[tia] coming up on pit bulls & parolees.
[elise speaking]
[mariah] going into a rescue that, you know,
the dog is injured, means the dog
would probably react to me. You've already seen it?
-[elise] oh... -[mariah] oh, my...
[toney] you ready to rock and roll?
[tia] working at the rescue, you learn to care
and you learn compassion.
[spencer] there are all type of doggies up in here.
One day you might work here.
[tia] that is the elements that you need
-to be a good parent. -[toney] you wanna do
the best you can for the dog
so he can have a comfortable spot to live.
[mariah] a family from florida...
-Hi, guys! -[all] hi!
[mariah] ...Is bringing their dog, princess...
-[lauren] yeah! -[mariah] ...To hopefully find
-a new best friend. -[lauren] oh.
[mariah] I'm just not comfortable yet.
[lauren] don't worry. I'm right here.
[upbeat music playing]
[tia] my name is tia maria torres.
For more than 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 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.
[rock music playing]
[indistinct chatter]
[earl] give us some of that cake.
[tia] watching our employees,
the kids, all having kids of their own,
still working at the rescue,
just as dedicated to the dogs.
-[woman] for you. -[mariah] luke, you say, "hi, dakota."
-[luke] hi, dakota. -Say, "hi, baby girl."
[tia] I have to admire that.
Come on, jethro.
[tia] the love of dogs doesn't go away.
That's all it is, man.
Someone taking the initiative to just step up
-and to do it. -[tia] we are a dog family,
meaning the dogs and the kids
are all a part of that together.
-How old is he now? -He's six now.
-[tia] god. -Six, bro.
-Wow. -[toney] since I've been here,
you know, I've had my kids, so our son
came since I've been here.
And I've been with him since he was born and everything.
Well, you know, like, our son always been, kinda,
tagging along when I, kinda, make my little stops
and everything. So he started to be
a lot more wanting to know what I...
What dad is doing.
But I've been, kinda, like, trying to get him
more active and he'd been hanging with me a little more.
You know, he rides around with me
to some of the locations, checks the properties.
He kinda know them by name already,
catching on to a few things,
so he really think he's my,
you know, assistant and everything.
He'd been helping with the dog tests
-and stuff like the kids... -Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah he's quite...
[toney] ...So he thinks he's a... He thinks he's a dog
-tester now, you know. -[tia] yeah, yeah, yeah.
[toney] so now he's talking about, um,
he's ready to clean kennels.
But, um, he be wanting to like, try to work a little
-or something there. -[laughs] he's six.
[toney] yeah, he keeps saying, "I wanna give it in the...
I wanna come clean the kennel." this and that.
He talk like he work with us,
but I was just trying to see if it would be okay.
I was thinking, like, if we pull like
the five dogs from out the back,
grab one, have the kennels empty.
Oh, you want him to head over to the kennel.
[toney] yeah, like, if I, like, pull a dog or what...
You know, I can take like the first five out
and let him, kinda, run in there.
Show him the little ins and outs, and what's expected.
Oh, my god, so cute.
You know, toney is very much the family man
and he's a spectacular father.
My kids grew up in it.
-[toney] yeah, yeah, they got... -They totally grew up in it.
-Yes, ma'am. -Yeah. Tania was small
and then mariah was born into it.
-Yes, ma'am. -And then the twins were...
When they were, like, younger teens, they got...
You know, they were brought in, so, um...
Oh, a part of their life for so long.
-Yeah, that's they all know. -Yes, ma'am.
[tia] raising kids around animals,
to me, there's no other life.
Like, it's just the ultimate.
You can learn so much from them.
And this is all they know, you know,
which is, kinda, scary 'cause I don't know what else
-they would do for work but... -Yes, ma'am.
[tia] and I think it's wonderful that toney
wants to include his son, you know,
at such an early age. It'd be fun for him.
-[toney] yeah. All right. -Holy, holy, toney.
I think it'd be cute.
[upbeat music playing]
[dog barking]
[mariah] thanks for helping me with this, babe.
-[kanani] yeah, absolutely. -[mariah] today, kanani and I
are meeting with a family from florida...
-Hi, guys! -[all] hi!
[mariah] ...That is bringing their dog, princess,
to meet some new friends and hopefully find
a new best friend.
Okay. Are you guys excited to meet some dogs today?
-[all] yes. -[mariah] yeah?
All right. We're gonna go sit
right under here and then I'll just talk to you guys
a little bit and then we'll probably have you
bring your dog out just so we can meet her
before we bring the others out.
-[david] yeah. -[lauren] sounds good.
[david] my name is david. Today, I brought my wife,
my daughter, lauren and trysta,
and our furry daughter, princess.
[mariah] it's a hot day.
So hopefully it'll feel a bit better under here
in the shade.
[david] princess is about a seven-year-old black lab.
She is probably the biggest contributing factor
of why we chose to come here
knowing the care that villalobos puts
into finding the right dog for the right family.
It's not just about getting a dog.
It's the perfect dog mixes
with our family dynamics.
[mariah] before we start, why don't you guys
tell us, like, what types of stuff you guys
like to do with your dog or you like to do
-just at home or... -Definitely we hang out
with the dog, we go into the pool a lot with her.
You know, we try and do some small trips with her.
[mariah] so your dog... She's pretty much with you
-guys all the time. Just... -[lauren] yes.
[mariah] ...Kinda, hangs out with the family?
-Yeah. Mmm-hmm. -Right.
Okay. So we're looking for a dog to do the same thing?
-[all] yeah. -[mariah] yeah? Okay.
[lauren] princess is a very active dog.
She has lots of energy.
So we just need another dog
that will meet that match for her.
[mariah] your dog, currently, princess,
has she been around a lot of dogs?
Has she lived with dogs before?
[david] we had a second dog up till a year ago.
-[mariah] okay. -We had a rottweiler boxer mix...
-[mariah] oh. -...For 15 years.
[david] moses and princess were like that little sister
to the big brother, like, they were bonded
the moment we brought her home for christmas.
They would sit there, and lay down,
and cuddle together, and it was that way
all the way up to the very end.
-Oh, okay. -So there was a dog,
-so she was the new one, so now... -[trysta] yeah.
-...She's gonna be the og. -Yeah.
-Yeah, you know it. -[mariah] yes. Absolutely.
Has she ever been around any other dogs or...
-We've taken them to... -We brought her...
-...Dog parks... -Okay.
...And stuff like that.
