Jean and Alison speak with Cindy Drummond and Sarah Dube – volunteers with the LA Animal Rescue. The LA Animal Rescue is a small but mighty team of dedicated volunteers and fosters committed to creating happy endings for each of the homeless and abandoned animals who come into their care. For their own wellbeing and through the generosity of sponsors, some animals live out the remainder of their lives with the rescue. However, most are safely rehomed to fully vetted and committed families. The rescue does not discriminate based on breed, age, health, or size of the animals they receive, nor do they focus on the previous family or circumstances. Instead, they choose to focus on each animal’s future, ensuring them a safe and healthy place to grow and thrive.
Transcript
Alison: Yeah,
Jean : Checking…
Alison: There it is. There we are. Hi.
Jean : Hi, there.
Alison: How are you doing?
Jean : I’m good. It’s really warm out today.
Alison: Yeah, it’s very, very, very hot.
Jean : Yeah,
Alison: Very, very warm.
Jean : I’m glad you’re in shorts. And I’m in my usual pants.
Alison: Do you wear shorts?
Jean : sometimes I do.
Alison: yeah?
Jean : Sometimes, yeah.. so…
Alison: alright, well we’re in your closet … Show me the shorts. Um Today we’re going to have a great conversation with the, um, two volunteers from the LA Animal Rescue.
Jean : Yeah. And, you know, when I was doing the background research for our interview, it’s so interesting to me, This is just not about cats and dogs. This is all sorts of animals. Like you could sponsor an iguana or adopt a kangaroo, right? If they had a kangaroo, I didn’t see any though..
Alison: I know they had a pig, a big pig once and they’re just a very, very kind. So today we’re speaking to Cindy Drummond, who’s also a very excellent actor.
Jean : And that’s how you know, Cindy and how we got this interview. Right?
Alison: Right. And and then another volunteer that’s Cindy’s friend Sarah Dubay, now the head of animal, the LA Animal Rescue I think is too shy to do it, but I kind of.
Jean : does the person have a name?
Alison: Yes, Sue.
Jean : Okay, Sue.
Alison: And I just have to say that, um, I kind of love that they are totally just doing it for the love of animals.
Jean : Yeah.
Alison: They just want to take care of animals.
Alison: So I’m looking forward to this because I’m like one of those people that if there’s, like, a bird on the side of the road, I stop.
Jean : Yeah. I’m. I’m the same. Uh, and I think it’s so great that they are –they don’t turn away any animal.
Alison: Right. But they’re not a wildlife rescue.
Jean : Exactly.
Alison: Which I think is an interesting thing. I think Cindy’s going to talk about that. Like, there are lots of really good wildlife rescues, but, you know,
Jean : This is not them.
Alison: No…Right and I remember one time Brady and I, my son, followed a dog for hours trying to catch it, and we finally got it and brought it to a rescue. And I was like, wow. Like, we were dedicated. And you feel good to help an animal? Yeah. You know?
Jean : It is. They are our fellow companions and gosh, we are so grateful to be with them.
Alison: Yes. So blessed. And. So here’s, um, Cindy
Jean : and Sarah.
Alison: Can you tell us a little bit about, about the LA Animal Rescue? And I guess it started in 2010.
Cindy: Yeah, it’s been around for, yeah, 15 years. And, um, so our director, Sue and her husband Jason run it. And, you know, it’s funny, i was asking her, you know, how did you…. Why did you start doing it? And, um, she volunteered with a lot of other rescues, and then she did transport for rescues. And she did all sorts of things. Spay neuter events and everything and then I think it was really one of those things where she was kind of like, well, I can do this, you know. And, um, and she’s very efficient and very direct and very I mean, she just she is kind of a animal whisperer and so is her husband. Like, I mean, I have seen her, i mean, we have got a million stories…. But I remember there was this one dog that we had, uh, Diego and he was at an animal hospital, and they called her and they were like, we can’t get near him because he was just grrrrrr… And so one of the other volunteers was with her because she said, you want to come with me? I got to pick up this dog. And she said, yeah. So she she goes, can I film it? And she was like, yeah and so she, he’s in the the cage at the animal hospital. Nobody would get near him. They were all scared of him. So there’s film of him just like baring his teeth. His name is Diego. And Sue walks up and she goes, what is this nonsense? And he’s grrrrr and then she goes, alright, I don’t have time for this. And she opens the the cage and everybody’s like oohhhhhh , and she just goes, come on, you’re with me. And then he goes,oh okay.
Alison: Wow.
Cindy: And then he was just like, you know, because, so she just has that thing where she’s like, this is what we’re doing, you know?
Sarah: So even that even at adoption events, it’s so funny because the animals that are staying with her, obviously some of them are with our community of fosters, but the ones that are staying directly with her anywhere she goes, they’re just kind of where is she? Where is she? And following her around. And they’re so happy to leave at the end of the event because they get to go back to Sue’s house. I mean, she really is just incredible in that way.
Cindy: Yeah. And her husband too, you know, they have we have all sorts of animals up at the ranch. And, you know, we have ducks and ducks imprint on people. So all the ducks imprint on her husband. So especially baby ones. So that’s adorable too. Like, we’ll I’ll be talking to her on the phone. You’ll hear quack, quack, quack. And then I’ll be like, what’s going on? And she’ll be like, oh, Jason’s taking the babies in for for their bath, you know, and they. And when you go up to the ranch, like, you’ll, you know, can I use the bathroom? And she’ll go, don’t go in there. There’s a bulldog in there, you know, don’t go in there. There’s ducks in there. Don’t go in there. You know, and then you’re like, is there one that’s for humans? She’s like, no, don’t look around. Just do your thing and come out. And then you’re like, oh, hello, there’s a chicken in here, you know?
