[mariah] go, go, go! [bleep].
[woman] coming up on pit bulls and parolees.
[mariah] [bleep] you.
This is not gonna be fun.
Going through this neighborhood,
-it is a maze. -[woman] there's right...
It's right there, it's right there, it's right there.
[woman] straight?
She has no movement at all.
[lizzy] there was an injured puppy
sitting right across from our warehouse
and wasn't able to walk.
[dr. Samantha] so the chances of her
regaining this movement, pretty low.
Obviously a long road.
So we're definitely looking for a dog
that is gonna enjoy that water.
Even on a paddleboard.
[tia] just put it right there on...
Just right on the edge.
It's hard enough for a human
to get on that in the water.
-Hey, bud. -That's it.
He doesn't even care. Though.
All right. There you go.
[laughter]
[tia] my name is tia maria torres.
For more 20 years, I've run a sanctuary
dedicated to second chances.
It's for over 300 pit bulls,
the world's most misunderstood breed of dog.
And for parolees, the guys I hire
because no one else will.
My family and I have devoted our lives
to saving these dogs that we love so much.
From louisiana swamps
to the streets of new orleans,
the city of second chances.
Our mission is to rescue,
but my hope is one day,
we won't have to.
[mariah] earlier today,
we were completely flooded with pictures and videos
with this dog that have been roaming around
in the neighborhoods and near the french quarter.
I don't think I've ever gotten this many messages
about a dog
in so many different areas of the city.
[toney] I'm trying to see if he's under here
-or around here. -[mariah] we heard
that the dog was near an abandoned house,
so I met toney over there
to try and hopefully catch the dog.
When it sees you, what does it do?
-Just takes off? -[toney] no, he ran at me
-and... [growls] -oh.
[toney] and I sidestepped him,
I was about to grab his leash.
I just wanna know if he here or if I need to go
around the corner and look.
You wanna go and kind of
-breeze the back? -[mariah] yeah.
The way toney explained it,
this dog seems absolutely terrified.
So we wanna take our time and be cautious,
and hopefully the dog doesn't take off on us.
[toney] he's, uh, over there in the back
-by the brick wall. -[mariah] he's under here? Oh.
This is the [bleep].
-[toney] yeah. Damn. -[mariah] hang on.
I don't want him to...
[toney] no. He got a hole.
[mariah] go on the other side.
[toney] he's stuck. No, that's the...
I thought his leash got...
[mariah] go over there, toney.
Okay. Keep him...
Just stay on that street.
God.
Go, go, go! [bleep] you.
This is not gonna be fun.
Going through this neighborhood,
there are so many ins and outs, and back yards.
It is a maze.
The dog can hide under houses,
get through from one back yard to the next
really easily.
See, is that him?
That sounds like him.
[mariah] I think that's him. All right.
Just leave it for a second.
-This is somebody's dog. -That's what I thought.
When I've seen him going around the street like that,
I'm like, "where your dad at? What are you..."
he had a harness and leash still on.
I mean, it was obvious to toney and I
that this was somebody's dog.
I don't know how the [bleep] we're gonna get this dog.
Like how quickly the dog was moving
and getting in and out
of all of these little back yards
and nooks and crannies,
toney and I knew that it was gonna take more
than just him and I.
[toney speaking]
he's trapped in a yard.
-[mariah] what? -[toney whistling]
[mariah] [bleep].
[mariah] we saw the dog at this abandoned house
and then the neighbor behind that
immediately found the dog in her back yard.
So he's in this back yard right here.
[mariah] oh, he's in your back yard?
[woman speaking]
is the gate sealed up outside or in the back?
How did he get in there?
[mariah] oh, that's convenient for us.
This woman was actually having work done on her house
and her back yard gate was left open
by one of the workers that were there.
And I guess the dog ran into the back yard.
So they shut the gates
and we all decided to get the crate
and try and go in this back yard.
I'm gonna go unlock this gate.
I hope to not get bit
and some will go in through here
and some will go into the side.
I mean the dog being in the back yard
would make it easier for us
to catch this dog because now it's enclosed.
So I feel like we can take our time
and move really slowly to try and do this,
but it's also gonna make the dog panic more
because now the dog is enclosed with us.
Let me try and give him some chicken.
-Yeah, that'll probably work. -He's probably freaking out.
[woman] oh, baby.
[mariah] he doesn't want any food.
-[toney] yeah. -[woman] he's terrified.
[mariah] oh, he's [bleep] on the side,
he's gonna get out at the back. [bleep].
I threw food, the dog didn't want it.
Before we knew it, the dog got
on this big pile of brush.
Didn't realize the other side was completely open
and the dog took off into another back yard.
So cute.
So today, I am setting up a virtual meet and greet with
a woman named diana who is interested in adopting augustus.
Oh! Hi, diana. It's me, tia.
-Hi! -Hi! Finally get to meet you.
Do you have purple hair?
That is so amazing.
It's really cute.
So, um. I've told you a little bit about augustus through email.
He's actually here with me now.
Can you get up here so she can see you?
[smooches]
augustus, hi.
Ha, ha, ha. He's like "I don't know what's going on, but..."
so, even though we are primarily a rescue for pitbulls,
a lot of the local shelters know
that I have like this twisted fondness for hound dogs.
So, the shelter he came from emailed me and said
"we have this special case."
the shelter had adopted him out,
I want to say about a year prior.
He was adopted in August and a guy came
a couple of weeks later and said he's not working out.
He's tearing up stuff in my house, so we coached him,
you know, like we do most people
and we never heard back from him again.
So we thought it was fine, and then the shelter in vermillion
called us and said, "we just picked up one of your dogs."
-cause they're chipped to you? -Yes.
And they went to pick him up
and when they went to get him he was emaciated.
Yeah. Emaciated.
So they brought him back to the animal shelter
where he came from and they put some meat on his bones
and then asked me to come get him.
-Say "hi, ms. Tia!" -hey, buddy.
I remember the first thing I noticed about him
were his eyes--they were like these big deer eyes, like a doe.
And I thought, wow.
I know it sounds corny because people say it all the time.
"their eyes spoke to me", but his eyes spoke to me.
Augustus had always been the perfect dog with me.
Like, perfect. So it was easy for me to post him on social media
because I didn't have anything--there were no glitches with him.
It was just-- he's perfect with everything.
Even though he is probably about 8 or 9 years old,
he's very young spirited.
Yeah, so he's going to love your purple hair, absolutely.
Um, yeah. He's got a really good sense of humor.
His favorite thing in the world is to lay out in the sun.
He will lay out in that sun all day. He just loves it.
Is that lulu?
Oh, she's so cute!
Has she been around other dogs?
Okay.
You want to meet lulu?
Come on. Come and see lulu?
Look at lulu.
See her? You see lulu?
[laughter]
he's pretty-- he's very sweet.
He's literally, like, the perfect dog.
The perfect dog.
Although I can say, he'll go out for a walk with no problem,
he's very content just to stay home in the back yard,
and lay out in the sun, too.
So, he's a good balance of everything good. Huh, bud?
What do you want to tell me? What do you want to tell me?
Come here. You trying to play?
Yeah! And he's got the best eyes ever.
He's got these big brown, like bambi eyes.
Well, he was very popular when I first posted him on facebook
and a lot of people asked about him, but it was just
your email was really sweet, you know, and you were so
so interested in him is what made me decide to go,
you know, with you.
There were lots of nice emails for him,
but I think the situation with diana--
you know she emailed me several times,
"you know, I know you're looking at other emails,
but I'm still thinking about him."
I'm like, okay. I like that.
That's cute, you know.
That's what really did it for me.
Is that she really, really, really wanted him.
If I had known you had purple hair I would have said yes immediately.
You know, now that augustus has met diana and lulu
through virtual means, I mean,
the next step is to introduce him to smaller dogs because
he has always lived with me and unfortunately all my dogs
are big, so you know, just to be on the safe side.
We gotta see how he feels about the little ones.
All right, diana. Nice talking to you.
He's already asleep, so okay, all right. Bye-bye.
[mariah] so what do you want to...
What should we do?
I might just walk on foot
-for a minute. -Okay.
A lot of times, these dogs are very dog-friendly
and so we thought, you know,
she may be afraid of us,
but maybe she'll be more comfortable
approaching ben,
who I brought with me in the van.
Ben, do you wanna go for a stroll?
Ben is special in a way
that we use him for a lot of dog testing
because he kind of knows how to adjust himself
to the dog.
So we knew that he would be
the right dog to use
if she was interested in him.
Look, he's looking.
-[elise] do you see? -[lizzy] to cover more ground,
spencer, mariah, and toney
drove around with a crate
and elise and ben and I
walked around the neighborhood.
Oh, ben.
He knows.
[woman] there's right... It's right there,
it's right there, it's right there.
[woman] he's found the dog.
[lizzy] oh. [bleep], he's in. He's in.
[bleep].
[lizzy] but just as fast as we spotted the dog,
it escaped to the street.
[woman] wait, wait, wait.
[woman] straight?
[man] wait. Where did that go?
[elise] was that him? That was him.
-[lizzy] where? -[elise] he stopped.
He's going near walgreens.
[lizzy] you make it a point to not chase dogs
because they tend to run more,
but you have to kind of find a way
to still not lose sight of the dog.