A friend of ours have dogs, have...
She's been around some other dogs here and there.
[mariah] okay. So she's pretty good with any dog she meets?
-Yes. -Yes, she's very friendly.
[mariah] okay. I think what this family
is looking for is just a good best friend for princess
and a dog that they can hang out with
that loves to go swimming and loves to do the family events
and activities with them and just someone
that can fit in with them as well as their dog.
Explain, like, what her play style is,
does she like to just coexist
or does she really wanna rumble and tumble?
[trysta] it depends, there's times
where she'll like run around and, like, kind of,
antagonize a little bit, like, jump on them...
-Okay. Yeah. -[trysta] ...And, like, goof around with them.
But then there's also times where she'll just, like,
-not care. -[mariah] just wanna be,
-kinda, independent? -Yeah.
[mariah] okay. So she can do both, she can coexist
but she can also play and, you know,
when she's tired, go do her own thing.
Okay. Perfect.
[trysta] princess wants another play buddy,
someone she can just have fun with,
like, run around the house and goof off with.
Is there anything specific you're looking for in a dog?
[lauren] we all want something different.
-[laughter] -[mariah] oh, okay.
Well, I got a big selection, so that's good.
Me, personally, I've always been partial
to getting something small, you know, like,
-a bullmastiff, or... -Oh, got you. Okay.
-[laughter] -so, you're really off
-in left field. -Right.
[mariah] we don't have any of those in our selection today,
but we got a couple bigger boys.
When there's a current dog in the home,
it's not really, like, you're shopping for yourself
because you're shopping for a new best friend
for your dog. So, that's gonna be the challenge
is winning over princess today.
Hi, are you nervous?
Are you ready to meet a friend?
She goes swimming with you guys, right?
-Yes. She jumps in. -She actually jumps
-in the pool before us. -[mariah] so I have a feeling
she might end up in the pond.
-[lauren] yeah. -[laughs]
why don't you go grab gogarty
and we'll do him first.
Gogarty is just your typical lab.
He's really fun-loving, very outgoing,
very confident, loves the water,
loves dogs, loves people.
He's just got a really good spirit
and I think that he could possibly win over princess.
All right.
You guys are welcome to come meet him,
if you guys wanna meet him first.
-[trysta] hi. -[mariah] hold on, bud.
-[trysta] hi, buddy. -[mariah] say hi.
-[trysta] oh, look at you. -[mariah] hi, mr. Man.
-He's so sweet. -[lauren] you're gorgeous.
[trysta] gogarty when I first saw him,
I really like him, he's really cute,
labs are adorable to me.
[mariah] I know you're ready to play.
They're all so excited when they meet new people.
[trysta] he seemed energetic and, like, happy
and I really like that 'cause it seemed like
it would be a lot of fun.
So, I feel like it was gonna be a really good match.
[mariah] you ready to meet someone?
Come on. And we'll just take it...
We'll just let them, kinda, sniff noses.
Good girl, good boy. You're so...
You're such a happy boy.
Good boy. You kissed her?
No. It'd just take... It may take her a little...
-[lauren] I know. -[mariah] it's a... It's a new place,
-there's so many smells, too. -[lauren] yeah, look.
Look at the water, you wanna look?
[mariah] gogarty is like, "I'll go in with you."
as you can see he likes water, too,
maybe that will get her interest up.
[david] when gogarty went into the water,
it was very encouraging and it showed me
that he had no fear of the water.
[mariah] do you wanna swim in, buddy?
[lauren] come on. Come here.
[mariah] she's like, "I want to,
I'm just not comfortable yet."
[lauren] yeah. She's just being shy.
[mariah] when gogarty came out, he was really excited
to meet everyone. So I think that princess
might have been a little put off
that he was so active,
but she didn't do anything negative
and he did really good about giving her her space.
So I think that overall, it went really well.
She's definitely not uncomfortable with him,
she's just a little nervous in general.
So let's bring out the next dog.
[trysta] okay.
[mariah] so attila came in through our assumption jail.
He is about two and a half and he's been here
at villalobos for about five months.
He definitely had to have been loved
at some point because he's just got really good manners.
He's just overall a really happy dog
and a dog that's just ready to go and do whatever.
So I think he'll be a good fit for this family.
Do you wanna meet a girl? Here.
Come on, mr. Man, let's say hi.
-You wanna say hi first? -[lauren] hi.
[mariah] he's like, "hi. Hi." [chuckles]
oh. Okay, don't...
-[lauren] oh, there we go. -[mariah] oh, look at her.
[trysta] yeah, she's really interested.
[mariah] he's just like a fun, cute boy.
Probably a husky akita something's mixed in there.
[lauren] yeah. Exactly.
[mariah] he's got really pretty eyes.
[david] my immediate reaction with attila
was it was a beautiful dog.
I love that mix of those breeds,
especially with how their tail curls like that.
[mariah] okay. Let's go for a walk.
Come on. Come on, pretty.
[lauren] don't worry.
I'm right here.
[mariah] here, let's go walk, go walk.
You could see princess was a little interested in him,
but attila was really interested in smelling
and, kind of, doing his own thing.
So I don't think that he was
really paying attention to the adopters.
Okay. Well, let's put him up
and let's try another one.
When pleagle came in at our rescue,
he looked like a little beagle plott hound mix to me.
So I, kind of, put those names together
and it came out pleagle.
Pleagle was my curve ball in this adoption.
He's definitely smaller.
He is just a really happy dog.
He loves other dogs.
He loves people.
He is one of the dogs that I just think
could fit really well with their dog,
and their family, and their lifestyle.
And he's got this sweet little puppy face
that really wins people over.
-Come, just say... -[lauren] oh, my gosh.
I know. What do you think about... Oh.
Oh, we are already interested, huh?
[mariah] I know, look at her.
-Oh, my goodness. -[trysta] yes. Hi.
[mariah] yeah. That was like the most interest
-I've seen her in. -[trysta] yeah.
She was like actually went up to him first.
[mariah] yeah, you wanna walk with him?
When pleagle came out, he really got
the interest of princess.
He was one of the only dogs
that she really seemed to wanna sniff.
And I think it was really nice to see her
have a little bit of a connection with him.
So, yeah. We got...
Who knows what he really is,
-but he's just one of the... -[trysta] what a mixture.
...Sweetest boys ever. Hi.
Well, I definitely think she had a lot...
She has a lot of interest in him.