Alison: it’s amazing.
Jean : Alison and I were saying, you know, before we jumped on this call together that, um, you’re just not dogs and cats. You are animals.
Cindy: Mhm. Yeah.
Jean : What are some like other animals that that have like… Oh my gosh…. We’re now uh, we’ve got to find a home for…
Sarah: Pigeons.
Cindy: Yep. Oh there’s been some…. She’s kind of becoming the crazy bird lady like we have now. And we’ve expanded like there’s uh, so we she, she has, like, there’s like a duck and chicken house, and it’s, you know, it’s up in Frazier Park, so it snows and everything. So she has videos in the morning. She when it’s snowing, like she opens the door and they literally come out, you know, out to come out in the snow. And sometimes they turn back around like screw it, it’s snowing. And she’s like, no, we’re going out and you know, and there’s a pond. And then we have, we do have some rabbits. Yeah. Um, we have one horse, we had two, we had Lincoln and he passed away, but he was like 40. And then, uh, because we got him when they’re older. So now we have Truman. Yeah. Goats. We have a whole bunch of pigs because we rescued a mom and a dad and a sister wife. And, um, one of the mom was, well, she was pregnant. And so the the shelter called Sue because she knew she liked pigs. And and then they had the babies. And so we still have a lot of them. So we had them from when they were this big. So. Yeah. So cattle
Sarah: The pigs, actually the baby pigs came to a few of our adoption events, which was kind of wild.
Cindy: Yes. Christmas time.
Sarah: Yes. Yeah. Got a lot of action.
Alison: Do people adopt them?
Cindy: Every once in a while… They I mean they she goes through a real like I mean we always do home checks and, um, you know, real thorough on the homes. But yeah, there’s certain people that will adopt pigs or goats or, you know, the horses aren’t, …. You know, some of the animals are just retired, you know, and so that’s why they’re up there. But, um, every once in a while, you know, we had a young goat and a family wanted a goat, you know, and she did the due diligence, and she was like, yeah, okay. So yeah.
Sarah: Yeah, it’s kind of funny because when she rolls up on Sundays to start unloading at the Larchmont event that we’ll do, she’ll have various creatures that are in there. And there were.. I remember when the pigeons were in there and she kind of was like, oh, those are those are pigeons. Just, you know, they’re going to stay in there. And I was like, okay. Yeah. All right. Yeah. Normal.
Cindy: Yeah. She’s very she just she’s just tender hearted towards any need. I remember one time at a we this was before you volunteered. We were at doing a one at a different place and this guy came into the adoption event and he had a, uh, cut off, um, water bottle, like a geyser, big water bottle with one goldfish in it. And he walked in and I thought to myself, oh, you idiot… What, what? And he goes, is Sue here? And I was like, uh, yeah. And then she goes over here and he, you know, takes the. So then we were kind of like, Sue, really? And she goes, goldfish need homes. They couldn’t take care of her, you know. And we were like…. And she was like, yes, I think. And so then when she drove home, we were laughing. She was in the van with all these different animals. And she put the goldfish in between her, you know, legs. And, you know, every time she leaves, it’s like, cue the Benny Hill music, you know, it’s like, there she goes. Yeah, goldfish needs home, too. We’re like, all right..
Alison: Do You get animals just from people abandoning them. Or does someone call you and say there’s a dog running around on the street? Or, like, where do you get the Animals.
Sarah: Yeah, it could be anything from someone calling to say there’s a dog running on the street. We also partner with another rescue, Hope for Paws, which will a lot of times be the ones who are going and getting that animal from wherever, you know, it’s been sighted. And so they’re wonderful. And then sometimes it’s also Hope for Paws to shelter homes sometimes. Right?
Cindy: Uh, mostly they mostly do like the, the rescues from, you know, if some like, we just got a family of mom and dad, um, and they had been going into town and getting food and then going away and then, fine, and they come back and nobody could catch them. And then it turned out that they were taking food back to a cave where they had eight puppies. You know. So, yeah. And, so Hope for Paws goes out and it’s you should look, they’re amazing, they go up and set up a perimeter and everything, and they rescue. And then we find them homes. Other rescues too. But mostly I don’t think they do a lot of shelter pulls every once in a while, but so will ours are, you know, it’s things we get a lot from Hope for paws. And then sometimes, I mean, she gets so many emails all day long. People, for whatever reason, have to surrender their animal. Some of them are shelter pulls. Shelters will call us. I just picked up a duck on Sunday. A shelter called us and said, It’s Father’s Day and we have what we think is a father duck with no family. And he’s lonely. And Sue was like, Will you go get him? I’m like, sure.
Cindy: So went and got him. And so yeah, it’s various, you know, a lot of times it’s uh, sometimes it’ll be, uh, a senior that, uh, can’t take care of the animal anymore, went into assisted living and the family can’t. So a million different stories.
Alison: And so what happens then? So you get some animal, and then what do you have, like a group of people. Like what happens. How what’s the system?
Cindy: Well, first they go right to the vet. Yeah. Make sure that they’re okay. They get seen by a vet, and then we. We’re foster. So we’re all volunteer based, and we’re foster based. And so then she’ll, if they don’t go to the ranch with her, um, she’ll see which foster can, you know, take them on and, um, and it’s good because then the foster gets to know the animals. So when people are interested in adopting, they can tell them, hey, he’s good with cats. Hey. He’s afraid of crows. He likes this. He likes that, you know? And so that’s basically. But, you know, some of them need a lot of medical. When they first come in, they we get we get a lot of medical cases too.
Sarah: Yeah for sure.
Jean : Does the LA animal rescue pay for the for the medical?
