A sato has found his forever home!!

Dear Save a Sato,

  Thank you for saving this dog!  I wanted to share with you his story and his new home.

 

I was living in Boston this past June when I knew I wanted a dog companion in my home to join myself and my cat.  I knew that adopting a dog is a big decision, however, I had no idea how difficult it is to pick a dog.  I traveled online across the state looking at organizations that are no kill to adopt an adult dog (I know that adult dogs are harder to adopt).  After about my 9th dog I looked at, I went to Northeast animal shelter to look at their advertised Puerto Rican dogs.  I loved Scooby's profile, built, size, age, but of course I had to meet the dog in order to find out whether it's a good fit.  They had a wonderful room and outside play area where potential adoptee's can spend time the potential owners.  Scooby and I were in this meeting room for about 1 minute before he was sleeping next to my lap with his head over my legs!  He picked me almost instantly, and I took him home that day.  Throughout the next few days, Scooby followed me everywhere, slept on my clothes I would leave on the floor, and never really left my side.  I renamed him my white shadow because how attached he was to me.

 

Since the adoption day (back in June), Shadow has learned so much!  We spent about two months in Boston where he learned how to walk on leash, climb up and down stairs (though he still trips on them regularly), eat dog food, take pills for worms (he had pretty much every parasite a dog can have) learn to take car rides and how to live with a cat.  In August we moved out of Boston to Delaware and into a much larger apartment with a park right outside our door!  He is finishing his beginner training course and his instructor loves him!  Everyone is touched by his story.  Those who don't ask about what kind of dog he is, they notice his Puerto Rican collar he wears.  He is a snuggler, eager to please, gets along well with other dogs, quiet, well mannered, and no one can believe his background.  Please enjoy the pictures I have attached to this email, and let me know what I can do (other than spreading around the organizations name which I do anyway). 

 Sincerely,

Annie and Shadow

Shadow in his forever home

KARICIA’S HAPPY ENDING

Karicia is one of those special dogs that steal your heart as soon as you meet them.  She immediately caught my eye when I first visited the Save a Sato shelter in October of 2009 and it was her imploring brown eyes that convinced me that I had to become a SAS volunteer.

 Karicia arrived at the shelter on 09/14/09 when she was unceremoniously thrown over the fence; she was only a year old.   Although she is one of the most loving dogs that anyone could ever meet, being a pit bull mix made it difficult to send her to the states for adoption.  So for months I would see her once a week when I went to the shelter to help out.  I would always try to give her a little extra “play time” and one (sometimes two) rawhide bones, which she absolutely goes crazy for!

At the beginning of July a new volunteer, Elouise, started helping out at the SAS shelter.  She was in Puerto Rico for a couple of months with her boyfriend and had heard about SAS and wanted to help out.  Karicia caught her eye on the very first day so when she told me that she was interested in fostering a dog Karicia was the first choice.  When Elouise went to the shelter with her boyfriend Todd to pick up Karicia the connection was obvious and we said later that it was Karicia who picked them, not the other way around.  The moment they took her home they fell in love with her and it wasn't long before they decided to adopt her.  On 08/17/10 Karicia traveled to California to start a new life with her adopted family.  Gloria was very sad to see Karicia go, but she was also happy knowing that she had found a good home.  Karicia will always have a special place in her heart.

I recently received an update from Elouise and Todd and they tell me that Karicia (now “Krisa”) is VERY spoiled.  She gets trips to the dog park and doggy day care.  They tell me that Karicia’s favorite place to sleep (besides on the bed) is on a bean bag chair.  Here you can see her enjoying her new life as a pampered dog!

They all went camping recently at a dog friendly park in the mountains; they say that Karicia was very good and loved to go on hikes with them.  She stayed close to them the whole time and the other campers fell in love with her.  At night she snuggled next to them in front of the fire and they all slept in a tent.

 Karicia also got to wear her first Halloween costume!

Karicia’s story is a dream come true for us at Save a Sato.  Even though Karicia came to SAS unwanted and abandoned, she eventually found her happy ending and loving home.  This is what EVERY sato deserves.

Mecha

In May of this year I asked Gloria if there was a particular dog at the shelter that she wanted me to work with, and she said without hesitation “Mecha!”  At that time Mecha had been at the shelter for 3 years, much longer than any other dog there.  She first arrived at the shelter practically dead; she had been taken away from a situation of animal cruelty and was very skinny and malnourished.  By the time that I meet her, three years later, she looked physically fine but still wore the emotional scars of her past and was too timid to be sent to any of our partner shelters.  She was especially scared of men and reacted so strongly to their presence that it didn’t take long to come to the conclusion that it was a man who had mistreated and starved her. 

I started Mecha’s socialization by teaching her how to walk on a leash.  It did not take her long to learn and through the walks I was able to gain her trust.  We would walk around the neighborhood and nearby park, where she loved to lay in the grass.  She started to really enjoy our walks and would get excited at the sight of a leash.  I walked her once a week when I volunteered at the shelter and even though I would be very tired by the time I was done cleaning cages, seeing her so excited and wagging her tail was impossible to resist and I would always find the extra energy needed for our weekly jaunt.  Whenever I would have a male volunteer working with me I would ask him to walk with Mecha; at first she was leary, but eventually she didn’t even think twice about having a guy holding her leash.  We were making progress!! 