-[lauren] uh-hmm. -[mariah] she definitely seems
very comfortable with him. What do you think?
-[lauren] you like him, princess? -[trysta] how are you?
[mariah] he's like, "just hold me."
he is, like, just one of those dogs
that will sit in your lap all day.
[trysta] pleagle was really small, like,
so cute and just like came and jump on me
and, like, just show a lot of attention.
[mariah] she's just so comfortable.
[trysta] yeah.
[mariah] what do you think about him?
[trysta] and princess definitely showed a lot
of interest in him.
So it was, like, it just seemed perfect.
So does his size not...
Are you not a fan of his size?
That size is fine, it's...
When they go smaller like the shi tzu size and stuff...
When you said that, I was worried,
I was like, "pleagle is the smallest one.
I don't know."
but his personality makes up for it.
[lauren] pleagle did meet our expectations
but still on the small side.
I was looking more for something
maybe to match princess.
[david] you're gonna say bye to your buddy?
[mariah] yeah, she really did seem like
she was more interested... Oh, look, she's like,
"where is he going?"
[lauren] yeah. Like I can...
[david] oh, she just gave a whine.
With pleagle, honestly there's nothing I can say
I didn't like about him and the thing
that really got me is when they left with him,
she sat there and whined.
That was part of the immediate connection
that we were looking for.
[mariah] we can bring him back if you want.
Let's meet one more.
Kila is a black lab who came in through
our assumption parish jail.
She is about a year old,
but she acts very mature.
She's got really good manners
and just really good in a lot of different situations.
Come say hi.
Look, there's a little girl just like you.
Say hi. Good girl.
-Oh. -[lauren] oh.
[mariah] do you like girls better?
She is pretty much full grown, I don't think
-she's gonna grow much more. -[lauren] hi.
Oh. Oh, you are so cute.
-[mariah] say hi baby. -[trysta] adorable.
-[mariah] let's walk 'em around a little bit. -[lauren] come on. Come on.
-Come on over here. -[mariah] come on.
[lauren] I really liked kila
and she seemed to adapt to princess right away.
-Kila is my number one. -[david] it's a mini princess.
-[lauren] I know. -[mariah] it is. I mean, right.
They totally look like they could be related for sure.
She does seem very comfortable, though.
-[lauren] definitely. -[trysta] yeah, she's definitely comfortable...
Because she's touching her with her back legs.
[mariah] honestly, it's usually up to the dog
to make the decision.
I think the meet and greet went really well.
Overall, it was a little hard to get a good reading
from their dog, princess.
She was very calm and laid back,
but she definitely didn't give us a lot of input
on which dog she preferred.
So, I'm really excited to see what dog
they end up choosing.
Is there any of them that, kinda, stood out to you guys?
I know you mentioned kila stood out a little bit?
-Yes. -[mariah] yeah? Okay. Any...
What about you guys, any dogs stand out?
[trysta] uh, I like, um, the one who starts with p.
[mariah] pleagle? The little cute one.
-[trysta] I like him. -[david] surprisingly,
I like pleagle, the smallest one.
[mariah] really? See, you never know
-until you meet them. -[trysta] right. Yeah.
-Yeah, that's true. -I was like, "he was my curve ball."
-yeah. Curve ball? -[mariah] just 'cause he's so sweet.
-Yeah. -[david] with pleagle,
I liked his personality.
I like how he was very close with everybody right away.
The way princess hit it off with him.
To me, that overlooked my whole thing
with the smaller size dog.
I think both of those choices are for sure
would be totally fine with her.
-Yeah. -Those were the ones she was most comfortable with.
[mariah] yeah. Absolutely.
[lauren] pleagle is really a great dog
and then princess seem to have
had more of a connection with pleagle.
I think you guys just gotta make a decision now.
[kanani] yeah. That's the hard part.
That's the hard part, right?
[mariah] I told them to definitely go home
and think on it, it's a really big decision
and you wanna make sure that everyone in the family
is on the same page before making a decision like that.
-Thank you, guys. -Nice to meet you all.
[mariah] be careful on your drive home.
-[lauren] okay. -Thanks, babe.
[dramatic music playing]
[dog barking]
you're fine.
I was at the rescue and got a call
from one of our employees elise,
saying that there was a dog
sitting underneath the carport.
So, I got the address you sent me,
but what's going on?
[elise speaking]
[mariah] she's been sitting there all day?
-[elise speaking] -[mariah] I got crate already.
-[elise] okay. Cool. -I'm literally gonna be there
-in, like, two seconds. So I will see you in a minute. -[elise] okay.
Going into a rescue that you know the dog is injured,
I don't know how bad, all I know
is the dog hadn't moved.
So in my head, the dog is not okay
which means the dog could probably react to me.
So, it's dog biting me out of not feeling well
and the dog possibly not making it.
[tense music playing]
[mariah] all right. I got some treats,
I have a crate and blanket.
You've already seen it?
[tense music playing]
all right. I got some treats,
I have a crate and blanket.
You've already seen it?
Oh, I see her, she's standing up.
-[elise] oh. -[mariah] go on that side.
Hi.
Oh, my god.
[elise] she's so cute.
[mariah] the dog was already up and wagging her tail.
Immediately it was relief.
[elise] she's so cute.
I know. I don't...
When I walked over there, I thought I was gonna die.
[mariah] oh, my god.
-Your leg is bad. -[elise] look at her leg though.
[mariah] hang on, I gotta put blankets
in first, hang on. Okay.
Oh, my god. Her leg is swollen.
-Let me put the blankets in... -It's so bad.
[mariah] ...And then we'll get her in.
-Yes, hi sweetie -[mariah] that is... Oh.
It looked like the dog's actual shoulder
was extremely swollen and she wouldn't even put
-it down on the ground. -[elise] her leg is so bad.
[mariah] she's really, really young
and her demeanor was extremely friendly.
She wanted to have us be around her
and get attention,
but the dog wasn't feeling well.
This crate's gonna be too hard.
-[elise] do we even need this? -I'm just gonna put her on my backseat.
Okay. I got you, okay?
Can you let me do this?
All right. Okay.
[mariah] come here, my little muffin.
-I'm obsessed with this thing. -[elise] oh my god, she's cute.
[mariah] oh, her poor leg.
[elise] okay, okay. Oh, your poor leg.
Oh, you're wagging your tail.
-[mariah] oh. -[elise] did you get bit?
Is that what... I wonder if she got...