With this dog,
we had seen so many postings on social media,
just all over the place in different areas.
So we just didn't wanna lose sight of him.
He's like all over the place.
It's not even like he's staying
in the same vicinity where we can like tire him out
or trap him somewhere in a corner.
He's leaving and he's going to keep leaving,
he's so scared for all of us.
Unfortunately, she was moving really fast,
there was a lot of traffic,
and it started to downpour as well.
[thunder rumbling]
[lizzy] I think we have to start walking
back toward the van.
Once it started pouring,
we knew there was no way
we were going to find him again
because he was probably gonna seek shelter
underneath of a house.
A lot of the houses in new orleans are raised
so they don't flood.
I mean, we wouldn't even know where to begin.
[thunder rumbling]
let's go, ben.
It mean he's scared.
He's freaked.
He's going to keep running away.
For the most part, we are very successful
in being able to catch stray dogs.
We probably lost him.
But every once in a while, there's one that gets away
and it's really sad and disappointing.
[mariah] [bleep].
[lizzy] not because, you know, we failed.
It's more that we feel like we failed the dog
and we're just so terrified
of what could happen, you know,
the dog could get hit by a car,
could end up coming across another stray dog
and get into a dogfight.
So in that sense, you know,
we get really disappointed.
[mariah] now we're gonna put the crate back here
and leave it in the house because this is where
-the dog keeps going. -[toney] all right.
[mariah] after we lost sight of the dog,
we had to just use our best judgment.
The abandoned house, it was right there.
We've gotten reports that the dog
has been seen consistently there,
so we thought if we left
maybe a crate in the back yard
with some really yummy fried chicken in it
that the dog will get come forward the crate.
We got to him to come forward this crate.
If he's gonna keep coming back here,
I'll be able to catch him.
We would end up going back
once or twice a day to check on the crate
and hopefully we could trap the dog in there.
[tania] good boy.
[erica] it's time to make our home a happier home again
and we need the pitter-patter
of little feet behind us.
You're wagging your whole butt, goofy girl.
[tania laughing]
you are looking in my soul.
Okay. Oh.
[woman] come here, paulie.
With paulie, we really bonded
and we bonded quickly.
I couldn't believe what was happening.
Villalobos is not just an adoption center.
We are a place of safe harbor
and no matter what the situation is when a dog comes to us
they will receive full medical whatever it takes.
[smooches] come here.
We have pretty much seen every situation from dogs
that were so emaciated because they haven't had
anything to eat for weeks.
-You're trying to so hard. -I know.
To puppies that couldn't walk.
No matter what it takes villalobos will always step up
to help a dog become healthy and happy.
So when a little puppy was dropped off at our gate
we knew exactly what we had to do to help her.
And she even does a lot of this, too, which is bizarre to me.
But I wonder if maybe she has to do that because
if she gets into this position,
how could she really get herself up?
Like, she's kind of bracing herself. Maybe.
One of our staff called early in the morning saying
that there was an injured puppy sitting right across
from our warehouse and that she wasn't able to walk.
What's her diagnosis?
So, she has a spinal cord injury
at some point along the mid back
which is why she's lost disruption.
She's essentially paralized on the back legs.
She does have what is called "deep pain".
Meaning if I actually, like, pinch her toes
she knows I'm pinching her toes and she gets agitated.
So that is a better prognostic indicator in that
the signal hasn't been lost 100%.
Okay.
But, she has no movement at all,
so the chances of her regaining this movement pretty low.
On x-ray we did see a little instability or malalignment
with her spine in one location.
With her age we're hopeful you know, she's still developing
and everything like that that maybe she could regain
some movement, but it's a low chance and obviously
a long road to normalcy.
The biggest concern is as with people, animals that sustain
spinal cord injuries oftentimes are not able to regain any function at all.
So looking at lifelong paralysis and incontinence with her.
Is it possible she was born that way or is this something that happened to her?
It looks like, based on x-ray, that something happened to her.
It looks like there is an area of her spine
that is slightly subluxated or a little bit out of line
which makes me think something traumatic happened.
We don't know how long she was like this
before she was brought in.
If this had just happened I would feel one way.
If she'd been like this for a month I'd feel a different way.
So you feel like if it just happened you'd feel
a little more hopeful that she's going to get better?
That's also just really traumatizing that this poor thing
was just dumped in the middle of no where.
She doesn't know where she is. Cars are flying over the bridge.
And now to know that she was in pain on top of it
makes it 10 times worse.
It's definitely hard to see a dog injured, in general,
but to see this little puppy be so badly hurt and in pain
and to think that she may not ever be able to walk
is really sad because it just feels like
she never had a chance and she's so young.
You can prac--
have her practice putting weight on the muscles
and the joints at least so they don't lose too much tone.
Okay.
Heidi is our vet tech at villalobos
and since this puppy is such a serious case
she felt it was best that she live with her.
So at this point, you guys are just trying to give her some
time to have it live with heidi and you do the case.
Right. At this point it's pretty much a wait and see
and heidi is supporting her.
Doing supportive care while we see if she can regain any function.
This is not something that would be easy for any of us to take on.
It's certainly not easy for heidid to take on,
but she has a really big heart and she has a lot of patience
and she has taken in injured dogs in the past
and has done great with them so I can't think of anybody better for the job.
I don't know. It's um.... It's just a wait and see.
♪♪
-[tania] hi. -Hi. How are you?
[erica] hi, how are you guys?
[mariah] today, tania and I are here
to meet with some adopters from california
who came to find their new family pet.
Wanna walk over and we'll kind of sit down
and talk a little bit and then we'll go over the dogs.
[erica] my name is erica.
My fiancé dan and I are here
from southern california.
[mariah] okey-dokey, we're going to go
right in this little fenced-in yard,
um, and sit down and we'll talk a little bit
and then dive right into the dogs
and we'll start meeting some dogs.
I fell in love with everything that the rescue does
not only for the dogs, but for the employees.
It's just a little sun.
[mariah] it's nice, right? As...
At least we could just sit in the shade.
-Yes. It's nice. -That's the good thing.
So what are you guys... Like,
what's your lifestyle like?
Are you guys really active, more homebodies?
We're pretty active.
We're out and about often and...
-Okay. -[erica] I do a lot of hiking
and walking and go to the beach a lot.
-Okay. -There's a lot
-of water activity, so. -Okay.
So we're definitely looking for a dog
-that is going to enjoy... -[tania] comfortable.
Yeah, enjoy that water and actually...
Yeah, and enjoy it and be comfortable with it.
-[mariah] okay. Oh. -Well, that would be cool.
Oh, I've always wanted to be one of them people but...
Same.
[mariah laughs]
-she'll make it happen. -Yeah, yeah.
It'll make it work.
You had a previous dog before, right?
We did, yes.
Ladybug was a jack russell
who I had rescued when she was seven.
And I had her until she was 18.
We did everything together.
We went to restaurants.
She went to the beach with me.
We traveled together.
She really was my little sidekick, so.
She, uh... Losing her was hard.
She was the love of my life.
That's how I describe her.
Just completely sweet and lovable.
And we're just, you know, you fell in love with her.
Everyone that met her just loved her.
[mariah] aw, sweet. So she's really outgoing.
-[erica] a hundred percent. -And jack russells
-are always pretty confident. -Oh, she was. She was.
[mariah] and you guys don't have a current dog now, right?
-No. -[mariah] so you guys now
looking for something to fill that void, huh?
-Yes. -[mariah] yeah.
[erica] it's been rough not having her around.
It's time to make our home a happier home again
and we need the pitter-patter of little feet behind us.
[mariah] and no kids in the home?
-Not yet. -So kid-friendly.
They're looking for a dog that, you know,
can go out with them, hiking
and doing all sorts of fun things.
Right now, they don't have any children,
but they do want some in the future.
So they want a really kid-friendly dog.
Okey-dokey. Well, why don't we go ahead
and start meeting some dogs?
-[erica] yay. -You're like, yes,
that's what I came here for.
So the first dog we're gonna show is shamrock.
Shamrock is about four years old.
We've had him for around three years here
at villalobos. He was found
in an area in new orleans east.
He did have microchip,
but it ended up being in a dead end.
And he's just an overall really confident,
really happy dog.
He's really outgoing and really confident.
[erica] hi. Hi. Hey.
[mariah] but he's really, really smart.
-[erica] oh. -[mariah] and he loves toys.
He loves doing tricks and he's one of those dogs,
you could probably teach him new stuff
and he'll catch on really quickly.
[erica] oh, cool.
It's a nice change from ladybug.
-[dan laughing] -[erica] hi.
Yes. So he's our office dog. Um...
-[dan] oh. Okay. -[tania] yeah, he...
He is loose and doesn't like to use this bathroom in there.
Like he doesn't pee or poop or anything in the inside.
[mariah] he's really affectionate too,
like he loves his people.
He's also, um, good with kids
and he loves other dogs too.
So he's just all around a really happy dog.
[erica] I love his colors.
Shamrock was so handsome
and such a gentleman
and his eyes were just majestic.
[mariah] he's like, "keep going. Keep going."
-[dan] oh, yup. -[mariah laughing]
-[dan] he's very playful. -[mariah] yes.
He loves doing tricks like... You're already sitting
-like a good boy. -[erica] I know, right?