Cindy: Yeah. So it’s like we’re always in the hole because it’s all based on donations and adoption fees and everything. So yeah we so we have a particular vet that we use, um, uh, in the Valley. That’s fantastic. Sherman Oaks and that Doctor Lockhart. Shout out to Doctor lockhart
Sarah: He’s Amazing.
Cindy: And, uh, he’s another one that, like, you can bring him one that you’re like, oh, he’s kind of nippy. And he’ll be like, come on, I got other patients. And then you’re like, oh. And, um, and then sometimes we have certain vets that are if we have ones that need, you know, expertise or specialty shows I ones heart ones. Yeah. You know, but yeah, we pay for all of it. And um, but her big thing that she wanted me to mention too is that, um, now we’ve been doing these spay neuter events, so spay neuter is, like, really the big source. Like, if you can spay and neuter the pets, that’s the big source of the over pet population and pets getting abandoned. So we whenever we can raise the money, we are partnered with, um, it’s the spay mobile and the mobile vet that comes and spays all these animals. And so when we it’s like, you know, I don’t know, 2500 – 2700 so when we can raise the money for that, then people come and sign up and come and get their animal spayed or neutered for free. Yeah. And it’s wonderful because it’s people that can’t do it on their own or it’s, you know, and um, yeah. So that’s that’s a big thing we do too.
Jean : That’s so important to get your pet spayed or neutered. And yeah, I, I remember Bob Barker, who hosted the, um, Price is Right, at the end of his signing off, he’d say, okay, I’m Bob Barker, and don’t forget to get your pet.
Cindy: Spayed or neutered. Yeah, it’s true.
Jean : It’s actually, I didn’t even know what that meant when I was little. And I heard him say that. And, uh, and then as I got older, I was like, oh, look at him be such an advocate for animals. And I didn’t know that about Bob Barker. But, um, yeah. So I see on your website also that being spayed and neutered, that’s really important.
Cindy: Yeah. Yeah. Well, I mean, if people don’t understand, it’s not even just that, um, that for, for, you know, over pet population and making sure animals don’t get abandoned and stuff. It’s medically good for them. You know, it prevents testicular cancer in male dogs. In female dogs it prevents mammary glands, you know, um, breast cancer. And so it’s it’s actually good for the animal to get spayed or neutered. And so that’s another reason we tell people, you know, sometimes if they have a dog that’s not young, they’re like, well, it never goes outside. He doesn’t need it. Well I mean, cut to six months later, they’re like, we have puppies. Yeah. Um, but you know, we tell them, hey, it’s actually, you know, good for them. Yeah.
Sarah: And all of the dogs to the rescue. Come. Chipped, vaxed and fixed. So they all come fixed.
Cindy: Yeah. We don’t release them unless they’ve got all that. Yeah.
Alison: And do you… So you’re fostering a dog or a cat or something? How do you not fall in love with all of them?
Sarah: That’s always tough. Um, but I think the thing about fostering that’s so rewarding is that you help an animal socialize and get ready for their forever home. And it really is such a service to be able to do that over and over again versus I’m just going to keep this animal and that’s it. You know, it’s tough for sure. Um, I don’t know if either of you are familiar with a creator on TikTok called Isabel Klee and the Story of Tiki. That has just been very viral. So she’s a foster based out of, um, New York, and she’s got a TikTok that thousands and hundreds of thousands of views and she’s fostered probably at this point around 40 dogs. And for some reason, the most recent dog that she fostered, Tiki, who came from a criminal case, just had absolutely no will to really live by the time she got him. And, um, she, you know, was talking his entire journey, talking about day by day, and the entire world kind of fell in love with him and fell in love with the story. And it’s not the first time that people have fallen in love with a dog that she was fostering and would comment things like, you have to keep him. And that’s it’s really not the point of fostering, right? It’s it’s really being able to socialize an animal, get an animal ready for their forever home and give them so much love so that they’re ready for that. And so by keeping herself open to continue to foster, she allows herself to do that over and over and over again versus I’m going to keep this dog. And now I’m kind of done fostering for a little bit. So it’s challenging, but it’s worth it. It’s one of those things that really pays off.
Cindy: Yeah. And it’s one of those things. I mean, because I know with our volunteers, almost every single foster I think has it’s called foster fail when you keep them. And but they still, you know, but then they do try to then keep fostering. But but even Sue will foster fail like, even Sue you know, she has an affinity for a certain for certain bulldogs. We’ll just say…We don’t have to keep it a secret.
Cindy: She and her husband love a bulldog, and and and the more messed up that dog is, the better. You know, if they’re missing an eye and they’ve had ten litters and they limp and they make a sound, a lot of them sound like a walrus, you know? And we know, like, someone reached out to me recently with a video of Dolly.
Sarah: Yeah, love Dolly,
Cindy: and this Really overweight bulldog that somebody had over bred and over bred and she, and she was like, you know.
Sarah: She sounds like a raptor, actually, from Jurassic Park.
Cindy: Yeah. And her full name is Dolley Madison. Just to be clear. Yeah. Which I love.
Sarah: Yes. Yeah. When she makes the sound at adoption events, I mean, it draws a crowd. Everybody’s like, what is going on? Yeah. And have they escaped? You know, but it was one of those things where she gets so many requests and we get requests. People contact us. And someone, you know said to me, oh, somebody found this dog, blah, blah, blah. And I was like, well, I’ll ask her. You know, we’re we’re kind of at capacity right now. And I was like, do you have a picture, a video. And she sends me a video. This fat bulldog wagging her butt, making that sound, and I was like, she’s gonna… Hold on one second, you know? And then I sent it to her, and she was like, um, all right, can they meet me at the Sherman Oaks tomorrow? You know. Yeah. I mean, but we she always says make every attempt to find the owner. You know, we always have the people make every attempt to find the owner, and it’s their chip and all that stuff. But, Dolly, so Dolly’s been coming to adoption events. But we noticed recently I was like, oh, I haven’t seen Dolly, you know? And she was like, well, you know, we’re deciding, you know, we’re like a fat bulldog that’s got some problems. She’s in.
