ABOUT US

We are a volunteer-based dog rescue in Los Angeles, committed to making more adoptions a long-term success by carefully matching dogs to adopters, and supporting adopters and their dogs through the transition and beyond. We rescue the dogs most in need of our training team — those with behavior issues — as well as dogs with medical issues, seniors, and some that just capture our hearts.

With over a decade of working with rescue dogs, our core team members are happy to share our knowledge and experience with fosters, volunteers, and adopters, which is what makes us such a strong team and our adoption rate so successful. We also offer private training sessions to anyone looking to improve their relationship with their dog.

The name of our group is inspired by a shelter dog named Blue Man - a large, deaf, 12 year old male pit bull with little or no chance of making it out of the shelter alive - that Mia rescued from the shelter in 2017 who became an awesome helper dog. Read his story below!

Let me share with you the story of Blue Man, the dog who inspired the name of our group. Needless to say, this magnificent senior dog had a big impact on many people and dogs in the few 18 months he spent with me.

One day in late August of 2015, I went to East Valley shelter to look at a few dogs that I wanted to pull for rescue. That particular day, for some odd reason, several senior pit bulls had been surrendered to this shelter, not together, but by coincidence, and one of the staff members asked me if I would consider taking one of them. He was the oldest and biggest out of the bunch (the others where 10 years old and he was 12) and his name was Blue. He had big patches of hair missing on his back from fleas, his cropped ears were bleeding because of flies, he was a bit shaky on his front legs, but there was nothing wrong with his spirit.

We took him out so I could see him walk around and assess how he felt about other dogs barking, people walking around him, and so on. Nothing bothered this boy, he stomped around as if there was not a single thing to worry about and was most interested in a little cart he thought might have some food on it. We know his backstory… his owner lost his home and could not resolve the situation nor bring him along to his new home. Blue had lived with two other dogs, both of whom had passed away from old age. Due to the condition he was in, it was clear that he spent his life outside, what is referred to as a “backyard dog.”

I decided to take him, thinking that once his coat looked good again and he had a full medical check up, someone would want to adopt him, although I knew it would not be easy. He had his neuter surgery, and then I took him home from the vet clinic. That trip was a mission of its own; he groggy and barely able to walk from the anesthesia, so getting him into the car with his huge cone, and me lifting, twisting, pushing, and pulling, all by myself, was not easy, to say the least. He weighed 80 pounds but it felt like 200!

Once home, I started to get to know him and discovered he was very mouthy, and insisted on jumping all over me. I yelled at him, and dogs always respond to the tone in my voice, but he was unfazed. I tried to startle him with a poke to his side to correct him, but that didn’t work either. He simply thought I was playing and would grab my arm and hop around like a rabbit. Hmmmm….now what? The next day he was intently staring at something outside the fence. I called him, nothing. I made a different louder noise, nothing. Finally, I tried some different tests and sure enough: Blue was deaf. This discovery did not exactly make him more adoptable and also explained why a verbal correction meant nothing to him, so I figured he would be around for some time and started working with him. He was a very dominant dog, both physically and mentally, but also extremely well balanced mentally with zero aggression towards humans or any size dog. I added “Man” to his name since he held his own performance every day as a comedian, like a Las Vegas show.

Fast forward some months and Blue Man became invaluable to me and the bond between us was very strong. He helped me with so many dogs, tiny chihuahuas, large dogs, fearful dogs, aggressive dogs – you name it, he was by my side, assisting like a champ. Other dogs were fascinated by his presence and wanted to copy him or would simply just stare at him as if he was a super star. It is very interesting to see how dogs respond so naturally to dominance. He was really funny too, had puppy behaviors like an old, mischievous man with a spark in his eye. He made me laugh every day, doing silly things, and each day was a joy to him, always happy, not a worry ever.

I describe him as a “raw” dog; he was never ruined by a human. He probably spent all his life in that backyard with the two other dogs, neglected you can call it, but never abused or had bad experiences. When he came to me, every new experience was like a big party for him – a car ride, going for walks, chewing on anything he could grab – he loved it all.

This year (2017) on Valentine’s Day, as usual, he woke up at 5 am and barked, wanting to go outside and get his FOOD. He took one bite of his breakfast and fell over dead. I was devastated at losing my dear friend, but part of me was happy he went like that. He died, still happy and mobile, from a heart attack while doing what he loved the most – EATING. He was 13.5 years old then and I am forever grateful I got to spend a year and a half with this big, old, deaf, amazing dog.

Mia