[mariah] you're already being a good boy.
[tania] you got everyone chain... Train...
[mariah] like he's like, "I'll sit up here."
[laughing] [tania] yeah,
that's not exactly... [laughing] shh.
Give me your paw. Good boy.
-[dan] wow. [laughing] -[tania] okay. Come down here.
Come here. Hey, shamrock.
Sit.
Good. [laughing]
[dan] his demeanor and manner were very good.
Very cool. Cool customer.
All right. Let's go, buddy.
-[erica] see you, gorgeous. -[mariah] we will bring out
azrael and try him.
-[tania] okay. -[erica] okay.
[mariah] so azrael has been here
for about nine months.
He's a little under two years old
and he is just a really happy dog.
He was found at an abandoned house in uptown.
You are freaking cute. That's for sure.
Hi, little one.
He just has a really good spirit
and really good energy about him.
He also loves dogs
and loves being around children
and just gives the best kisses.
Just very affectionate, and very sweet dog.
-[erica] hello. -[dan] do you like the smell?
[mariah] look at its tail going in a circle.
[erica] I love that.
Hi. Oh.
-[mariah] oh. -Okay. All right.
-Well, yeah. -[erica] yeah.
-[laughing] -doll-face,
you're the best kisser.
Azrael just came through that gate with confidence
and just walked right up and was not shy.
Oh, hello. Okay, hi.
-Aw. -[dan laughing]
[erica] you are precious too.
-[dan] beautiful. -You wanna come up here?
We'll make room for you. Oh, come here.
-[mariah] he's like, "yeah." -yeah, have fun.
[mariah] he's got to make his rounds.
[laughter]
[dan] I did feel a connection with erica
and the dog and myself as well, so it was big hit.
[tania] I'll switch out.
[erica] hi. Aw.
[mariah] he's like, "wait a minute.
-I ain't going nowhere." -[erica] he's like,
"one more." oh.
All right. Just like looking into my soul.
[dan] kind of like the...
[erica] you are looking in my soul.
Do I get to give you up now?
I felt like he was hugging me
and just honestly felt like
he was looking into my heart, my soul
and just... I just saw so much love in his eyes.
[mariah] all right, buddy. Ready to go bye-bye?
[tania] all right. Come on.
Boy.
[mariah] let's do, um, quiche.
Quiche is about four years old
and she's been with villalobos
for about three years.
She loves children, loves other dogs.
She's very confident,
loves going out and being active.
And then when you come home,
she'll just lay out on the couch and relax.
-[erica] aw. -[mariah] yes.
-Hi sweety. -[mariah] she is... Yes.
She is so... She's sweet.
She's actually the only girl, huh?
The only girl with all the boys.
[mariah] there's my baby. There's my baby.
I know. She's the queen with all the boys.
But she is a little bit smaller than all the boys,
but don't let that fool you.
-[erica] yeah. -[mariah] butt wagging.
You're wagging your whole butt, goofy girl.
[dan] quiche, I loved right out the gate,
great dog, very friendly, super-friendly.
Hi. You wanna come here?
You wanna... Come here. She just want to be scratched.
[mariah] she's... Yeah, she likes the best scratches.
That's okay.
You shaking your booty for me?
[mariah] yes. See I'm a kisser too.
[erica] you're giving me the booty.
Quiche was incredibly sweet.
I think that she will definitely make
an amazing partner for someone.
But for us, we want a dog
that's little bit more into us
and she just, you know, wasn't interested.
[tania] so any of them stick out to you?
[erica] um, I'm sort of between two.
Who are they? Who are the two lucky ones?
[erica] so shamrock and azrael.
-[mariah] okay. Yeah. -[tania] yeah.
-Those are great picks. -[dan] yeah.
Those are good picks.
-And how about same for you? -Okay.
Okay. So we're on the same page.
[mariah] okay. So now guys just gotta go home
and deliberate a little bit and figure out.
[tania] about who you like.
[mariah] which one's the winner.
[erica] I think making, uh, the hard decision
between shamrock and azrael
is that they both have all the traits
that we're really looking for in a dog.
I mean, azrael, he's... He just looked
right in my soul, those little eyes.
[mariah] yeah, he was winning you already.
[erica] yeah. Yeah.
He's... Yeah. You seen that, huh?
[laughter]
and shamrock is just gorgeous.
-He's handsome. -[dan] they're all gorgeous.
[erica] they're all beautiful dogs.
[mariah] yeah. Well, you definitely can't...
With that group of dogs, you can't make
-the wrong choice, so. -[erica] mmm-hmm.
I think either way whoever you pick,
-it'll be a good fit. -[erica] yeah.
-For sure. -[tania] totally agree.
[mariah] and we'll probably do, um, some training
with whoever you guys pick
and just see how they do with water.
Maybe we can track down a paddleboard
and try that out. You know, whatever we can do
to make them a little bit more comfortable to
what you guys do in the home.
-Yay. Well, awesome. -[erica] all right. Thank you.
-Exciting. -[mariah] yes, it's exciting.
I'm really excited to see what dog
they end up choosing.
Either way, I definitely think
they can't go wrong and it will give
one of our dog's a really, really great home.
Okey-dokey. Well, thank you guys.
[dan] thank you very much.
Well, look forward to hearing from me soon.
-[erica] for sure. Bye. -[mariah] bye.
[dogs barking]
[mariah] I know, puppa, time to go.
I know.
[tia] mariah has always been super artistic and crafty
like she likes doing
all kinds of really cool projects.
[mariah] here, girl.
That ear.
[tia] you know, she designed
everything in her shop.
She's got a lot of good talent.
She is super good at like putting things together.
Toney and the girls has been meeting us out here too.
[tia] I love how creative mariah is.
She's always thinking of little ways
to make things to help raise funds for the dogs.
[mariah] I'm trying to completely redo
the online store for the rescue.
And one of the things that I've wanted to do
for a long time was have... Do...
I wanna do parolee designs.
I normally do most of the designing,
but I thought that each of the guys
should start designing their own shirt as well.
It's just a nice way to kind of get these guys involved
in another aspect of the rescue.
Whether you guys wanna do hats or shirts,
sweatshirts, you know what I mean?
Anything you guys think of, I will try and...
-Try to make it help. -...Help you guys.
Yeah, and get as creative as you guys want.
[spencer] I'm gonna make my own design type of shirt.
And I ain't never wrong with like picking up
something new and it's like a plus, plus
because it's contributing to the rescue
and it's like I love the rescue too,
like, I'm a part of it too.
I'm not a good drawer
but I have something in mind though.
[spencer] I used to draw but I'm a little rust...
[toney] where you picked up drawing,
that you started drawing on the street?
[spencer] I picked up drawing on the streets
when I was in school, like I was really bad at school
so they put me in this art class.
-And it was like... -[laughter]
[spencer] it was like it was just something
I had picked up on. Kept up with it
for a little while, but just like I guess
I got old and then it kind of like drifted
because I was into other stuff.
[toney] well, when I got in prison,
I got locked up, but I was in the beat...
The dungeon for a while and, uh, just kept thinking
about different pictures that I used to keep with me
and I just started trying to draw it out my head one day
and then the old man seen it, he said,
"man, that's damn good." he said, "you could draw,"
and he gave me a book that said,
three steps on how to draw people,
and I just started sketching.
I won't call myself an artist,
I'm not like that but I can do it.
And I think when I do it, I could do it
like a real great job at making the picture
look exactly like, you know,
the picture I see.
[mariah] the guy that does all my shirt designs,
his artist helps me with everything.
So if there's something that you think of
-and you drop a little sketch. -[toney] yeah.
[mariah] you know what I mean?
Just so he can get an idea, you can do that.
And if any of your friends draw stuff
and you wanna use their designs
and they'll write off on it, then do that.
-Whatever you guys want do. -That'll be cool.
-[mariah] so, think on it. -[all] all right.
I think I know what I wanna do.
[mariah] I think it's gonna be so cool
to really see what they come up with.
And I hope that they... I don't know,
I'm just hoping that it kind of inspires them also
that they're gonna to be a part of something different.
Start writing it down, and if you see like,
you know, want it to be a hat or a sweatshirt,
certain colors that you have in mind,
-write it all down. -It's serious, she's serious.
Me, toney, and spencer, we're taking it serious.
[toney] that sound good, thank you
-for this opportunity. -[mariah] I'm excited.
-[toney] I am. -[earl] everybody need
to come up with a design and be ready
because this is really gonna go through.
I can't wait to come up with some of these.
[earl] appreciate it, ma'am.
[dogs barking]
[mariah] it's been just emotional for me
because I keep seeing her everywhere
and how scared she was.
Yesterday we tried to catch a loose dog
that has been spotted all over new orleans.
And unfortunately, we're not successful.
There's right... It's right there,
it's right there, it's right there.
We followed the dog for as long as we could
but at some point you're doing
more harm than good. By chasing this dog around,
we're just going to make it even more scared of us.
He doesn't want any food. He's gonna get out the back.
Over the back by the brick wall.
No, he got a hole.
Yeah. Damn. [bleep]
[mariah] so after we try to catch that dog,
I kept saying, I know you did too on facebook.
-I went... Yeah. -[mariah] every one kept
seeing dog everywhere.