Cindy: She’s in the club.
Sarah: Yeah. Sue foster fails regularly, but she also I think part of, you know, we call the farm where she lives, like rehab or, you know, boot camp for the dogs, too, because she really does sort of they become part of the general population. So they kind of get in line. They become part of a pack. It socializes them in a different way, which is really helpful.
Cindy: Yeah. She has certain dogs up there that that are her like she had one for a long time. A big, huge, huge Cane Corso, named Martha. And, uh, she was Sue’s like, right hand, you know, ranch hand. Like they would she, they have like a little one of those things. She rides it around and she would be with her, and then she would teach the other dogs. And she recently lost her. And it was very hard, you know, but, um, yeah, they she’s got teachers that, you know, the dogs teach them, teach them and the, the, uh, Martha and Truman, the horse, actually had quite a loving relationship, you know, she would send me videos, Martha would go out into Truman’s corral, and Truman would get all excited and come over and nip at her. And Martha would be like, all right, you know.
Sarah: I love unlikely animal friendships. Yes. Those are my favorite. Yeah.
Jean : I love that book. There’s a book like that.
Sarah: Yes. I had the calendar many years ago.
Jean : Uh, Allison, when when you stepped out for a moment, we were talking about how pets have such an impact on our lives.
Sarah: Yeah, yeah, truly, I was talking about how they’re our greatest teachers. Yeah, obviously, they teach us the the obvious things like patience. Right. Um, I had a bunny rabbit for 11.5 years that passed away at the beginning of last year, Mops and um, I say one of the things she taught me the most was how to think outside of myself. At the time when I got her, I was starting a new relationship, and I was sort of feeling like it was hard for me to integrate another person into my life. My life was all about me, and I was I felt a little selfish. And so I actually got her because I was trying to have an inconvenience in my life that I wouldn’t get upset at. And I, I know that I have if I had all the patients in the world for people like I do with animals, I would be Mother Teresa. I could never be mad at an animal. And so I got her to have some inconvenience and it really did help me. Wow. But then one of the things I was saying to Jean was also, animals teach us so much about, you know, how their temporary lives, the shortness of their lives, teach us to live in the moment and just how precious every moment is. I think that’s one of the biggest things that they teach us. They’re only here for such a short time, and we love them so much and they love so much. And in doing that, it sort of keeps us so present and reminds us that all we have is this moment. Nothing else is promised, and you have to make the most of it. Right?
Alison: And I think, you know, when you have a pet, they don’t care if you look good, if you don’t have a job, if your house is a mess, they just want to be next to you and love you. Yeah, that’s the thing. Like I like I think. Oh, and then you look at, I look at my dogs and they’re like, I don’t, I don’t care.
Sarah: Yeah, yeah. That unconditional love.
Alison: It’s truly amazing. So during Covid did you guys get like, what was that like? I feel like after Covid people were like, oh I really can’t take it. Like, what was that weird? All of that?
Cindy: Yeah. Well, at first we, uh, so we we couldn’t do adoption events or anything, but people, you know, were getting animals during Covid because then they were home and they wanted the companionship and all that stuff. So in the beginning, we had a lot of adoptions. You know, I mean, you can see where this is going, but a lot of adoptions and she did home checks and all that, all masked up and everything. And we were still pulling animals from shelters that needed help and everything. But then when Covid, uh, when people started being able to go out again, people went back to work. We got a lot of animals. I don’t think we got any of ours returned, but we got a lot of people saying, well, I don’t have time for them now. Yeah. And that was really sad. And the shelters too, the shelters. So we were trying to help the shelters and it was happening to us too. We were getting a lot of people saying, oh, and now I got to go back to work and I can’t, I can’t, I can’t take care of them anymore.
Alison: Yeah, what’s the difference between you guys and the shelter, and the difference between you guys and, like, a wildlife place that you call?
Sarah: I mean, with us, there’s no potential of termination, right? Like, they can stay with us forever. It doesn’t matter. Versus a shelter who has to deal with overcrowding issues. And that’s just unfortunately, the nature of a lot of shelters. It’s not their fault. You know, they don’t have a choice. So I would say that’s probably the biggest difference. And then in a way we kind of rehabilitate them. So we’re a little like a wildlife center, right. We rehabilitate them, get them ready to be out in the world again.
Cindy: And yeah, yeah. She always says rescue, rehab, rehome. So like the other difference too is that shelters are run by the city. So they they have funds, you know, the city funds them. They have a budget, they have money. And, um, we’re like I said, we’re just all donation and adoption fee funded. We’re, you know, and, um, and then at the shelter, yeah, they because they’re overcrowded, they, they have to, you know, uh, euthanize and, uh, we never do that… with us, you know, until they find a home or until they, you know, uh, if for some of them just. Yeah, just, um, for whatever reason, can’t be adopted. So they’ll just be with us until they. Yeah. And, um, but, yeah, it’s rescue, rehab and rehome. so the difference to like some people say, um, with, uh, what a rescue, like if I’m, if I’m going to adopt a dog, like, what would be the benefit of going through a rescue as opposed to the shelter? And we’re always like, hey, we just want the dog to go to home. So if you find the dog you want, we love it if you rescue it from the shelter. But they don’t know as much about them because they’re not there as long. And they, like Sarah was saying, like, our dogs are all in with fosters and so we know them. So we’re going to be able to tell you what their habits are, what they like, what they don’t like. You know, are they energetic? Are they not? You know, if somebody’s like, I like to hike or not, you know, it’s we’re going to be like, well, don’t pick the bull dog. Yeah. Not Dolley Madison, you know, and if somebody else is like, I don’t, I don’t, you know, like to go outside. We’re like, that one just wants to lay on the couch like, bulldogs are funny because people do say to us all the time, I need a yard. And we’re like, oh no, you don’t. You need a couch. And so, um, so that’s one of the differences too, is that I would say it’s that they’re funded by the city and that the other difference is what Sarah said, that we, you know, they are with us forever. You know.
