looked at many rescue groups in the process. I called the Dog Spot Rescue in January of 2009 and discussed the availablity of dogs and adoption process with one of their very patient and kind volunteers, Melissa. I went to the Davis Farmer's Market s week later to spend time getting to know some of the dogs. I appreicated that all of their dogs were spayed/neutered, clean and up to date on their shots. Each dog was in an appropiate sized playpen and the volunteers allowed us to wlk as many dogs as we wished. I was lucky enough to find my dog Tate that Saturday and just two months later, he is a part of our family and can't ingaine life without him. He was fixed, had his shots, rabies tag, and even given a number of a local vet who had cared for Tate. If not for The Dog Spot Rescue, Tate would have not survived. If not for the Davis Farmers' market, I would have never had the relaxed atmophere to sit on the grass for hours with Tate to bond. I can't imagine the life Tate was having at the shelter before he was rescued by The Dog Spot. Dirty,scared,or on the euthanasia list. Today, he is happy and healthy thanks to Kate and all the volunteers. Thank you for giving us a new family member. We hope that The Dog Spot will continue to save dogs from certain death. Best regards, Margaret Honeycutt

Tuffy

Dear Kate, I wanted to write to you let you know what a wonderful experience we had adopting Tuffy from Dog Spot. My husband and I lost our last dog of 10 years to cancer 18 months ago. We enjoyed the initial break from having a dog and certainly one of our rescue cats also enjoyed being in a dog free home, however my husband and I both found ourselves starting to look at dogs again on petfinder. We saw many lovely looking dogs during our internet searches and I have always loved the herding and gundog breeds however with a new baby and a cat who might appreciate a smaller dog I realized these breeds were probably not right for us right now. I felt for sure that with the foreclosure crisis there must be nice family dogs out there who were good with kids and cats who would fit our needs but how to find that dog. Adoption is so often a stab in the dark you really don’t know what you are getting. The same is true for puppies but with a puppy you get less of someone else’s baggage but you get toilet training and chewing instead, neither of which we could do right now. Eventually I came across a little terrier type called Ruby who was with your organization. I read her thoughtful profile and thought she might be a good fit and on your informative website I found another little dog called Tuff also a potential possibility. I called you and Ruby had found a home already and we spoke about Tuffy and I found your honesty about his shy personality very helpful. We decided to come to the Davis farmers market the next day to meet Tuffy in person. As you had mentioned he was very shy and yet he lit up when he saw you he was clearly happy and wagging his tail. Being able to talk to you and find out that he had lived with one of your helpers who had a cat and a small baby was very reassuring to us. As was the weeks trial because it really was hard to see his true personality when he was so obviously overwhelmed by all the visitors. Our last dog who I loved was a major project but we just can’t do a major project right now so knowing we could have a week to see how things settled out was a huge benefit for us. Everything you said about Tuffy and his personality has been true. He is a lovely little dog. He does not bother our cats is remarkably patient with our daughter who thinks he is the best thing so much more fun than the cats who always walk off when she wants to stare at them. Of course there have been a few kinks in these first 2 weeks there always are with a new dog as we all figure each other out but the foundational things about him that we asked you about are true and he a wonderful little dog. It was clear to us from visiting with you at the farmers market that the dog spot is most interested in finding good life long homes for the dogs. The paperwork that came with Tuffy his medical record etc was of great help and shows great care since you have had him. Being able to take him for a walk away from the other dogs to see how he handled it was a very good idea and not something I see any other rescues offer. In fact my experience with other rescues is that it is almost as if they don’t want you to adopt their animals there appears to be no consideration of the adopting families needs only that of the dog. Clearly it is a two way relationship if it is going to work and it seems Dog Spot gets that. The Dog Spot offers a much needed service to dogs who need a fresh start on life and to those of us out there who want to do our bit to adopt a dog but need reassurance and honest info as to what each dogs needs are and abilities are. I would not hesitate to recommend your organization to anyone else looking to adopt a dog. Thank you for all you do and for helping our family to find such a lovely dog. We hope to see you at the farmers market soon so that we can bring Tuffy by for a visit. Best regards, Clair Thunes, PhD