After our failed rescue attempt,
I was just hoping that power of social media
would come in handy and we started
posting pictures of her everywhere
and everyone in the city started sharing it.
And thankfully after all of that,
we finally got some news.
And it's found.
[dogs barking]
did you guys decide on who you want yet?
[erica] we did decide.
[elise] so I just received a call from erica,
her and dan were a little torn
between azrael and shamrock.
Oh, my gosh, I'm so nervous.
I have a guess but I don't know.
We'll see if I'm right.
[mariah] I kept seeing, I know you did too on facebook.
Everyone kept seeing the dog everywhere.
Yesterday, we tried to catch this dog
running around loose in new orleans east.
[toney] I thought his leash got...
[mariah] go over there, toney.
Okay, keep him... Just to stay on that street.
It had a leash and a harness on
and gotten away from somebody.
Go, go, go. [bleep] dude,
this is not going to be fun.
Obviously, it's a huge deal,
and it's found.
She's found and I definitely cried
-when I found out earlier. -[elise] that's awesome.
[mariah] I got a post sent to me saying that,
"I found this dog. I know someone was looking for her,"
and she specified that she had brought him to the spca.
I also found the owner.
-That's awesome. -[mariah] I know.
The kid just moved here a week before,
-so the dog... -She has no idea.
[mariah] she has no idea.
The dog's name is miss pickles.
Apparently miss pickles just got so exhausted
and whatever food that this woman had,
miss pickles came to her.
-I cannot believe that. -[elise] I can't either.
Miss pickles' owner travels a lot
and moves around a lot
and miss pickles is always with her owner.
He was in the quarter and the house
that he was staying at,
somebody opened the front door
and let her out on accident.
He had left the house for a little bit
and someone else that lived at the house
opened the front door and his dog bolted
and took off trying to find him, I'm sure.
I just can't believe she got that hungry
-that she came near someone. -That's amazing.
[mariah] so when I finally got the chance to talk to
miss pickles' owner, we've found out that
he'd only been here for a week
and he barely even knows the city, so.
I mean, you could just hear it in his voice,
I couldn't imagine how I would feel
and he was completely torn apart.
-But I need a favor. -[elise] yeah.
The kid doesn't have a car right now.
And I have to go out to the country.
The kid is really, really nice.
He's super sweet.
But yeah, he needs a ride there.
Can you take toney with you and pick the kid up?
But I need you to videotape it
because I want it... Having the...
You are requesting my beautiful skills?
[mariah] yes. Your skills of videotaping.
-Yeah. Can you... -I will do my best.
[mariah] so unfortunately I don't get to be the one
to do the reunion.
So I asked elise to pick up the owner
and toney and take him to go get miss pickles.
It's the best feeling ever,
especially when a dog was in the loose running around,
-like he just moved here. -It's scary.
Very, very, very rarely do people
ever get their dogs back.
It's the best thing on earth.
[mariah] I know. Thank you, bill.
[elise] yes, ma'am.
[lizzy] polly is a little puppy
who was dumped underneath the bridge
right in front of our warehouse.
Heidi taking care of polly is a really big deal.
[heidi] since polly's first vet appointment,
I've just been working with her every day
to try and help her learn to walk.
Come here.
Polly.
She usually needs a bath
so during bath time I fill the tub up
and I try to work with her in there.
We've laid down a bunch of rugs in my house
so it's easier for her to grip,
and hopefully encourage her to be able to stand
or sit up on her own.
I mean, I was surprise polly started to walk at all
or have any movement
when we first took her into the vet.
I was just expecting to hear horrible news,
and after we started trying it
and she started moving, I mean, I couldn't...
I couldn't believe what was happening.
My dogs are used to me bringing home
special-needs dogs,
and they're always really patient
and careful with them.
And generally, I feel like
they're a helpful part of the dog's recovery.
Doing medical, I work with many dogs
throughout their treatment time.
Sometimes, I bond with dogs and sometimes I don't.
But with polly, we really bonded
and we bonded quickly.
I think because she was so dependent on me
from the get-go.
Honestly, it felt like I was, like,
the first person she, like, trusted.
When she first came in, she seemed pretty hopeless,
and as time has gone on,
she's become more and more of a fighter.
Good girl.
[country music playing]
[toney] we were all worried about the dog
running loose through the city.
Its name end up being miss pickles.
Over the back by a brick wall.
[mariah] oh, hang on, I don't want him to...
[toney] he got... No, he got a hole.
So, when I got the news that we found the dog
and we were gonna reunite it with its owner,
I was real excited to take part in it.
[upbeat music playing]
[toney] yeah.
Mariah spoke to the owner
about putting a microchip in this dog.
They went ahead and put one then.
And look, it went, it's you.
[toney] so if anything like this happen again,
there will be a greater chance of being able to find it
and connect the dots to the owner.
I feel like the dude was a good owner.
Of course, you know, uh, the dog wasn't in his custody
at the time it happened, so, you know, of course,
he's gonna fault his self for that.
But as far as with his animal
and way that that dog showed his love for him and stuff,
I know that he was a great owner for that dog.
I know that dog says that's my partner, you know.
[man speaking]
[toney] and after the effort we put behind
chasing miss pickles, I was so excited to know that
it was found and we could reunite it
-with its owner. -[man] wow.
Hey, y'all, I got my dog, my baby back.
[toney] one thing about the traveler lifestyle,
the dogs with their owner is 24/7
and I'm talking about like whatever move they...
You know, they make.
I got it back.
[toney] every time they eat, the dog eats, you know,
she's treated properly and she's in good hands.
[toney speaking]
I'm happy I could be part of the rescue
and make sure that they were connected again.
[dog barking]
[mariah] hi, how are you doing?
[erica speaking]
that's exciting.
So I just received a call from erica.
Oh, okay.
[mariah] her and dan were a little torn
between azrael and shamrock.
He's like keep going, keep going.
-[dan] oh, yeah. -[erica laughs]
did you guys decide on who you want yet?
[erica speaking]
[woman] watch out, the diva is here.
[tia] she will rock your world.
Bella is a little feisty thing.
Let's see if she gives augustus
a little spice in his life.
She's giving him attitude.
You're giving me the stink eye.
-Go on, face. -[woman] hi, boy, hi, boy.
-[man] hey, man. -[man] how are you doing?
[mariah] I really wanted to give them
their creativity.
[earl] this is one of the concepts right here.
-[man] man, that's awesome. -[man] this is really nice.
[earl] just makes me feel good
that she trusts us like she do.
[dogs barking]
[mariah] did you guys decide on who you want yet?
[erica speaking]
he was one of the two.
I'm really excited for shamrock.
Shamrock has been here at villalobos
for about three years, so it's just...
It's time for him to go home.
I feel like your husband really likes shamrock, too,
when he... When he came out.
I feel like they had a connection.
[erica speaking]
aw.
So next for shamrock, we're going to get him out
and see how he does in the water
and possibly on a paddleboard
because erica is really big into that.
[erica speaking]
all right. No. Thank you.
I'm super excited.
Um, we'll talk to you soon.
[erica speaking]
you, too. Bye-bye.
[toney] recently, mariah came to us
and go over some t-shirt ideas.
I wanna do parolee designs.
[toney] so, I'm kinda like excited about that,
and I'm just so thankful to be a part of it.
I sat back and thought about the different dogs out
that I messed with along the way
and dumaine grabs my attention.
He has been with us so long,
bro, and he, like, been through a lot.
-You know, the test... -We are glad he here, the dog.
There's a lot of beautiful dogs we have,
a lot of great dogs we have, but again,
dumaine just always stood out to me.
He was a dog I took care of,
uh, you know, a number of years
and, uh, he just always have that presence
and I felt like it was good symbol, you know.
Been through a lot and even had a surgery recently
where they had to removed
-his eye and [bleep]. -His eye.
So watching that strong man have to deal with that [bleep]
-and that situation... -[earl] that's who you're rolling with?
Yeah, I really think I should use him.
Still be positive in your day-to-day, you know,
and I've seen that from dumaine
even with the eye being removed,
and again things that kind of made me sad.
I love that dog, I love his nature.
I feel like we represent these dogs and...
-[earl] yeah. -You know, they represent us as well.
And I think that will be a good representation of myself.
[earl] it is, dawg, because dumaine
is a nice looking dog.
[toney] I think like, you know,
all the little battles that I have been through
and stuff and still standing tall,
I think I'll use that boy in a picture and try
to, like, voice that, you know.
That's for you, that's for you.
I would say toney is such a creative guy.
I know he's gonna come up with something that's real nice.
Just being able to, like, make this move is,
like, really exciting.
I think when tia see these t-shirts,
I think, she will be happy for us
to come up with something like this.
[dog barking]
[tia] here.
So, I recently did a virtual meet-and-greet
with a potential adopter, diana,
who is interested in our hound mix augustus.
[diana speaking]
augustus, hi.
[tia] being that augustus has lived with me the entire time,
I know he's fantastic with dogs.
Is that lulu?
[diana] yes. This is lulu.
[tia] oh, she's so cute.
But diana has a small dog
and I personally do not own a dog of that size.
Let's go to that big tree. Whoo.
So we're gonna dog test him with a smaller dog,
just to make sure.
[mariah] everyone loves shiloh.
Good boy.
This... That's why I love shilo dog testing
-because he's just so... [makes sound] -[tia] yeah.