Jean : And how do you fundraise? Do you…?
Cindy: We’re terrible at it.
Sarah: We’re not the best. I mean, we’ve got a little donation box set up at our events. And, you know, Sue’s very active on the LA Animal Rescue Instagram and, you know, putting out. She does a thing called $5 Fridays. It’s you know, that’s such a low stakes amount to think about like $5. Anyone has $5 to donate for the most part. And if everyone donated $5, my God, you know, we’d be. We wouldn’t need to get any more donations. But, um, you know, stuff through that. But we could be better at it.
Cindy: We could be better. It’s so funny because we’re always trying to, you know, um, we used to, way before. I remember us having my my sister was a fundraiser, and so my sister was like, well, this is ridiculous. There are certain things you can do. And so she had a meeting and told us all, you know, and you can get grants and you can do this, and who’d like to do that? And we were all like, oh, I just, I just want to…. I was like, I just want to transport ducks and clean up poop. I don’t want to, you know…. And so we’re just yeah, we’re miserable at it. But we do have we, we have um, we do have a good following and we have certain people that donate all the time and, you know, so that’s great and everything. But yeah, we’re always like, what should we we used to do, uh, drag queen bingo. We did that a few times.
Alison: We love that. We’ve done that.
Cindy: We used to do it and, uh, but we haven’t, because then you got to find the stuff to auction off, and, um, I, I don’t know, it just kind of fell away.
Sarah: We should to that again.
Cindy: Yeah, that would be fun. You tell her.
Sarah: I’ll tell her.
Jean : Okay, so if you’re if you don’t if you’re someone that that wants to help, uh, but doesn’t have extra funds, how else can someone help your organization?
Sarah: Yeah, uh, you can volunteer. Of course…
Jean : Would that be going up to the farm or would that be…
Sarah: You could volunteer at one of our events. So we do an event every Sunday at in Larchmont Village in the Wail wagger’s parking lot. We also have been going out to Mixed Fine Things, a store out in Agoura Hills one Saturday a month. Um, and then also, if you want to foster an animal, um, that’s always super helpful. And the only thing there is that if you’re fostering an animal, you would definitely need to be at least bringing them to the event so that they could meet potential, you know, new families for them. But yeah, those are a couple of ways. If they can’t donate their funds, their time is also super valuable.
Cindy: Yeah. And, um, share, you know, post and share. Share our information about the spayed & neuter. Yeah. Um, but yeah, that’s that’s basically it. Share our stuff. Volunteer.
Sarah: Yeah. I always say on Sundays when people are taking pictures of the dogs, especially if they’re younger. I’m always like, tag us. Yeah, I got the post in case someone sees that dog and is like, that’s a really cute dog. Well, now you know where you can reach out to.
Cindy: Yeah. And by the way, it’s a ranch. It’s not a farm. It’s funny, everybody always says farm.
Sarah: Oh Yeah, I call it a farm.
Cindy: And we all laughed. We laugh when people say farm because we’re like, yes, well, we’ve got to harvest the corn now and then…
Sarah: Yeah, because we’re not farming anything out there.
Cindy: Yeah. It’s a ranch. It’s a dude ranch. Yeah, but it’s just, yeah, anyway, so.
Jean : I like that actually heard Cindy with a little twang.
Cindy: It’s actually a ranch. Yeah, yeah, we have a horse area and a dog. You know, it’s like we have all these different, um, but yeah, it’s way, way up, but we don’t hold events there or have people go because the thing is, like, people then will dump their animals. Yeah. Um, like shelters. You know how they’ll just tie them up out front. So we’ve had a few fosters who, when the neighbor find neighbors, neighborhood finds out, then they’ll just start throwing dogs over the fence, you know? And, um, you know, we help them, but it’s like we can’t, you know, have an influx like that.
Alison: So you think that, uh, people…. Specific people in specific dogs are meant for each other? And have you ever seen a dog pick a person?
Sarah: Oh, yes.
Cindy: Yep.
Sarah: For sure. I’m trying to think of a specific example of a dog picking a person. But I do know. So I had an experience recently, um, late last year where, um, you know, I’ve had a dream of Casey, my dog, having a dog sibling, and obviously I fostered Billy before he belongs to her. Um, and Casey was mixed with Billy. He was sort of not super happy about it. But then a dog came across our rescue. A tiny little, um, Chihuahua. Um. And she was a Chihuahua, jack Russell, so they call them like Jack cheese. And she was just precious. Her name was Joni. And the second I saw her, I imprinted on her like the ducks imprint on Jason. I was like this, I need her. And it’s so funny because she had come to us through sort of a medical event of her owner. And, um, I met her at the, you know, once a month event in Agoura Hills, and she was going to be going home with one of our other fosters who was ready to take her and was sort of like, yeah, I’m going to have her for this week. I couldn’t get her out of my head. And I just kept thinking, gosh, I just want to I just want to see how Casey is. So this foster, a woman that volunteers with us, Irene, who’s lovely, um, she had sent me, you know, pictures and videos that whole week that she had her because she knew how much I was into Joni.
