SCCR and K-9 PALS are proud to announce the return of what was a proud a Santa Barbara tradition, the Santa Barbara Dog Parade and Festival. On Saturday, September 29th, dogs and participants, most dressed in zany and creative costumes, will start the day with a parade at the end wil participants and spectators will enjoy a fun, sun-filled day at the Festival. The parade of canines will be judged for “Best Costume”, “Most Humorous” and “Best in Parade,” and other fun categories. You and your canine companion will enjoy live music, games, prizes, exhibits and much more well into the mid-afternoon.. Dogs, groups, and marching bands, along with enthusiastic spectators, will make this year’s event as fun as ever.

For more information on the parade and signing up to volunteer, for a vendor booth or to sponsor the event, visit www.SBDogParade.com or contact, Janelle Ward at 805 570-0415.

Can you imagine what it feels like to be walking around on a hot day in a a mat covered fur coat that stinks to high heaven and you can’t take it off. That is what little Cindy felt like every day for we don’t know how long. From the condition of her coat, ears and eyes she had been neglected for quite a long time.  We took one look at her shelter picture and decided we were going to rescue her and give her a makeover as soon as we could get her out of there.

Getting that disgusting mass of hair off her was easy and now she was as cute as could be but more than her looks had been neglected. She had ear infections for so long that her ears had scarred shut and she had a severe bronchial infection in her chest. She was put on antibiotics to see if we could get her upper respiratory infection cleared up. When that clears up we will take her to the vet to see about surgery for those ears. She still has abscesses inside the ears but no where for them to drain. It is a very painful condition that must be treated as soon as possible with surgery.

All this time Cindy is the sweetest little thing you could imagine. She loves everyone and is wonderful snuggler. Once she has recovered from her surgery she will be ready for her forever home. We are going to make sure it is a very special one. She deserves nothing but the best.

Donations for Cindy’s medical costs

SCCR alum and co-host Gus is continuing his duties to ensure the best Sacramento Friends & Family Reunion/Picnic ever. His reaction to the fabulous menu is clear. You need to be there! Sat., June 23 is the date. Make your reservation now!

This precious little girl was abandoned at an empty house after her owners had a fight and left her there alone to die. The neighbor said she had been an inside doggie at first but during a fight, the wife threw her outside and she was never allowed back in.  They next thing the neighbors knew the couple left but they could still hear the poor dog’s cries in the back yard. Luckily one of the neighbors had a friend named Maria who, when she heard what happened, broke into the abandoned house to save the sweet little thing who was left with no food or water. Thank you Maria!!

We connected with Maria via the rescue networks. We almost cried when we saw pictures of her eyes. She had been dreadfully neglected and her eyes need medical attention immediately. We offered to take her in if Maria would foster her until we could find her a home. Being the nice woman she is, she agreed.

Precious saw the vet yesterday and we found that we will have to remove her bulging eye and do cherry eye surgery on the other one. Its too soon to say if she will be able to see any light/dark in the remaining eye but we have our fingers crossed. She also has one toe missing on a back foot and either a tumor or infection on a toe on the other back foot. If it turns out to be a tumor that will have to be removed. Otherwise Precious is 6 years old, sweet as can be and will have her surgeries in two weeks to give us time to get the swelling down in the good eye. We need to raise about $700-900 to cover her surgery.

She must have been in terrible pain from her eyes but she hasn’t stopped smiling since she got to her foster home and got the first meal she had eaten for days.

Donate Towards Precious Surgery

Kasey was a sweet little 8 year old when we adopted her out seven years ago to a nice couple. She lived happily with them for a long time. Then Kasey’s mom passed away and her dad developed Alzheimers and could not take care of her any longer even though he still loved her to pieces. Since we always take our dogs back we were happy to welcome an older Kasey home. She was not so sure. She would not eat, she shook all the time and whimpered and cried. We took her to the vet thinking something was very wrong with her but besides some dental work and a tumor that needed to be removed she was pretty darn healthy for a 15 year old girl. By the fourth day we were getting desperate to know what to do when Kasey ate a mouthful of canned food from our fingers. Hallelujah! She stopped shaking and whimpering and laid down and slept a deep sleep all day long. She was exhausted! When she woke up she ate a whole bowl of dinner.  She had just been grieving with her losses of her mom and now her dad.

Now Kasey is a silly, happy girl who greets us a the door with a wiggle and a kiss. She loves her walks and as soon as she gets her dental she will have fresh breath again.  Kasey is looking for a permanent foster home where we pay all her medical bills. Can you help?

Donations for Kasey

Topper is doing great. His front leg was dislocated at the elbow and healed out of the joint with lots of scar tissue. Our surgeon, Dr. Wright removed the scar tissue, put it back in place and Topper will start physical therapy three weeks after  the staples come out. Dr Wright says he should be walking normally or close to it by the time we are finished. Topper is getting around like a trooper with his “club” now. Even putting weight on in some times. He is one happy boy. So puppy like and silly. He is going stir crazy being housebound during the recovery. He tells us he neeeeeeddsssss a car ride!

Ironicly, if he had seen a vet when it happened they could have popped it back without surgery just a general anesthetic. The ligaments and tendons were even still intact.

Donate towards Toppers Surgery

We had a fantastic time at the Santa Barbara Annual Reunion Picnic on May 12th this year. There were many old and new faces. It is so good to see how happy our dogs are with their families. There was lots of good food and we had our drawing for our Santa Barbara raffle. Our winners were, 1st prize-Leslie Costa, 2nd and 3rd prize-Ron Fitzgerald. Ron donated his winnings back to SCCR. Thank you Ron!

We had some wonderful silent auction items. Jennifer Lawrence donated four of her beautiful photographs, Amy Reynolds and her mom Darcie made some incredible tote bags with quilted cockers on them and filled with fun things like dog quilts and wines with dog labels. We also had a night stay at the Fess Parker Hotel and a certificate for a training session with our trainer Andrea Bratt, both went quickly. Karen’s jewelry was amazing as always. Thank you to everyone who helped put this on and to all of you who attended. If you missed us this year, then we hope to see you next year.

Here is poor Star. She had to have her whole mammary chain removed on one side due to mammary tumors. She was spayed at the same time. She has stitches from stem to stern. In a month or so she will have to go through the whole thing again on the other side. The good news is she will be cancer free. The bad news is her bills will top $2,000.

Donations for Star