-[mariah] come on, shi. -[tia] you're supposed to be meeting other dogs.
[mariah] shiloh, let's sniff him.
-He's rolling. -[tia] he don't care.
-Shiloh. -[tia] you done?
Augustus is just, you know, like I expected,
just goes with the flow, like easygoing,
just like a nice, nice dog, you know,
he was like, "hey, what's up," you know.
But then again shiloh is very un-beagle-y, you know,
he's just really laid back,
doesn't care about anything.
But, so far so good.
Okay, let me grab...
[tia] something more exciting.
[mariah] let me grab the chichi.
[tia] I want to at least get
some kind of a reaction out of him
one way or the other,
so I could feel more comfortable
about sending him, you know, all the way to arizona.
So, I wanted to raise the stakes
and I had m to bring in her little chihuahua, bella.
[mariah] surprise she's walking on a leash.
She doesn't ever have a leash on.
[tia] bella is a little feisty thing.
She will rock your world, dude.
[mariah] you all watch out.
The diva is here.
[tia] diva is in the house.
Come on.
-That was good right there. -Oh, my god.
[dr. Samantha] yeah, I mean she's trying
to take full steps right now.
So, polly is doing great.
She is actually moving the legs,
so she's just made huge strides
in her recovery with her mobility.
-So this is huge? -This is huge.
[tia] she will rock your world, dude.
[mariah] you all watch out.
The diva is here.
[tia] diva is in the house.
Come on.
[tia] bella is a little feisty thing,
so I thought, well, let's see
if she gives augustus a little spice in his life,
and then we'll see... We'll see how he reacts to it.
All right, dude. She will take off your face.
[mariah] where you going, mama?
She actually enjoys dogs more than people.
[tia] oh, she's giving him an attitude.
You're giving me the stink eye.
Go on. Don't lose your faith.
[mariah] hi, boy. Hi, boy.
Go say, "hi," he's your boyfriend?
That's what you gotta say. I mean, she likes dogs
if I calling them her boyfriend.
[makes sound] come on, baby, wanna say hi?
-He doesn't even care about her, like at all. -[tia] yeah.
-[mariah] is that your boyfriend? -[tia] you're over it?
He goes, oh, wait, there's a dog down there.
You see that look? Like, "what?"
[mariah] he's like, "oh, I didn't even see her."
[tia] yeah. I can say he doesn't really care much
-about anything. -[mariah] no, uh-uh.
-And her, um... -Yeah. And bella, like, she's...
-Oh, she's giving him an attitude... -She wants to play...
-Uh-huh. -No, no, she's giving him an attitude,
-she's like, "don't you pick your nose at my booty." -[mariah] good girl.
-Belle, did you get him? -Mm-hmm. But he didn't care.
He didn't really notice at all.
You know what, no surprise,
but augustus was so great.
He just loves everything.
He is probably the most perfect dog
that has ever walked through my door.
Well the thing, too, is he doesn't bark like a hound.
-[mariah] yeah. -So it's not... It's not gonna be scary.
-[mariah] so he won't freak... Won't... Yeah. -[mariah] yeah.
Won't break the little dog out.
So, augustus passed the tiny dog meet and greet
with flying colors.
And now he's going to prepare
to go make the long trip
to the state of arizona.
[mariah] are you over it?
[tia] yup. He says, I am.
All right. Okay.
Well, thank you for your cooperation.
[mariah] no, shiloh.
Come on.
-[heidi] oh, you don't wanna carry it? -[lizzy] no.
I have to carry those things around all the time, heidi.
[heidi] yeah, but we see...
[lizzy] it's your... It's your turn now.
But we see the strength you carry.
-Oh, my god. -[lizzy] this is why.
Now, you're gonna have the mom strength.
Polly is a dog that was dumped at the rescue
and is unable to use her back legs.
[heidi] do you think she likes it in here?
[lizzy] yeah. She looks like really content, actually.
Heidi has been taking great care of her
and doing different types of physical therapy with her,
and today we are actually going to the vet
to follow up and show dr. Samantha
some of the progress that heidi thinks she made.
How is she doing?
-[heidi] she's doing really good. -[dr. Samantha] okay.
Any improvement since I last saw you?
-So I have... -[dr. Samantha] oh, I love the carrier.
Oh.
I know, but it's not gonna last long
because she's already like...
Growing?
Wow, she's getting stronger.
[heidi] yeah. So, she will actually
-kind of try and stand... -[dr. Samantha] bear weight?
[heidi] yeah. And like kinda try and hobble around.
She will, um...
-[dr. Samantha] kick a little or... -...Stand a little...
For a little period of time.
[dr. Samantha] oh, that's good moment...
-[heidi] oh, my god. -[dr. Samantha] ...Right there.
Yeah, I mean she's trying to take a full steps right now.
[heidi] yeah. So, this is huge?
This is huge.
So polly is doing great.
She is actually moving the legs,
able to stand which is amazing, I mean,
we're only 10 days out from when I first saw her.
So, she's just made huge strides
in her recovery with her mobility.
-Good girl. -Oh, my god.
[dr. Samantha] she's like really enjoying it.
Come see, take more steps.
-[heidi] perfect. -Good.
-[heidi] see. -Take that step.
Oh, that was a good one.
Oh, she did that on her own, huh?
-Yeah. -[lizzy] oh my god.
I mean, I'm trying to get her to...
-[lizzy] oh. -[laughs]
she's taking full on steps. This is amazing.
[lizzy] to our surprise polly is actually improving.
She's starting to do better.
And, uh, dr. Samantha was very impressed
with what she saw.
For her to make that much progress
just in a short time period,
it gives us a lot of hope
that she will continue making progress.
[dr. Samantha] and I also feels like she has,
like, more tone in her legs,
like her legs are getting stronger
because, I mean, right now,
I just have one hand on her, like I'm...
I am supporting her but...
[heidi] yeah, she can... You can let go.
[dr. Samantha] really?
-Look at that. -[heidi] yeah. See?
-[dr. Samantha] oh, that's amazing. -[lizzy] oh, look.
-Oh. -Look at her pushing.
-Oh my god. -Is there any chance
of her front legs getting bowed?
Um, you know, uh, yes, there is chance
because what's happening is that her little muscles,
especially her triceps here are getting really tight
because she's in this position...
-[lizzy] yeah. -...All the time.
Try and, uh, help hold her head up and everything
since she can't use much of this
and pulling herself forward.
So, um, heidi has been doing like some massaging
of the triceps to help keep them loose.
-The good thing is she's still growing, right? -[lizzy] yeah.
So, she still has, you know, the opportunity
for more changes in her body
than a full grown adult would.
So, I think as long as we keep doing
the physical therapy with her,
and massaging, and everything,
I think her front legs will correct themselves.
Today really changed my entire perspective
on where we're at with her case.
I was, you know, feeling very discouraged
last time I saw her, getting very concerned
with her quality of life.
And then, today, just seeing her move and progress,
the muscles doing better, I was super please
to see how much better she's doing today.
[lizzy] so, but... But we're feeling a little more hopeful.
Yeah, what's the percentage?
-[dr. Samantha] for walking? -[lizzy] for...
[dr. Samantha] fifty-fifty for full on walking,
um, normal walking.
I think that, you know,
she will continue to progress,
so to go from completely flaccid paralysis
-to standing in 10 days is... -[lizzy] is good.
I mean who knows how, you know,
much more she'll be able to do.
Could be normal.
She could be a normal dog.
[lizzy] oh, my god, that's so crazy.
[dr. Samantha] if she can do this much progress
in the next 10 days, I mean we could be looking at...
-She could be walking, right? -Yeah.
And she could be taking steps like real steps.
[lizzy] that's amazing.
And, you know, she might run and play,
and be a normal puppy or she may get to a point
where she's sort of using the legs
and can propel herself
but she's not normally functioning.
You know, I think for adoption purposes, though,
um, if she's... Like, if she gets to a point
where she is walking but then she does have
some of those other medical things...
-[dr. Samantha] right. -I still think we'd be able to find her a home.
-I do, too. -[lizzy] I mean, this is pretty amazing.
I think it's really incredible that polly is doing better.
This is huge.
You know to other people,
it may not look like much improvement,
but it truly is, especially if you look back
to the condition that she was in
the day that she was dumped under the bridge.
It's so great to see.
I'm so happy for polly.
I'm really proud of heidi.
You know, you can tell she is just pouring everything
into this puppy and giving her the very best shot
she possibly can.
I mean, you really are doing an amazing job with it.
Heidi has just done an amazing job,
I mean, I have to commend her completely
for the effort and care she's put into this.
You know, it's so labor intensive.
It takes so much dedication and time, and she's just,
um, so good with all the exercises I've given her,
with all the instructions I've given her.
She's really, you know,
taken it and done an amazing job.
So, I mean, polly would not be where she is today
right now without heidi. That's so cute.
You look like a little boujee mother with this.
I'm a little embarrassed sometimes, but yeah.
-[dr. Samantha laughs] -no, don't be.
[dr. Samantha] do people like, peer in, like,
"oh, the baby," and then they're like, "oh, it's a puppy."
I feel like why would you be embarrassed?
It's the same... It's like it's your baby.
Just because it's not a human baby, it's still a baby.