Sarah: And she said, I’m going to bring her on Sunday and you can take her on, you know, a trial and foster just to see how it works out. So that was going to be Irene wasn’t going to foster for a little bit. She was just going to take Joanie, and then she was going to kind of be done. So this is important to the story. So I take Joanie. Not only was KC not into her, but KC was actually kind of violent towards her, which is not great. And it was really challenging. I’m laughing about it now, but I definitely cried a lot about it. And during this time, I want to say maybe the same week that I told that I took Joanie, there was a dog that had been found, I think, by Hope for paws. Peanut was on the street with a unhoused encampment, and he had been hit in the face with a broken bottle. Had a whole eye situation, and Sue needed someone who could take kind of a medical case and foster him. Irene is one of those people. She’s fantastic. And so had she had Joanie, she wouldn’t have had the space to do that. So she takes Peanut. Well, long story short, Peanut is now her dog. She is foster failed Peanut. They’re perfect for each other. Her dog that she already had, don, who’s a fantastic schnauzer.
Sarah: He’s a cool customer. He likes him and and they’re great. But I was so kind of just, so sad that it didn’t work out with Joanie. And then Joanie is now adopted by a wonderful woman named Nicole. They’re perfectly suited for each other. They’re fantastic. But I was so sad about Joanie. And then I had this realization that if I wouldn’t have been so much like, I need Joanie, I need Joanie in my house. It would not have opened up the space for Irene to take Peanut. Yeah, and then Irene was destined to have Peanut. They were meant for each other. And all I was meant to do in that story was help joanie just continue to be, you know, loved and socialized until she was ready for Nicole, her now full time mom. Yeah, and stuff like that. It’s so interesting when things like that happen and you can take a step back and sort of say, oh, that’s why that happened. I didn’t want that to happen, but actually, that’s the best scenario. And, you know, the universe knew more than I did in that scenario. And it’s it’s incredible.
Cindy: It’s really- I mean, briefly, I’ve seen it because I’ve volunteered longer than Sarah, I’ve seen it many times when the dog picks the, the person and, um, I won’t go into a million stories, but my favorite one is we had this little fluffy dog, and she was like five years, she was five years old and I can’t remember what her name was, but she went to a she went to a family, wanted to adopt her volunteer, took her to the Hollywood Hills, did the home check, and the volunteer said, don’t leave her in the backyard, you know, she’s you live in the Hollywood Hills… There’s coyotes and mountain lions all summer. And they’re like, we’re not going to. Three hours later, I get a call from Sue. I can’t remember what her name was…
Sarah: The dog?
Cindy: uh, Shirley or something like that. And she was like, she’s at the shelter. She got picked up and I was like, oh, and I said, what’s with the what did the family saying? She goes, oh, I’m waiting for them to tell me she’s gone. They haven’t even told me she’s gone. So anyway, I go to the shelter to get her, and then I and I got her, and I was, uh, taken her to Sue, and I said, um, so who’s going to foster? And she goes, oh, she goes, I’m actually doing a home check because… So Joni, so this little dog, let’s say, I’m going to say Shirley, but we’ll call it Shirley was called Shirley, this little fluffy, Sue’s going to hear this and go, it wasn’t Shirley, Cindy.—. They put her in the backyard, went out to dinner, turns out. Well, Shirley said screw it. Left the the backyard. Went out into the Hollywood Hills at night. Was walking down the path, uh, a park ranger on his horse.
Alison: Wow.
Cindy: Came up the path. Shirley steps out like on the path. Hello. And he was like, well, hello. And so he gets her, because — and he’s on his horse, takes her to the ranger station, and then he takes her to the, um, uh, shelter. They look up the chip, call us. And then when, uh, Sue talked to the shelter, they said the park ranger would like to talk to you about adopting her. Oh, and so when Sue went to do the home check, the park ranger said, well, I lost my dog, uh, five years ago, and she looked exactly like her. And so it really tugged at me. And then just in the time that I spent with her, because mine used to ride the horse with me and visit the, the ranger station and all that stuff. And so Sue said, I’m so sorry, when did you lose your dog? And he said, five years ago. And he said, how old is she? And Sue said, she’s five years old. Oh.
Alison: Oh that gives me chills.
Cindy: I know. So it was– I mean, I mean, Shirley or whatever her real name is, that Sue’s going to correct me, she went out and said, no, they didn’t listen to instructions. There’s a park ranger here meant for me.
Alison: And did he adopt her?
Cindy: And he adopted her. Yeah, and he used to send us a picture. He was very handsome in his flannel shirt and his… And we said she found her Dudley Do-Right. And then she would go to the ranger station, and all the rangers were like, with this little fluffy girl. And she was like, check it out.
Alison: I love that, I love when God, universe, spirit, whatever it is, you know? Yeah, is just like, all right here, you know, and how that cute little dog just survived in the Hollywood Hills. Yeah.
Cindy: Oh, yeah. We were like, oh my God. Yeah.
Sarah: Like incredible.
Alison: Yeah. So sweet. You guys are so… I mean we could talk for 3 or 4 hours.
Jean : Yeah. The stories, the stories are so great. And what you’re doing is amazing.
Alison: Thank you so much for doing this.
Cindy: Yeah. Thank you. We love it. Yeah.
Alison: Do you cry about this? Because I would be crying…of the joy
Cindy: She’s newer.
Sarah: Yeah. I’m not jaded. I’m not jaded yet. As they like to say, I’ve only had a few years of doing it, but, um. Yeah, I cry a lot about it. Of course. Yeah.
Jean : Yeah. Beautiful.
Alison: It’s so emotional to like, you know, one of my earliest memories with my father, who passed away when I was young, was there was a cat at Christmas with a kitten stuck. And instead of celebrating Christmas, my father and I got that cat unstuck.