-[mariah] she may have. -[elise] that's a dog bite.
[mariah] there was a little bit of a wound
that looked old. That could've been a dog bite,
but at this point, we have no idea.
-[elise] you're perfect. -[mariah] hi.
[elise] somebody's missing this, though.
I mean, look at her.
[mariah] the rest of her body seemed
really, really healthy. Her skin looked great,
her weight was great.
It looks like she just got loose from an owner.
Okay, let's go to the vet, her leg is bad.
[elise] let me know what they say.
Okay.
We tried to see if anyone recognized the dog
and no one around the neighborhood did.
Hi. How are you feeling?
Oh, your tail is wagging.
Us getting her and getting her to the vet
was extremely important.
I'm hoping it's nothing extremely bad
and there was nothing internal going on with her.
You wanna snooze, don't you?
Okay. Go back to bed.
Because of covid, we can't go in the vet
so we just have to drop her off
and wait for the vet to call us
and tell us what's going on.
It's her front left paw or her front left shoulder.
-[woman] okay. -Hey, mama.
[mariah] she won't put it down at all.
-[woman] baby. -[mariah] come here, my love.
Come on. You got her?
-[woman] okay. -[mariah] thank you,
just call heidi and let her know
what happens with it, I guess.
[woman] okay, we will.
[mariah] thank you. I love you.
-[woman] thank you. -Oh.
[mariah] no matter what, when we bring a dog in
that we have rescued, they immediately scan them
for microchip and if she does have one
then we will hopefully try and find the owner.
[upbeat music playing]
-[lauren speaking] -hey, how are you?
[lauren speaking]
kanani and I recently did a meet and greet
with a family from florida.
-Hi, guys. -[family] hi.
[mariah] and their black lab, princess.
Are you nervous?
Are you ready to meet a friend?
The mother, lauren, really bonded with kila.
There's a little girl just like you.
Say, hi. Good girl.
But the husband and daughter
really were interested in pleagle.
She really seems like she's interested in him.
[trysta] yeah.
You guys made your mind up yet?
[lauren speaking]
[gasps] yay, I'm so excited.
I was hoping you guys were gonna pick him.
[lauren speaking]
so I'm... I guess the daughter and husband
convinced you, huh?
[lauren speaking]
[mariah] I think pleagle is perfect for this family
because him and princess got along really well.
Well, I hope you're just as excited.
I'm very excited.
[lauren speaking]
[mariah] and princess is a very confident dog.
With pleagle being shy sometimes,
I think he's really gonna do really well with her.
I'm gonna work with him a little bit
and just get him pretty used to the water
and, kinda, make sure that he'll be good to go
in the pool with you guys.
So, now that the family has chosen pleagle,
we're gonna go ahead and test pleagle around a pool
and just see how he does
because eventually the family would love for him
to hang out by the pool with them as well.
All righty. Bye-bye.
-[lauren speaking] -bye.
[upbeat music playing]
it's good?
You like it?
[tia] watching lizzy juggle the work at the rescue
and then having the two kids...
I mean, I think she defines the word supermom.
[phone rings]
[tia] lizzy, are you at work right now?
No, I'm at my house.
I'm just updating Monday right now.
[tia] lizzy wears several hats,
but the two main ones
is she has now learned on the job.
She's like a vet tech.
And then we're still gonna do the meeting at 3:00 today.
I have to be able to give adopters dates.
[tia] but to add to that, she now handles
all of our adoption applications.
Is now a good time to talk more about your application
or do you wanna schedule a time?
[tia] so, she's the one that screens the applications
and helps match dogs up with the right families.
-You said, mama? -[tia] yeah.
All right. Well, I'm waiting for an adopter
to call me back. I don't wanna miss her calls.
Okay, hang on a second.
[tia] so just to see lizzy juggling all this stuff,
juggling all the dogs...
Major kudos.
Hello, strangers.
It can be really difficult for me
to physically be at work with the two kids.
I'm usually pretty busy when I come into the rescue.
There's like dogs that need mud baths,
they have to have them regularly.
A lot of times I work from home
and so when I can physically be there,
I have like a list of things that I have to get done.
And I just have to get through them
as quickly as possible.
-Um... -[tia] okay.
[lizzy] I was like a mess for an hour.
But this is an off day,
[lizzy] where, like, I have a lot of anxiety
-before the home check. -[tia] mmm-hmm.
-Like... -[tia] yeah.
[lizzy] there are certain dogs that
are really important for me to discuss with tia
when I'm working on an adoption for them.
If you want to, like, run each adoption by me, um...
Well, good, because I actually have an application for roan.
Oh, my gosh.
[lizzy] so, recently a lovely couple put an application
for a dog named roan.
Okay. Well, this I gotta hear
because I can tell you exactly
what he needs and does not need.
What do you think, old man?
Roan is a redtick coonhound
that I rescued out of the state of alabama.
So, besides him being emaciated,
he was itching like non-stop but, uh...
[earl] yeah, I'll go see his skin.
So, what, he need to go to the vet?
[tia] yeah. They need to just do
a full workup on him.
Somebody posted his picture
on our facebook page and said,
"you know, basically, do you think tia
would take this dog?"
he wandered up to our house, out of the woods,
and he's old, and emaciated,
like he was in sad shape.
[woman] oh, he's got a little growth back here.
-[groans] -[dog whining]
oh, buddy. It's okay. I know. I'm sorry.
[earl] you're all right, buddy.
-You're doing good. -[man] mmm-hmm.
I'm gonna send these to the lab
and they're gonna tell me what this...
Hopefully, tell me what this is.
[woman] hi, how are you doing?
[tia] hi.
[woman] so, last time he was in,
um, we did take a sample of the mass.
-[tia] right. -It is suggestive of cancer.
And I think his load of heartworms is high.
[tia] we were told he was extremely sick.
And he was very heavy heartworm positive.
His heart was enlarged.
His heart was weak.
It was more of a hospice situation.
[woman speaking]
okay.
[woman speaking]
right.
[woman speaking]
oh. Oh, my gosh.
[laughs] okay.
[woman speaking]
[tia] yay!
I just talked to them yesterday.
I really, really like them.
What's the... What... Where do they live?
[lizzy] they live in illinois
which we have to do a trip to illinois.
So, they are hound people.
Okay. Do they have any dogs now?
-They don't... No dogs. -Okay. That's a start
because he doesn't like other dogs.
Okay. Good to know because they were...