You know, uh, if she is able to walk,
we're hopeful that an adopter would be able to manage.
But, you know, baby steps right now.
We can only take things a day at a time
and we'll check progress again soon.
[dr. Samantha] so, do you wanna plan on a week?
[lizzy] yeah. The next steps for polly
are for heidi to continue
all of her therapies with her
and hopefully she just continues to improve,
and can grow up and live a normal life
and get a great home someday.
[dr. Samantha] so we'll check the progress, okay?
[lizzy] all right. Thank you.
[dr. Samantha] all right. Bye, guys.
[mariah] so much yet?
[lizzy] [bleep].
[mariah] lizzy, you wanna help?
Here, let me hold him and you can go get...
[lizzy] I'm gonna need help carrying it.
It's fine. I can help you, here.
My mom's gonna hold shamrock and I'll help you.
[tia] the adopters for shamrock live
a pretty active lifestyle in southern california.
There's a handle right here.
I didn't even notice that.
[tia] and they're big hope, they're big dream
would be someday for him to feel comfortable enough
to get on a paddleboard with them.
Yeah, that's gonna be plenty with him
to have him get on that.
I think he will but I think he's just gonna,
like, jump on... He's just...
He's not paying attention to anything.
-Yeah. -[tia] I don't even think he's gonna notice.
But I wanna get him in the water first.
That's more important right now.
I know. Look at him, he wants to go.
[tia] mmm-hmm.
Good boy, bud.
He didn't seem to be bothered by the water.
Wanna go swimming? Ooh.
But I couldn't get him to focus at all.
Uh-uh, come on, bud.
[lizzy] I'm surprised he's not anxious.
-Come on, nok, let's go for a walk with sham. -[tia] coming up.
[lizzy] sometimes, you know, a dog will get overexcited
and maybe will jump up and knock a kid over,
and that's what we don't wanna see.
-[tia] hold on. -[mariah] oh.
Hold on. Hold on.
[mariah] oh, that I normally do
but I just don't know how to...
[tia grunts]
[mariah] come on.
[tia] does he play with toys or no?
[lizzy] oh, my god, he loves toys.
He has really insane toy drive actually.
[tia] lizzy points out, oh, he loves toys.
Ding, ding, ding, my favorite thing to hear.
Oh, look at him. Look at him.
-Ready? -Oh, my god.
-Okay. -I freaking love this dog.
[lizzy] yeehaw, buddy.
[mariah] can you get in there?
[tia] when I brought up that ball, I had him.
-Good, sham. -Good, boy.
Come on. Keep going, push it, push it, push it.
[tia] and at that point, I had something to work with.
[cheers and laughter]
[tia] yeah, big splash.
-[mariah] just water dog sport... -[lizzy] so, he does...
Like, you know what we need to do
is just strap some toys underneath here.
He just sits there.
And he'll just sit on there and destroy.
[tia] at that point, I thought, you know what,
we'll just be content with introducing him
to the paddleboard.
I mean, think about it, it's hard enough for a human
to get on that in the water.
Let's just try him on the ground.
Okay. Uh, uh, uh, uh, uh...
[mariah] say it loud with a confidence, though,
-once that ball comes out. -Yup. Mmm-hmm.
He loves his ball.
-Sit down. -[mariah] good.
-Okay. -[tia] look at this.
-[mariah] we're doing good. -He doesn't care about the...
-Stay here. He don't care. -He doesn't care, yeah,
as long as he has a toy.
[tia] I mean, here's the thing,
he could give a rat's butt about this board.
-Yeah, he's not scared of it. -[tia] yeah.
-[mariah] come in. -[tia] yeah.
Let's just put it by the water.
We don't have to even... Like just put it in there on the edge.
-[lizzy] okay. And see what he does? -[tia] yeah.
[mariah] okay. Just floating and...
Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Pretty nifty.
[tia] just put it right there on...
Just right there on the edge.
Okay. That's all.
Here, bud.
Here, bud. Come on.
-Good job. Good job. -There you go, dude.
-Good job. Good job. -[indistinct]
he's about to sit.
-He doesn't even care, though. -He doesn't care.
-Sham, get in here. -Because his...
-Come on. -Oh, my god.
-And we're off. -[laughter]
bye.
He's gonna sit down.
Yeah.
Yes.
I can take a picture.
[tia] he just like jump up on the paddleboard,
just sat there.
Just sat there like he's been doing his whole life,
and, um, we were all, like,
"what just happened?"
good job, bud.
-He wants to... -Go for it.
-[lizzy] yay. -Yay.
[mariah] pull me.
[lizzy] he's the coolest dog ever.
-This is good, though... -Super comfortable.
...Because they do a lot of, like...
They do a lot of adventures and need a dog...
-[tia] uh-huh. -...That's confident that can go...
He's adventurous.
Pulled me right...
Sham pulled her right out of the shore.
[mariah] shamrock did way better than I thought.
He did better than I did honestly.
[lizzy] the good thing is, is, like,
they're not expecting him to just like,
we're gonna take him out the first day.
They were, like, we know it's a gonna take time
and we have to work with it.
Trust me, they do some basic on him
with some good six days.
[lizzy] and that's what they wanna do.
-They'll do some basic... -Impulse control with that ball.
He's gonna be good. He'll have fun.
He'll be good.
Now that shamrock has done amazing
with paddle board and with the water,
we are going to kid test him.
I'm gonna go with him.
[lizzy] erica and dan are looking to start a family
in the very near future, so it's very important
that we further test out shamrock with kids.
[tia] well, that was some unexpected fun.
[lizzy] that was really fun.
That dog is so impressive. [tia] yeah.
-[mariah] hi. -[man] hey.
-[man] how are you doing?
-How's it going? -That's earl,
spencer, and toney back here.
-[man] hey, earl, spencer, toney. -[man] hey. How is it going?
[man] nice to meet you, guys.
[mariah] today, I finally get to take earl, spencer,
and tony to the screen printing company,
and they'll get to sit down with the owner,
the artist, and tell all of their ideas.
I really wanted to give them their creativity
and do a full, like, parolee line
-and release it all at once. -Cool.
[mariah] and whether it's hats,
kid shirts, sweatshirts,
whatever, I want it to be their...
-Sure. -[mariah] ...Their thing.
Today is the day where everything
really get started with the parolee line
and I am really excited about it.
Yeah. I've been kinda ready for a while, you know.
-[mariah laughs] -[man] oh, okay.
[earl] so, this is one of my favorite dogs
in the world.
He was like my first rescue dog.
-Oh, mr. Wilson. -[man] yeah, mr. Wilson.
-Yeah, yeah, yeah. -[indistinct].
[earl] uh, that's what put me in the game.
[woman] hey, mr. Wilson.
[earl] I have a lot of rescues under my belt,
but I'd say mr. Wilson is my all-time favorite
because he was my first rescue.
I tell people he literally put me
in the game of rescuing.
You know, we lost him a while back and, uh...
-[man] right. -...Like he's kinda special to me.
Do you wanna do like a sketch of him like this
or do you wanna use like an actual photo of him?
No. I would prefer the sketch like that.
[man] okay. Okay. Yeah. That's fine.
[earl] because just like I pulled it out you know
exactly who it was.
Anybody that know mr. Wilson,
when they look at that picture
they should know exactly who it is
because he's one of a kind, one and only big willie.
-[man] and you drew that? -No, a friend of mine.
[man] because I'm about to say, that's awesome.
This is really nice. Yeah.
[earl] like my all-time favorite.
[mariah] earl set the bar a little too high for everybody.
All right, spenser, you're next.
[spencer] okay. This is my first concept.
It's like a baby and a... And a puppy.
-[mariah] he's a new dad. -Oh, awesome.
-Congratulations. Yes. -Congrats.
[spencer] thank you.
And this is...This is one of the concepts right here.
-[man] okay. -[spencer] but like I want...
[mariah] do you know what dog you wanna use?
[spencer] yeah, I want like a... Like a cute puppy,
you know what I mean?
[man] man, you could do that on onesies and bibs.
[mariah] that's what I told him, too.
[man] and... You know, all kind of...
-It's almost like a norman rockwell. -[spencer] yeah.
[mariah] mmm-hmm.
It's a baby theme but it's just like
a puppy theme also.
It's gonna be, like, my son on there and one of our dogs.
[earl] so what you talking about, toney?
I wanna do a design with dumaine.
He's a really important dog to me because...
-[man] mmm-hmm. -...You know, he's been through so much.
He's been with our organization for a long time.
-[man] mmm-hmm. -[spencer] and, um, I feel that he represents,
like, a part of me when I look at him.
[man] we can definitely mess with that.
-There's a lot to go with that. -[man] there's a lot
-we can do with that. -I'm excited for y'all.
[man] actually, it's all three,
all three got a good solid start.
[earl] well, I think, all of us are pretty excited
about the idea to even, you know...
-[man] yeah. -...Create something from us.
For mariah to give us this opportunity
to be in-charge of something like this,
like it is very valuable, and she's trusting us
to come up with our own designs
and go sit down with these people
and talk about what we want.
You know, it just makes me feel good to know
that she trusts us like she do.
I'm proud to y'all, you know.
-I appreciate that. -[man] yeah, that's awesome.
-[man] all righty, guys. -[mariah] thank you, guys, so much.