Sarah: Oh my gosh!
Alison: That is like one of the… like, things, that talk about imprinting.
Sarah: Yes.
Alison: And I’ve dragged my kids after dogs and, uh, birds and boxes of animals going to a, you know?
Cindy: Yeah.
Alison: They are So beautiful. These animals, you know?
Sarah: Yeah I know.
Alison: So I’m so grateful that they are in the world.
Sarah: Yes. Thank God. What would we do without animals?
Cindy: Yeah. And Sue always says like they, you can tell like they they’re grateful. Like they know. Yeah. Hey. Thanks, man. You know, I mean, some of them, you know- Billy’s… Billy’s a little jaded like me, but most of them are very, like you can tell they’ve come from…. And she always says they come from… really? Because people go, what’s their story?
Cindy: And she’s very direct and she’ll say, they all have very sad stories, but they’re all going to have a very happy life from here on. And they they kind of know it. They they’re like, thanks, man. I was, uh, you know, some of them have been pulled from the mouth of a coyote, you know. I mean, it’s they’ve all got traumatic stories, and then they’re like, phew, thanks. This is much better. Yeah.
Alison: It’s so beautiful.
Jean : You’re so Right. You can feel their gratitude. And and they all have different personalities, which is so endearing. And, uh…
Cindy: Yeah.
Alison: I want another dog.
Sarah: That’s maybe another lesson they teach us., Acceptance. Yes. Accepting people as they are, not how we’d like them to be.
Alison: Right.
Cindy: That’s the other thing, too. That a lot of them don’t hold a grudge.
Speaker2: Yeah.
Cindy: Uh, they will come from really bad circumstance, and they do not hold a grudge. It’s kind of a I mean, some of them stay scared. You know, you can then take longer for them to get adopted, but they all eventually do.
Sarah: No. There was a dog that we had a little Chihuahua again named Venus and…
Cindy: Oh, yeah.
Sarah: She actually came from. I mean, like Cindy said, none of them have great stories that they came from necessarily, but she was attacked by another dog, and the person that found her was just a woman in the community that came upon it. And she actually thought that Venus was past, because she was in such bad shape. And as she approached her, this will just kill you. Venus little tail was wagging, so she had just come through an incredibly traumatic event had just been attacked, and her first response is- so happy to see you. You know that. Just that. I can’t even imagine that. And then it was so sweet. She stopped by the event and Venus, of course, remembered her instantly, and was just going nuts, you know? But you take something like that happens to a human. It takes us a lot longer to bounce back. Dogs are so resilient. Yeah, and just that capacity to love and that hope for better and ready to accept it. And you know, not hold that grudge is incredible.
Cindy: Yeah, I think it is because they’re here to circle back to that. They’re here a shorter time. So they’re like, we don’t have time for this. I’m going to they’re going to get over. I’m going to get over this. They do. They have a lot of resilience, you know.
Alison: And right now don’t we need hope for better?
Sarah: Oh my god more than ever.
Cindy: Yeah.
Alison: That’s just such a beautiful lesson that you that you’re reflecting back to us. So. Thank you.
Cindy: Yeah.
Alison: That was great, you guys. Except I’m crying..
Jean : Yeah,,, Remember Luna? We both knew Luna, and I was caring for Luna Yes, but her tail was big and you could hear it, outside the door. You can hear her tail whipping on the couch.
Sarah: that’s the Best sound right?
Alison: And it’s funny, though, like Luna…I think I was, I think I was bitten or hurt by a very big dog when I was young. Luna was like a big like.
Alison: Luna’s head was big. Dog was so gentle with me because I think it knew.
Cindy: Yeah.
Alison: I was thinking like, you could grab my whole upper torso, you know.? .
Alison: Just be so… And it was always around me, right? Like it was so.
Sarah: Protective. And they’re so comforting to that non-verbal comfort. A lot of times they’re not going to say anything. They’re not going to give advice. They’re just going to support and be there. Yeah.
Alison: Well, thank you two. You really are… And Sue and what’s her husband’s name? Jason. Yeah. Thanks So so much for everything you do and this interview. And…
Jean : But we have two more questions.
Alison: Yeah, we have two more.
Jean : Yeah. So what does the word insidewink mean to you?
Sarah: Do you want to go first or do you want me to?
Cindy: So for me, I thought about this a lot. It means a lot of different things to me. But inside wink, I think for me, it means…. I get choked up. It’s, uh. It means a a friendship based on, uh, like, like vulnerability. When you really open up to someone and are vulnerable and get to know them and get, and then you have that inside wink with each other at, you know, at events or something where you can just look at each other and know, and I think dogs have inside winks too about when they do know it’s their person that comes to the events. We can see them ones that are really scared and shy, that won’t come out from under a chair. You’ll see someone come up with a very calm, kind energy and you see them go to them and I’m like, oh, there’s a little inside wink where they’re like, that’s my person. And then that’ll be their person. You know, that’s I think it’s like a, it’s a deep, um, friendship. Um, you know?
Sarah: Yeah.
Sarah: For me, I think it’s those moments that I was talking about similar to the one with Joni, where it’s sort of like you have an idea of what you want to happen, and it doesn’t work out like that, but it actually works out so much better. And it’s one of those things where it’s kind of like the universe is a little bit like, I still have you, I’ve got you. My mom always calls things like that- god winks. It’s sort of like, yeah, you really wanted this, but like, actually, this is better for you. And here’s this. And, you know, it’s it’s sort of like that, you know, a little bit of fate where I always say everything that happens is perfect regardless of what it is, because that’s exactly what was supposed to happen, and it’s exactly what you need. And so that’s that’s what I think of when I think of an inside wink.
Cindy: That’s gonna make me cry- wow. cool.