That was one of the questions
and I said I don't know that dog...
-[tia] yeah, he doesn't. -...Well enough to answer.
[tia] he tolerates lucky and jethro.
Okay.
[tia] roan is just a good old boy.
He's just like this old unassuming hound dog who,
you know, fought to stay alive all these years,
so sweet
and just so grateful.
This is probably the last...
The only chance he's ever gonna get
because no one's ever applied for him
for all these reasons.
So, this is probably it.
It's either this or never.
Oh, my god. Let's get roan out of here, like, asap.
Well, I'll follow up with them
and let them know everything you told me
about him but them... It's their top choice.
So, I will give tony and connie a call
and hopefully they wanna move forward.
Why did I become the hound person?
I don't...
Would you like some bloodhounds?
[lizzy] no.
I mean, yes but no.
[dramatic music playing]
[mariah] recently, elise and I rescued a dog
that we named peeve.
[elise] her leg is so bad.
[mariah] when elise and I were loading her up
in the back of my car,
elise said my pet peeve,
just, kinda, stuck and I thought it was cute.
I'm obsessed with this thing.
[elise] oh, my god. She's so cute.
[mariah] oh, her poor leg.
We realized that peeve had a microchip
and I got the phone number that was attached to it.
[phone ringing]
[tia] have you been around dogs?
-[spencer] mmm-hmm. Yeah. -[tia] oh, have you? Okay.
-[spencer] my whole life. -[tia] spencer...
He's a good kid.
You're having a baby.
Yeah, I'm having a baby.
It's very important for me to show my son,
you know, the right way
'cause I chose the wrong way.
So I'm just calling you with an update on roan.
He just had a follow up vet appointment.
I'm a little bit nervous
that connie may not wanna move forward
with adopting roan.
Do you want some time to think about it,
how are you feeling?
[woman] um...
[dramatic music playing]
[phone ringing]
[mariah] peeve was microchipped.
I tried calling the number on the microchip.
[woman speaking]
and it was disconnected.
Oh, that number didn't work.
[phone ringing]
[mariah] and so I called heidi
and told her just to go through
with the medical
and start getting peeve on the healing path.
-[heidi speaking] -the number's disconnected.
Um...
[heidi speaking]
so, you're gonna have them go ahead and look at
or do the x-ray.
[heidi speaking]
oh, they do? Okay.
[heidi speaking]
okay. Well, at least do the x-ray
and I'll see if I can come up with anything else.
If I find her on, like,
lost and found pets or something.
Okay. Yeah, I'll look right now.
[country music playing]
[tia] buddy.
Bud, it's been so long.
[laughs] he's so goofy.
[tia] let me come over here.
Look at you.
You're so great now.
I haven't seen you in so long.
Cherokee is one of our california dogs.
He's been with us forever,
probably 13, 14 years old.
He was pretty spicy in his younger years,
you know, when it came to other dogs,
you know, he was just a lot of dog.
And being like a pit mix,
you know, he just got passed up.
[lizzy] well, um...
I've like fallen in love with senior cherokee
and he, kinda, reminds me of jack a little bit.
Yeah, he does.
[lizzy] in a lot of ways, he reminded me of our dog,
jack who passed away a few years ago,
just something about his spirit.
Not even just the brindle, but like his tough attitude
like he's, like, not wanting to slow down.
Knowing he didn't get the memo.
[lizzy] no. And just like the way he acts,
he reminds me of jack.
I was like, "oh, my god.
I feel like he's supposed to be my dog."
so I wanna take him home.
Oh!
You wanna go live at the house?
Oh.
The california dogs,
you know, they'd been with us for such a long time
and it's just a long time coming
for these dogs to have a happily ever after ending.
When he sees other dogs and stuff, he's...
-He doesn't care. -Oh.
He was great with them, which is so funny
because I know when he was younger,
he was not good with anything.
Oh, he was a... Yeah.
[lizzy] and if you look at his...
If you look him on the website,
it's like, no dogs, no kids,
and like just basically like a bad boy.
-I know. -He's so good.
[tia] unfortunately, it takes them
getting into their golden years
for them to slow down and be manageable.
And lizzy is definitely one of several people
with villalobos that loves the senior dogs
and she wants to take care of them
until their time comes and I applaud her for that.
Oh, buddy.
[lizzy] he just, like, lives in a state of bliss.
Oh, cher, cher.
[lizzy] I'm going to talk to moe
about the possibility of bringing cherokee
to our house and into our family.
You know, we make decisions together as a family
and he needs to be 100% onboard
with bringing cherokee home.
-His tail hasn't stopped. -It hasn't stopped.
Moe has to say yes.
[tia] yeah. Cute.
Cute, cute, cute.
[upbeat music playing]
[dog barking]
[tia] spencer, he's a good kid.
He's got a good heart.
You feel it.
I felt it when I met earl.
I felt it when I met toney.
And I definitely felt it when I met spencer.
-Have you been around dogs? -[spencer] mmm-hmm. Yeah.
-[tia] oh, have you? Okay. -My whole life.
[tia] oh, have you? Good.
I have pets my whole life.
[tia] okay.
Spencer went into prison a child.
He did some time.
[spencer] I found out I'm about to be a dad.
What?
You're having a baby.
Yeah, I'm having a baby.
[tia] so, when I heard spencer was having a baby,
you know, my first question to him was,
"are you okay with this?"
[spencer] oh.
-[earl] come on. -[spencer] come on, big bro.
[tia] so I'm like, "are you gonna be able
to handle this?" and he was like,
"I'm so happy." I'm like, "oh. Okay."
[spencer] oh.
Yeah. Let me get you. Let me pick you up.
Yeah. Yeah. All right. All right. All right.
It's been smooth sailing ever since.
He's just so happy and proud to be a dad.
Yeah.
It's been a rollercoaster having a newborn, I mean,
I didn't know what I was, you know, up against
and then, you know, them sleepless nights.
[baby crying]
sir, I got you.
I mean, this is my first experience
but I love every inch of her.
[sari] is you happy?
Yeah. I know.
I know.
[spencer] me and sari,
we met through mutual friends,
like I've been knowing her since she was 14
and she's 25 now, so we have history.
It's just we never took that step.
That's funny.
I know that's funny.
[spencer] me and sari, we was talking
before I had went back to prison.
It was like, we had just got back in touch with each other
and we was conversating and it was like, sadly,
I just... I [indistinct] and went back to jail
and she didn't know what was going on.