-All right. You are all welcome. -Yeah.
[mariah] at this point, I'm gonna get a few emails
of the guys' designs in different ways
that we could work them so that they can kind of
narrow it down and see what they wanna change,
all that stuff. Once we have that
completely nailed down,
then we get to send them into production
and all of their designs will be made into clothing.
[man] thank you, brother. I appreciate that.
All righty. Thank you all again, y'all.
[man] bye, guys.
[mariah] bridgette, go. This is bridgette.
She's about eight-years-old and she came to us
when she was only a few weeks old.
She's very, very affectionate with people,
but unfortunately, after some of the things
that bridgette had been through before
she can no longer be in a home with other dogs.
Bridgette was actually adopted out
and returned to us by no fault of her own.
It was because of the other dog in the home
that she's returned to us.
Bridgette loves to go on walks and even though
she's eight-years-old, she's full of energy
and will run around the yard.
Yeah.
Come on.
She's also a dog that'll sit on the couch
and cuddle with you as long as you're okay
with a lot of kissing.
If you're interested in adopting bridgette,
any other villalobos dog,
or donating to villalobos,
go to animalplanet.Com/ pitbulls.
Yay.
Woo-hoo.
Wow.
[lizzy] recently, there was a puppy that we named polly.
[heidi speaking]
[lizzy] heidi took this dog in
and was working with her on being able to use
-her legs again. -[heidi] come here.
[lizzy] we really give every dog that comes
to us a chance.
If there is even a little bit of hope
that they can overcome whatever illness
they may have.
You know, that's what we're here for.
We're here to give them a second chance.
But unfortunately, she passed away
suddenly from other complications.
-Hey. -Hey.
[lizzy] so, I just wanted to, uh, check in with you
and see how you're doing.
It's okay.
It's just like unexpected and sad.
-Yeah. -It was crazy.
Out of nowhere, like, she just, like, collapsed.
Polly was doing really well.
She was making great strides
and we were at home, and I started noticing
that she was breathing a little bit differently.
How fine that morning walking, eating,
everything's normal to like... I mean,
I guess, she was like having difficulty breathing.
Few hours after, I brought her into the vet,
they called me and said that her heart stopped
and she had passed away.
Did you end up, um, getting any more info
as to what happened or why it happened so fast?
[heidi] they think that maybe because
of whatever her back trauma was.
As she was, like, healing and getting better,
maybe there was a clot that moved.
-Oh, okay. -Or it was just,
you know, some undetected heart issue.
It was heartbreaking.
There's, like, no hope for this dog to go...
To all the hope for this dog,
and then to lose them is so devastating.
All I think of when I think of her
-is that face. -[lizzy] I know.
[heidi sighs] you know, I just was, like,
picturing her eventually in a home
and, like, walking and just being this normal
functioning dog, and that was just all gone.
You know, obviously, her not making it was
something that nobody could control
or that you couldn't control,
but you should still be really proud
of yourself for how much work and time
you put into her, because not everybody
would be able to take something like that on
and do physical therapy, and express
a dog's bladder, and that's really,
really amazing, and that you guys
were both lucky to have each other.
Polly had been living with heidi for around
three weeks.
It was really hard to see heidi
-so devastated. -It's just weird, like,
toting her around anymore when I was just like
literally toting her.
[lizzy] I know. She was your baby.
-[heidi] my little... -[lizzy] she went everywhere
-with you. -[heidi] my little tot.
[lizzy] yeah. The beauty and all of it
is that she did have you
and you made sure she was as happy as possible
and you got her as far as she did get
and that's pretty amazing.
[heidi] we really loved each other so much
and I loved her personality.
I think that's why this one is so hard.
[lizzy] as much as, like, it's awful,
you should still be proud yourself.
-[sighs] -[lizzy] it's hard.
[lizzy] what are they?
-They're rocks. -They're rocks?
Yeah, bigger rocks.
Wow. They're what kind of rocks?
[lizzy] I'm worried that these are actually
-pee pee rocks. -[mariah laughs]
that's what I'm concerned about right now.
That's what soap and water is for.
Nokoa, are you gonna help me do this training?
Even though dan and erica don't have children right now,
they do potentially wanna have children
in the future and that's why lizzy
and I wanna kid-test shamrock.
All right. You ready to work, mister?
You're gonna stay with mommy and I'm gonna get the dog.
You wanna go say hi to shamrock?
-Yes. -[lizzy] in the past,
we had kid-tested shamrock and he did really well.
It had been a little while since he'd been around kids,
and we also wanted to test him around
a much younger kid.
Hi, sham.
I'm giving him chicken.
-Yeah, snack. -Hmm, chicken.
-See? -[lizzy] yeah, he's having
chicken nuggets. He loves chicken nuggets.
Do you wanna pet him? Do you wanna pet his head?
-Thank you. -Good job.
[mariah] apparently, he's not child aggressive.
Nokoa, will you walk with mommy a little bit?
-Good boy. -[lizzy] come on, nok,
let's go for a walk with sham.
[mariah] look, really he doesn't care.
[lizzy] once we see how comfortable he is,
and how relaxed he is, and how much he actually
really likes nokoa, we decided that we would
kick it up a notch and have nokoa run back
-and forth. -[mariah] shamrock, hey.
[lizzy] okay. One, two, three. Go.
-Race her. -Right there, right there,
-right there. -Good job.
Well, clearly he's not lunging...
-[lizzy] okay. -...At children like
-I've seen some dogs do. -[lizzy] sometimes, you know,
a dog will get overexcited and maybe we'll jump up
and knock a kid over and that's what we don't
wanna see.
All right. One more time, okay?
-You're gonna race. -You gotta beat her.
[lizzy] okay. One, two, three, go. Go, go, go.
-Good job. -[lizzy] oh, my god,
-you're so fast, nokoa. -Good boy, shammy.
You're gonna beat her again?
-[lizzy] go. -Go, go, go, go, go.
[lizzy] you're too fast for me, nokoa.
-Good job, shamrock. -[lizzy] go job, buddy.
[mariah] shamrock did so good.
All he wanted to do at that point
was just lay down and let nokoa pet his belly,
so I think shamrock passed the kid-testing.
-All right. Bye, noki. -[lizzy] say bye-bye.
Come on, shammy.
He likes you.
Come on, buddy.
Thank you for helping.
So I think at this point it is safe to say
that shamrock and I can head
to southern california.
[lizzy] I think you did so good.
Let's go get your payment.
You wanna get a chocolate chip cookie?
[spencer] we about to see...
Mom, can you video it? I want...
They haven't seen the shirts yet.
-[toney] oh, lord. -On your phone.
-It's that time. -[mariah] all right,
are you ready? You can't look yet.
-[tia] okay. -All right.
Don't look.
So, mariah told me that they were coming up
with some new t-shirt ideas involving earl,
tony, and spencer.
And allowed them to be a part of the creative process,
which I thought was really cute.
Hold on.
-And go. -[maria chuckles]
-[all] oh. -[toney] oh. Oh, my god.
[tia] hey, there you are.
So, how are things going?
I can't tell you how much I love him.
-Awe. -There have been
some glitches.
Okay. Like what?
Well...
-[tia] the big reveal. -[toney] camo.
-Oh, lit. -[laughter]
-[toney] oh, my god. -You like 'em?
-[earl] yeah. -[toney] oh, that's so
-beautiful. -I know it is.
-[tia] oh, wow. -Wow.
[man] boys will be boys.
[earl] all right, toney.
-[laughter] -yeah, man.
-Yeah, toney. -[toney] I think that all
our ideas and all the, um, time we took trying to,
like, figure out what we wanted to do
and everything, I think it definitely paid off.
I think our fans and our supporters
will be excited about them, too.
[mariah] that that was the first time...
-[tia] aww, so cute. -[mariah] that's chester,
-right? -[spencer] that's ches, yeah.
[man] beautiful.
I think the shirts turned out real nice.
I think all of us was real creative
with the designs we chose and, um,
they're looking good.
-All right. -Good job, mariah.
-[earl] thank you mariah. -Hold this up.
-[toney] thank you everybody. -[mariah laughs]
-man, this is beautiful. -[mariah] so, we have
to all three of your pictures now.
-Okay. -[toney] all right.
[tia] you know, I thought it was really cool to see
all three of their input on their design.
Spencer for example, he's very reserved and,
uh, he kinda holds everything in,
and when I saw this t-shirt, it's like bubbly cute.
I don't know how else to put it.
Like, it's adorable, it's his son and one of our dogs,
and it was just a cute design,
and I thought I would never have expected
that coming from him or any of the guys, actually.
I would like to do something like kid-themed
-for that one. -[mariah] yeah. Well,
he showed us a vintage picture of,
like, an old drawing and that was his inspiration
-for that. -Mmm-hmm.
[mariah] and this won't be the last one,
like we can still do more in the future
like, other designs you guys have.
-[tia] yes. -I appreciate that,
-that's tight. -Yeah.
I'm so appreciative for what tia and mariah
done for me, and I... Words can't really explain it,
you know, it's just gonna show you,
like, the hard work pays off.
And right now, I'm right at a decade,
so I've been around a while, so I must have
been doing something right.
Her giving me this opportunity to do
something like this, man, words can't even explain.
And as more parolees come to work,
when they're here long enough and they've earned their spot,
then they can design their own.