Save a Sato volunteers

I would have loved to have been able to take her home and foster her there, but unfortunately I live in a Condominium that does not allow dogs, so I decided to take her to the office with me once a week (luckily my boss is a dog lover!).  The first day she was a bit nervous about the car ride and at the office she wouldn’t come out from under my desk, but each week she got better and better.  Eventually she came to love the car rides and as soon as she saw my vehicle she would get excited and want to jump in before I had the door open all the way!  I had a big, fluffy dog pillow for her in my office, which we called her “princess pillow”.  She loved to jump onto it when first entering the office in the morning and there she would take naps while I had to work!  

Mecha in her princess pillow!!

 At the office she had the opportunity to experience different people coming and going and was able to see that nobody wanted to hurt her.  Although she was not running up to them and licking their face, she would quietly observe them from a distance, which for her was progress since at first she would just want to run away and hide.  My co-worker, Martina, took a special liking to Mecha, who slowly but surely began to trust Martina more and more.  Eventually Mecha added her to her “circle of trust” (a very select group!).

 

Here is Mecha interacting with Martina

Another coworker liked to give Mecha cheese during her visits (cheese just happens to be Mecha’s kryptonite!), and it wasn’t long before Mecha learned how to look at her with imploring eyes until she got a bite of cheese. Considering Mecha’s history and the time that she has spent in a shelter rather than a home, she had progressed by leaps and bounds. My office is located next to the ocean, so at the end of the day I would take her to the beach so that she could run off leash. She never strayed far away from me and was starting to learn how to fetch (although she didn’t always bring the stick back, but I think she is not far from getting the hang of it!) I always looked forward to taking her to the beach and seeing her so happy and free.

Mecha at the beach!!





                                       

                                             

 Attempting to play fetch!

Quality time at the beach!

It is now early November and I have been working with Mecha for 6 months.  Yesterday Mecha traveled to one of our partner shelters for adoption, and I would be lying if I said that I didn’t miss her.  However I know that I helped her to open her heart again to people and gave her experiences that will help her adapt to a new home.  Mecha was the first “timid” dog that I’ve worked with and she has taught me so much.  Now I can take what I learned from her and apply it to another dog who needs help being socialized.  Mecha has definitely showed me that every dog deserves another chance.

If interested in fostering or helping to socialize one of our satos please contact us at info@saveasato.org!

A Sato needs your help! Manchego

This was an email received by Save A Sato from Yanik:

El 29 de octubre en Hato Rey cerca de la Urb. Baldrich se perdió el perro de mi Primo.  Es un satito rescatado hace 2 años.  Estamos todos desesperados y muy tristes. Lo llevamos buscando diariamente y sin parar desde ese día.  

Te incluyo varias fotos por si lo ves o lo encuentras. Mi número de teléfono es 787-566-7338 o puedes llamar a los números en el flyer.

Agradeceré cualquier ayuda que nos puedas brindar.  ¡Muchas gracias!

Yanik
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On October 29 in Hato Rey near Urb Baldrich my cousin's dog got lost. It is a Sato rescued 2 years ago. We are all desperate and very sad. We' ve been looking for him daily, non-stop, since he got lost.
 I include several photos, if you see or find him. My phone number is 787-566-7338 or you can call the numbers on the flyer.
 I would appreciate any help you can provide. Thank you!

Yanik

Meet Bruno!

Bruno

This Miniature Doberman is one of the newest additions to our shelter.  This poor little guy is lucky to be alive; someone found him thrown away in a plastic bag and brought him to us. 


He is extremely skinny and the patches where he has no fur were completely covered in ticks.  Gloria gave him a special bath to remove the ticks when he got to the shelter and when they started to fall off he was left with patches of bare skin. 
Poor little guy is also anemic which is not surprising after being covered in so many ticks.  It's hard to believe that such an innocent life could have been treated so cruelly; however, as you can see in the pictures, he has not lost his faith in people and likes to get affection and be held.  Gloria named him Bruno and is hard at work getting him fattened up and healthy enough so that he can eventually travel to one of our partner shelters.  We will keep our SAS followers up to date on Bruno's progress.

A Sato from Boston needs to return home!

I lost my dog Dizzy 3 weeks ago. She is a Sato adopted by a friend in the fall of 2003 from one of the shelters on the North Shore, probably the Northeast Animal Shelter. The friend could not take care of her so I took her. Her original name was Evelia.

For the last 6 years she has come to work with me everyday and lived a happy and active life in Boston. She is very popular with the Latino community in my neighborhood of Mission Hill, both children and adults love to tell their friends about her Puerto Rican heritage. On 10/13 while at work one of the doors was left open by mistake and she decided to take herself for a walk. Unfortunately someone spotted her and grabbed her but they did not bring her to one of the area shelters. I have canvassed many parts of Boston with posters and check in regularly with the shelters but she still has not been returned

If there is any way you could spread the word to the Boston Sato community I would really appreciate it.

Thank you.

Best Regards, Dan

 

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