She contacted my mom.
She was trying to see where I've been at.
And then, she told my mom to tell me to call her.
And that's when I called her and she sent me pictures
and we wrote each other.
Then I did told her, like, when I get out,
I wanna be with you and, you know,
like have a family.
And when I got out of jail, she came visit me,
and it was love at first sight all over again.
Michaela, who is this?
[michaela] baby.
[sari] who is this?
-[michaela] daddy... -Who is this?
-[michaela mumbles] -no. Who is that?
-[michaela mumbles] -no.
-Who is this? -No. Who is he?
He.
What's his name?
[mumble]
what's your name?
-Me? -Yeah, you.
[spencer] it's a blast being a parent with her
'cause, you know, she has two other kids.
At first, I was just like,
"well, I gotta, you know, man up more
'cause this is more responsibilities on me."
and like, you know, after a while,
I was just like, "well, these are my kids too."
they add another little spark in my life, too.
They even feel when I'm down,
they always ask me am I all right
and they come give me a hug and tell me they love me.
Your job is helping you a lot.
Yeah. I ain't gonna lie, my job,
they had my back since day one.
I told you that's a good family,
-you don't have too many... -[spencer] oh, yeah.
...People who care about you like that
or will give you a opportunity
to, you know, just being yourself
-and do better 'cause... -Yeah.
...You was tripping.
Oh, yeah. I know. I was...
Mmm-hmm. You're doing good.
I'm happy that you changed.
And you changed me too, buddy.
You and your mama,
y'all came in my life and changed me.
We're supposed to.
I told you, you're a good guy.
-Yeah. -You just made bad decisions.
It's very important to me to show my son,
you know, the right way
'cause I chose the wrong way
and it just brought me down the wrong path.
So I was like, I'm gonna always be on his tails
about being on the right way.
You ready to be bad?
You gonna be bad or you gonna be good?
Or a little bit of both?
I hope for my son's future,
like, he be real successful
and, like, you know, he don't even gotta be
like no millionaire or nothing.
I just want him to be like a positive,
great guy, great man.
That's all I really want.
[upbeat music playing]
-[baby groans] -what's wrong?
She wants a bottle?
Okay. I'm gonna make her a bottle, okay?
And then we're gonna make a phone call.
One of the great things about my job
is that I'm able to do a lot of it from home
and spend a lot of time with my kids.
Are you excited?
When I'm working from home,
I always tell the adopters
at the beginning of the phone call,
I'm working from home, I have two small children.
All right. Nakoa, mommy's gonna make
a phone call, okay?
So, I need you to try to be, kinda, quiet, okay?
Connie is the potential adopter for roan.
Since getting all of that information from tia,
I do have to let them know
everything I learned about roan.
-[connie speaking] -hi.
Hi, connie. This is lizzy calling
from villalobos.
[connie speaking]
[lizzy] I'm doing well, how are you?
[connie speaking]
[lizzy] I'm a little bit nervous.
I don't know if this is gonna change anything for them,
but it could.
So I was just calling you with an update on roan.
He just had, um, a follow-up vet appointment.
I know that you know he was really sick
when we got him with heartworm disease.
-[connie] yeah. -The good news is
that he is heartworm-negative now.
Unfortunately, because his heartworms were so severe,
it left so much heart damage.
The vet is actually considering him
hospice at this point.
Um, she's unable to really put a timeline on it.
I was very concerned that connie
may not wanna move forward with adopting roan
knowing that she could lose him
soon after adopting him.
He just... His heart,
it just could... I mean, it could fail him
really at any time.
It's a very difficult thing to expect of somebody
and we would understand
if she didn't want to move forward.
Do you want some time to think about it?
Do you want to talk about other dogs?
Do you wanna move forward?
How are you feeling?
[baby crying]
[mariah] peeve. [laughs]
okay. Slow down, you're freaking injured.
Peeve ended up having a fractured wrist.
She's so young, too.
The vet told us that doing surgery
was not gonna help her at all.
[dramatic music playing]
[lizzy] do you want some time to think about it?
Do you want to talk about other dogs?
Do you wanna move forward?
How are you feeling?
I was very concerned that connie
may not wanna move forward with adopting roan
knowing that she could lose him
soon after adopting him.
[connie speaking]
[lizzy] it was actually very comforting to hear
the emotion in her voice...
He is in foster, um, but he does,
you know, share that foster home
with other dogs.
Because it let me know that she loves him
so much already.
[connie speaking]
-okay. Yeah. -[connie] you know.
[connie speaking]
okay. So as long as he is...
As long as he is, you know, cleared
to travel in the next couple of weeks
and you think you'd want to still move forward
with adopting him?
[connie speaking]
okay. Okay.
I thought connie's response was very sweet.
You know, she was more concerned
with whether or not he could travel
to her than she was about their feelings.
Okay. I'm gonna get that list of medications
emailed to you.
These are the moments that people
don't always get to see.
-[connie speaking] -and then,
kinda, see what the next steps are
and when he should get rechecked.
There is so much that goes
into every single adoption.
Well, thank you so much, I appreciate it
and I'll talk to you very soon.
People don't see how tedious this process is.
[connie speaking]
all right. Thank you so much, connie.
-[connie] okay. Sounds great. -Bye-bye.
[connie] you're welcome. Bye-bye.
[lizzy] but it's for a good reason
and it's to be able to set up our dogs for success.
Nakoa, is mommy gonna get
any more work done today?
No way.
[upbeat music playing]
[dog barking]
[toney] you ready to rock and roll?
It's a little rain, but you ain't...
You ain't gonna melt, sugar. Come on.
[tia] when I met toney, I knew from the second
we talked that he was something special.
One, two, three.
[tia] having toney bring hassan to the rescue,
it's beautiful to see.
And I think it'll be a great experience for him.
[toney] they got some dogs that's scared
of the lightning and thunder.
When the thunder starts to making noise,
we have to go grab those dogs immediately
so they don't get too scared.
My son, hassan, he'd be six now,
you know, he's getting a coming of age now,
he's in kindergartener and stuff.
You see, how they made up? That's the same job we got to do.
They should not poop in there
and then we change their waters.
You know, he, like, loves all dogs
and we have three dogs at the house
and he puts them in crates,
takes him out of crates, tell them to sit
and do all the different things,
he caught on to that.
But, oh, he loves dogs like as far as the rescue.