You come out on parole, you come to work for us,
we don't just want you to put all your eggs
in one basket.
I encourage them to go out and try other things.
Uh, you know, I want them to learn.
So, designing these t-shirts was just one more
little thing for them to learn, um,
to expand their horizons so to speak.
Y'all need to start your own, like...
You could start with t-shirts,
-your own clothing line. -[mariah] that's... Oh,
earl has been ready to design clothes.
-He's been chomping at the bit. -I mean, getting to see
their faces and how proud they are of what
they've accomplished is obviously what
I was hoping to get out of this,
and I'm extremely proud of them
and I hope that they keep growing.
[mariah] here we go.
Today is the day that I get to load up shamrock
and take him to his potential forever home
in southern california.
Come here. You're ready to go?
He's gonna be a freaking california boy.
-[earl] yeah, west coast. -[mariah chuckles] yup.
-[earl] west coast. -[mariah] uh-uh.
Come on, buddy.
Come on. Come on.
Good.
I am really, really excited to get pictures hopefully
from his adopters of shamrock's paddle boarding
with them and being out on the beach,
and hopefully ending up
with a little brother or sister.
-Can't go wrong. -I'll send you pictures.
All right, then. Bye, shammy boy.
I wish you were going with me.
I know. Be careful, yup.
[mariah laughs] bye, love you.
-[earl] bye. -[mariah] so hopefully,
this home check goes well
and shamrock can live the sweet life out
on the water and enjoy his forever family.
Sham, you ready, buddy?
I love this dog a lot.
You guys are very, very lucky.
I am very excited to see shamrock.
-[mariah] let's go. -It's been such a long
-time coming. -I know.
-Shamrock. -Hi, shamrock.
Hey, there you are.
[diana speaking]
well, I don't want... I don't ever wanna be bigger.
-You don't. -[laughter]
recently, one of our dogs augustus
got adopted to a wonderful lady
named diana in arizona.
And being that augustus lived with me, um,
I really wanted to check in with her
and him myself.
So, how are things going?
[diana speaking]
aw.
-[diana speaking] -okay.
Oh, good.
Okay. Well, that's good.
-That's good. -[diana speaking]
okay. Like what?
[diana speaking]
-oh. -[diana speaking]
you know, you can always get yourself one
of those hanging, like, shoe caddies
that you put the shoes in and get them up the floor,
and that way, you know, it will keep him
from doing that.
You know, dogs don't know that that's a shoe
and that's my toy.
To them everything is fair game.
So, it's just like a little bit
of a learning opportunity.
[diana speaking]
he is, he is.
But... Um, okay. Well, again, it's...
We'll keep checking in.
Feel free to send pictures.
You know, I'll just cross my fingers
-that he stays a good boy. -[mariah] go be a puppy.
-[tia] this thing here is... -[mariah] go, go be a puppy.
...A total gem. He's such a gem.
Augustus had a rough start.
You know, he was first adopted out
from the new iberia shelter to a person, who then,
like, a year later, I guess, tossed him out
on the street.
Now, he's across the country and living, uh,
in arizona, so, yeah, good for him.
All right, diana. Well, thank you and,
uh, we'll keep wishing everybody the best there.
-[diana speaking] -okay.
-Okay. Bye-bye. -[diana] bye-bye.
Bye-bye.
Diana with a purple hair.
She's so cute.
Sham, you ready, buddy?
Today we are in california doing
shamrock's home check.
All right. We're here.
Oh, my god.
So cute.
So, hopefully, this home check goes well
and shamrock can have a forever home.
[doorbell dings]
-hi, guys. How are you? -Hi. How are you?
You already got your toy.
-[laughter] -he's not in here yet.
-[laughter] -[erica] waiting for shamrock,
I've been nervous, excited,
uh, just really hoping that he loves us as much
as we love him already.
-[indistinct] -it's okay.
-The sign is amazing. -[erica] oh, thank you.
[man] oh, yeah.
-Um...[mariah speaking] -[erica] we raided
the local pet store and we were able to get, um,
a crate, as well as his bed,
his toys.
Oh, we're just so excited.
Can't wait see him again.
[maria] you are.
Shamrock isn't gonna know what to do
with all of these toys and the crate
is also very important for him because
it is his downtime and his calming space.
So, they already have that set up.
I mean, this house is perfect for him
and his new family.
Obviously, we're gonna have to sit down
and have some talk but things are a little bit
-different. -Sure.
-Yeah. -So, we can actually
see each other, why don't we go
in the backyard first. I'll check the fence
and everything, and then we can sit down and talk.
-Great. -Okay.
-Excellent. -Okay. I'll follow you.
Now that I know the inside of the house looks good,
I can check the backyard.
Oh, my gosh.
[mariah] this is so peaceful.
[erica laughs] thank you.
[mariah] um, and then is this the only gate?
-[erica] we have... -[dan] there are three gates.
[erica] ...Three gates to this yard here.
Okay. So, first thing, you guys need to get
-a clip for that. -[erica] okay.
Um, do you know what I'm talking about?
So, if you put one on here...
You can just get a caribiner or something.
-[erica] okay. -[mariah] you can put them
in the holes and he won't be able to open it.
It's just a precaution, um, to make sure...
We're going to have to get a bolt, too.
[mariah] yeah, if you do this on the gates.
And then where are the other ones?
Oh. We have on this side if you go down.
Okay. I'm gonna go.
Obviously, it's pretty easy, your fences are already
all the way into the ground and then this,
I don't have to worry about.
-[dan] yes. -[mariah] okay.
And then this side,
this one I wouldn't be as worried about
because he can't pop this open.
Okay. And why don't we sit down
and then we can talk a little bit?
-[dan] yeah. -[erica] sure.
This is so peaceful.
One of the other gates is already perfect
and the one that shamrock could possibly open,
they're gonna put a clip on, so I really
don't have much to worry about.
I love this dog a lot.
You guys are very, very lucky.
He is the man that every woman wishes they have.
You have competition.
-You do. -I'll be on the couch.
Um, and he's really, really smart
and he's active, that's the biggest thing.
-See the paddleboard stuff? -Yeah, it was...
-[laughs] -...So impressive.
We knew that he'd be good but I didn't...
I was worried... You know, dogs have to get
-their balance. -Mm-hmm.
-[lizzy] he's gonna sit. -[mariah] mom, don't.
-Yeah. -[tia] he... Oh. Yes.
-[mariah] yes. -[lizzy] I can take a picture.
[mariah] he just got on with me and sat down.
-Nice. -And he stayed there.
-He loves the water. -I'm very excited to see
shamrock on the paddleboard, which I know
he's familiar with now, does great with.
We'll be going hiking,
beach, lots activities.
[mariah] all of us are just so impressed
-by him. -Mmm-hmm.
Because he's really, really smart,
but he's also just like [makes sound] and melts.
Yeah, he's very perfect.
So, instead of talking about him,
I can go get him, if you want.
-[erica] yes, please. -[dan] oh, yeah, please.
Okay. I'm gonna through this side gate
-and I'll bring him out here. -Sure.
-Thank you. -Okay.
All right. I'm gonna go get him for y'all.
I am very excited to see shamrock.
We have, uh, lots of dreams and thoughts
of him running around the house and being playful,
and getting to know him.
It's been such a long time coming.
-I know. -Oh, I can't wait to see him.
Our boy is coming.
Come here, my love.
All right. Let's hop, baby.
Let's go.
What is this? Hang on.
-[dan] shamrock. -[erica] hi, shamrock.
[mariah laughs] oh, you're excited.
-Come here, big boy. -Hi.
Hi, boyfriend. How are you?
How was your trip?
-Hey, boyfriend. -Oh.
-[laughs] -[mariah] come on now, buddy.
[erica] what is... Oh, cool.
-[dan] oh. -[erica] just your size.
-[mariah] uh, yeah, he's a... -[dan] he's just playing.
Shamrock felt real comfortable
when he first walk through the door.
[erica] maybe you see your treats?
-[mariah] yeah. -[erica] and we got
peanut butter and bones.
Definitely looking forward to making some
new memories with him.
Nothing will ever replace lady bug, but,
uh, I think she'd be happy with our choice.
-All right. -[mariah laughs]
[indistinct chatter]
hi.
[mariah] I like that he's sitting like a human, right?
Yeah.
He just wanna be rubbed.
[mariah] all right, well, I think I get to hand
this to you guys and leave while he's not
-paying attention. -[erica] oh.
[mariah] I'm not gonna say bye, so you take this.
-[erica] oh my goodness. -[mariah] congratulations.
-Thank you so much. -And please, please send us...
Annoy us with pictures because...
-We will. -...Lizzy, tania, and I
-are gonna need them. -We will.
-Okay. -There will never too
-many pictures, I promise. -Yeah.
Thank you guys and congratulations.
-[dan] thank you. -Thank you so much.
If you need anything, just call, okay?
[erica] thank you so much.
Okay. Look at him. Hello, gorgeous.
-Hi, gorgeous. -[mariah] of course,
it's bittersweet leaving a dog
that I am so in love with.
But at the end of the day,
shamrock gets to live the perfect life.
He's going to be a able to go to the beach
and paddleboard, and have two people
that are focused solely on him.
I couldn't ask for anything more for this dog.