Sarah: We’re all going to be a mess. Oh, no!
Alison: Yes. Finally. What do you guys think? Pie. Cake or ice cream?
Sarah: All. Can I have all of the above? I love them all. I try deeply to understand everyone’s point of view, but when people tell me they don’t like dessert, it’s something where people tell me they don’t watch television. I’m a little bit like… Yeah, i’m not sure about you.
Cindy: Yeah, or they don’t like dogs, people don’t like dogs too.
Sarah: Yeah.
Cindy: Yeah. You don’t like desert and you don’t like dogs. What the…. Yeah. Uh, for me, it’s cake, i love them all, too. But for me, it’s cake. But it’s a very painful time for me because I’m gluten free. Yes. And so I have to find gluten free cake, which I can find it, but it’s it’s, uh, sometimes when I’m out, out and there’s no gluten free dessert for me, I feel really resentful of my body chemistry. I’m like come on, man. And every once in a while I’m like, all right, I’m going to risk it. And then I regret it.
Sarah: You pay the bill,
Cindy: yea But, um, a couple bites is good… But cake, gluten free now.
Sarah: I guess technically, after the adoption events, I will frequently stop at Jeni’s and get two half scoops. It’s one of my little Sunday rituals, so maybe, maybe really ice cream. But I do enjoy all.
Alison: Yeah I like sort of the turducken of it. Like I could have pie with cake and ice cream.
Sarah: Yes, yes.
Alison: I don’t have any boundaries?
Sarah: A dream within a dream, allison.
Alison: Yeah. So we’re all simpatico here.
Cindy: Yes, yes.
Alison: Yeah. Thank you so, so, so much. Yeah.
Jean : This was so much fun… And and all the best to this amazing… Your amazing organization.
Alison: Yes.
Cindy: Spay and neuter your pets. Like Bob, like Bob Barker. Listen to Bob Barker.
Jean : And Betty White.
Alison: That’s right. Thanks you guys.
Sarah: Thank you so much.
Alison: I’ll talk to you soon, Cindy.
Cindy: Yes. Okay. Bye bye. Bye.
Alison: Weren’t they great?
Jean : That was a fun interview.
Alison: Oh my gosh,
Jean : Just talking about animals.
Alison: I know, how bad could it be, right?
Jean : Yeah. What a great organization.
Alison: Yeah. LA animal Rescue. And look, they’re all volunteers. Like that just makes me feel like people really, people can be so amazing.
Jean : Absolutely. And, And animals, I think, really bring out the best of us humans.
Alison: I agree with you. Yeah, I agree with you. And I feel too, that they are so in touch with, like, they must see the best of humans. Like. Oh, they probably don’t see a lot like, like, you know, the ones that are abandoned. But when people come like that, that ranger story of like that made me… That was so sweet to me. Yeah. You know? And, um. Gosh, it just makes me want to adopt, like rescue dogs.
Jean : Yeah. Yeah. They’re so dependent on us.
Alison: And what nice people. And they were fun and smart and kind.
Jean : They were wonderful.
Alison: And so thank you so much, Cindy and Sarah and Sue and Jason and everyone affiliated with them all. LA animal rescue. And if you work for anyone, like, there are so many organizations that help animals and so this is just one…
Jean : But they really drove home the fact to please have your pet spayed and neutered.
Alison: Right. And if you can donate money or time. That’s really wonderful. And now go ahead.
Jean : Okay.
Alison: You had an idea. Now.
Jean : So we are starting a new little wrap up. We’re calling it fun fact. And Alison and I are going to each share a fun fact.
Alison: Okay, so how do you want to do it? Like, do you want to guess what it is? Do you want to guess the truth or not. Or should we just say it like. What do you think?
Jean : I think if we can do a guessing thing is fun.
Alison: Okay, so you go first.
Jean : Okay, so my fun fact is, around the human body, and what I found on the internet is that the human body consists of a lot of fat. Alison, how many bars of soap bars of fat does a human body make up an average human body?
Alison: So if it was like a bar of soap.
Jean : Yes.
Jean : And you’re not like a very, you know, overweight person or a very, very like an average person, right?
Alison: Like me?
Jean : Yeah. Or me.
Alison: Or you. All right. How many? How many? If they were measured in bars of soap. Right. Um, I’m going to say.
Jean : Think of, like, I guess an I guess an Ivory soap bar or something like that.
Alison: Okay, I’m gonna say, um. Oh, this is going to tell a lot about me. I’m gonna say, um, 20. And what is it?
Jean : Seven.
Alison: Seven. That’s not a normal.
Jean : I didn’t think so either. When I read that.
Jean : Seven bars of soap. Seven bars of fat. Like soap bars, right?
Alison: No, I have more on my one buttock.
Jean : You do not spend seven bars.
Alison: I definitely do.
Jean : Okay, so what’s yours?
Alison: I have another one for you. Um. Uh, okay. Well, since we’re going to do the body, I could do a body one. Okay. What’s the strongest muscle in the human body?
Jean : Um. The heart?
Alison: No. But that’s so sweet that you say that.
Jean : The butt, the glute?
Alison: No. The tongue.
Jean : Ohhh,
Alison: Right?
Jean : Wow, I forgot the tongue. Yeah, that’s a great one.
Alison: That’s a good one, right? That’s a very good one. And if you guys have any fun facts, you can send them to us or send them to me.
Jean : Or just put them through the Instagram.
Alison: Oh, yeah. Tell us on Instagram. We would love that. All right. Well that was it. So thank you so much for listening.
Jean : Okay.
Alison: And we’ll see you next time.
Jean : And we enjoyed this and we hope you enjoyed it too.
Alison: help an animal…bye
Jean : bye.