He, um, he wants to come and take part,
he always wants to walk the dog,
he wants to do this, but of course
he's too small right now for it, so I'm not...
Like you do with our dogs?
Yup. Just like we do with our dogs.
Tia is really accepting and trying to, you know,
get the family involved.
We got way more rubber mat at the rescue.
Tia will make ways for us to, kinda, like,
show our kids what we're doing and the life we are living.
So you got your pooper scooper.
You need some spray and you need a towel.
I can show him the abcs about things
and how to, you know, you're supposed
to take care of the dog's environment,
clean up after him.
That's good enough.
Now start wiping.
Having my son around, that's around the people
that are here and stuff of that nature,
it'd be a blessing to have him take part in it
to whatever degree he could.
And this house, see how this house
-got all these rocks in it? -[hassan] uh-huh.
[toney] would you wanna sleep on all those rocks?
You know, when you have all of them crumbs
in your bed, how that be feeling?
-Yeah. -[toney] so we're gonna
get that out of there, huh.
Whoa!
[toney] yup. But it's easy.
Look, I'm gonna take these blankets.
I toss, I don't slap you with 'em,
what am I used to having a working partner.
-I take this. -I said... I said,
"whoa" 'cause I didn't know that could happen, though.
[toney] you see, how you flip the rocks out that thing?
-[hassan] uh-huh. -[toney] put it on the inside.
-[hassan] those... -[toney] you wanna try to make
his bed nice, you know, how you're making
your bed nice at home?
-[hassan] uh-huh. -[toney] you wanna do
the best you can for the dog before you go
so he could have a comfortable spot to lay in.
I wipe all that off and it should be clean.
That's helped sterilizing it and it makes sure
it smells good for the baby.
Reach over there, pull it straight, make it look good.
See that baby kevlar?
-[hassan] hey. -[toney] all right.
Now, this one a little dirtier
than the last one, but we're looking for poop
so glance around, if you...
[hassan] oh, I see some over there.
[toney] go get it.
That's the main thing.
You gotta get that poop up.
Cleaning dogs and taking care of the upkeeping,
uh, it could be pretty grimy and nasty.
So, what's you got to do next?
[hassan] I'm just gonna spray now.
[toney] spray your beds now.
But hassan pretty much knows what everything consist of
and he still wants to get in there
and try to learn it and figure it out,
so I'm, kind of, excited about that,
my boy not scared to get dirty.
Two dogs in this kennel normally,
their names are zippy and posey
and they're the ones I told you are
scared of lightning.
Sometimes it's comforting to have a friend
with you and sometimes that's why we leave
the dogs together, that's why these dogs
never been separated because they comfort each other.
They're like brother and sister almost.
Yeah. Like how I have a sister?
[toney] yeah.
What we're doing is just a regular job.
So, it's the same thing, you know how sometimes
mona run to you when she's scared?
-[hassan] uh-huh. -[toney] I feel like
we make a change, we save things
from horror situations and a rough spot.
[hassan] so if they heard a thunder boom, boom,
they're just gonna zoom?
[toney] zoom to their house or something.
That's crucial, you know, to be part of anything
like that, we know as adults
that that's important 'cause like it makes a difference.
[hassan] now we need to fix the next bed up.
[toney] so getting the kids involved or getting my son
involved in this early, you know,
it means a lot to me for those reasons.
He's doing something meaningful at six.
You taking all the easier jobs,
daddy's sweating bullets.
Being a parent, I'm very proud
of my position.
I see it now, I seen it like when I held him
in my hands and looked at him.
And I was trying to figure out all the things I have to do
in this world and trying to accomplish.
I feel like I need to make a difference
and I'm not where I wanna be.
You know, and I'll just stop and say, well,
I feel like he's gonna be that same good soul I was.
I just need to get up in the right things
to make sure he do what I couldn't,
but I just wanna make sure he don't feel like
there's no limits, you know.
Well, what'd you learn from cleaning,
-you need your pooper scooper? -Uh-huh.
And then what you do to the beds?
-The dog... -You spray it.
-[toney] all right. -And you wipe it.
[toney] wipe 'em down. And what's the most...
What's one of the most important things?
-The water. -[toney] the water bucket,
especially in the summer time,
you know how hot it is.
Yes. You gonna be burning up.
[toney] I'm gonna let mama tia know that you did real good.
[upbeat music playing]
[car horn honks]
[mariah] yeah. They just put up this whole
privacy part. Peeve ended up having
a fractured wrist and is staying
at one of our upper warehouses.
So, elise and I want to go check up on her.
-Peeve. -[elise] oh.
Okay, slow down, you're freaking injured.
She doesn't even know it.
Good lord, who made this dog? Hi.
[mariah] she's a perfect specimen.
Hi. Hi.
-[laughter] -is she not the most
perfect thing you've ever seen in your life?
Oh, my god, I love her.
Okay. Hold her and I'm gonna pull her sleeve up.
She gets too frigging pumped and runs around
with this thing like...
-What happened? -She fractured it.
The vet told us that doing surgery
was not gonna help her at all.
The only thing that we could do
was put the splint and the giant cast on her.
It was a fracture on her wrist
or in between like above her wrist or something.
Oh, I've known that your feet...
[coughs] [laughs]
[dog barking]
-[mariah] oh, do you wanna... -[elise] help.
[mariah] I know, I know.
When we found her and rescued her,
her demeanor was obviously a lot more calm,
but she's a really young dog
and has this giant cast on.
It's flailing around everywhere.
So, I can imagine when she has that cast off,
she's gonna be a bundle of energy.
Yeah, she had a microchip.
-Did I tell you that? -No. What happened?
-The number was disconnected. -Of course, it was.
[mariah] we've gone through all the things
that we can with microchip and scanning
all the lost and found stuff,
and we did not see any sign of an owner.
So she's legally a villalobos dog.
[elise] look at her.
[mariah] I know she is in next week for her checkup.
So, we'll see.
[elise] was she heartworm- positive or...
-She is? -Damn it.
[mariah] she's so young, too.
It's really uncommon for dogs that young
to have heartworm, but she does.
So after that cast is off, she's gonna go through
heartworm treatment and then we can test her
with dogs, kids,
and hopefully get her a home.
[elise] your eyes are beautiful.
[mariah] look at her face.
Are you smiling?
[elise] and her dumb tail. Look at her tail.
[mariah] peeve, to me, is what a pit bull
is supposed to be.
She's happy, she's outgoing,
really active.
And I think that's why elise and I
fell in love with her so much.
[dog barking]
-did you get it? -[mariah] I don't know.
At this point, it's way too soon
to tell what's gonna happen with her leg.
We're just hoping everything's gonna heal well.
But we just have to wait until that cast comes off
and then we'll go from there.
[elise] you're gonna find the best home, buddy.
[mariah] I love you. Oh, hello.
Okay. Let's go... Let's go down here.
[elise] are you ready?
[mariah] I don't really wanna leave.
-[elise] I can't. I'm done. -[mariah] look at this face.
[elise] pose, toast.
[country music playing]
[moe] little baby.
[laughs]
[lizzy] so I wanted to talk to you
about a hospice dog.
I think it's really important to foster senior dogs
or hospice dogs because those are the hardest dogs
to find homes for.
There's actually a couple dogs that are hospice.
The one that, kinda, just...
I don't know, I just felt more of a connection
with was cherokee.
I've, like, fallen in love with senior cherokee.
Oh.
You wanna go live at the house?
But he is like an old man now
and he has a really bad, like, back issue,
kinda, like, making his back legs go out.
I had gone over to the senior house
and was around cherokee
and I'm like, "oh my god, you've gotten so old."
and he's just really sweet.
He's got, like, that really sweet personality
and he is really well-behaved.
But he's still, kinda, like had that spunk
but at the same time was like an old man.
You know, he probably only has a couple of months.
I was thinking, you know, even though
it's, kinda, small in here
and we have four dogs, I was thinking
we could just take him home
for the end of his life.
-Yeah, absolutely. -[lizzy] moe does know
how much it means to me to be able
to give dogs a home in their final months.
Fun. Fun, fun, fun.
[lizzy] I'm just grateful that he is supportive
and open to bringing cherokee home.
What do you think?
We should do it?
[spencer] go get it.
This is hattie. She's three years old.
Lizzy had rescued her. She was a stray
under an abandoned car, I believe.
Hattie, go get it.
She is kid-friendly and she should be
the only dog in the household.
And if you're interested in adopting hattie
or any other villalobos dog
or donating to villalobos,
visit animalplanet.Com /pitbulls.
Hattie, oh, go get it.
[chuckles]
[upbeat music playing]
-[mariah] flip. -[luke] yeah?
[mariah] go sit on the couch.
Yes.
[mariah] here. Good boy.
What are you... Oh.
[lauren] ooh, we're already interested.
I know. Look at her. Oh my goodness.
Kanani and I recently did a meet and greet
with a family from florida
and their black lab, princess.
And the family has chosen pleagle.
Good boy.
Are you ready? You gotta help me.
We're gonna do some stuff with pleagle today.
-Okay. Yeah. -[mariah] you gonna help me?
Any dog that gets adopted through villalobos
goes into one of our homes because you don't want them
to be, kind of, like, in a culture shock
when they go into a new home.
Come in. Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
Nope, nope, nope, nope.
Okay, okay. Okay.
Hey, relax. I know, you're very excited.
They have no clue what a couch is
or what a refrigerator, or a vacuum,
or just normal things that happen
in your home, they don't know what that is.
So, they come in to one of our homes.
You can jump up here.
You wanna jump up on the couch?
It's our way of ensuring that when they do go home
that it's gonna be a successful transition.
You gotta relax a little bit.
[kanani] good boy.
[mariah] he's like still a little nervous of things.
[kanani] yeah. Come here.
-[mariah] isn't he cute? -Good boy.
[mariah] when pleagle came to our rescue,
he was shy for the first few days.
And after about three or four days,
this crazy, wild, goofy, puppy
personality came out. And it just showed us
that, even though he does have a shy side,
it doesn't last very long.
And as long as he has time to acclimate
and get comfortable, that he'll be just fine
in most situations he's put in.
[luke] it's a dog bed. Go look at the dog bed.
[mariah] can we go see? Go see.
-[kanani] come on. -[mariah] good boy.
-[luke] it's a dog bed. -[kanani] come on.
[luke] boohoo.
-He's like, "nah." -[kanani] uh,
it's not as comfortable as the couch.
We're gonna have to tell them he's a...
He's a couch potato.
He prefers to be on the couch
next to someone, huh?
A couple things that I always try to do in the beginning
is see how they do just being out loose.
Learning what he prefers gives me a really good idea
to tell the adoptors.
Here, why don't you go sit in your chair,
I'm gonna grab you something to eat,
and I'm gonna see how he does.
I decided to have luke try to sit down
and eat some food.
Sometimes dogs don't have manners
when first coming in to a home.
What is this? This is a... Uh-uh, uh-uh. No.
He went to sniff a little bit and I just gave him
a small correction
and he walked away immediately.
Took it really well.
And he wasn't scared of the fridge
which was a really good sign.
He's definitely more focused on me than anything else.
[kanani] oh, yeah, absolutely.
He's all about what you're doing.
[mariah] maybe I should eat something
since he's focused on...
[kanani laughs]
[mariah] uh-uh. Uh-uh.
Uh-uh. Uh-uh.
Uh-uh.
Sit. Sit.
No. Uh-uh.
I know you don't know what a table is,
but you gotta have manners.
Sit. Sit.
Uh-uh.
Go put that on the counter.
I wanna see if he tries to jump.
It's so hard because he's so focused on me.
Maybe I'll do the vacuum. That way, he's...
To see if he's gonna find comfort in one of you guys.
Pleagle seems to be a little attached to me,
so I wanted me to be the one turning on
the vacuum so he didn't really have a comfort
to go to because you can kinda see
their true colors and how they're gonna act
'cause they don't have that person
to lean on that they're used to leaning on.
Stay right there. Stay right there 'cause this
-is probably gonna spook him. -[kanani] you gonna spooky.
[mariah] because the vacuum's loud.
-[kanani] spooky, spooky. -[mariah] all right, ready?
-Spooky, spooky, spooky. -[vacuum whirring]
-[kanani] what's that spooky? -[mariah] what do you think?
Hi, what do you think about it? Good boy.
Good boy. What you think?
I mean, he's not... He's not doing anything.
-Good job, bud. -What a good boy.
-Good boy. -[mariah] well, that's better
than what I thought he was gonna do.
-Good job. -Good boy.
[mariah] I did notice, you know, he wanted
to be attached to kanani at that time
which made me feel really good.
So it's not that he's necessarily
attached to me.
He just wants to be with someone.
He's just a people person dog.
He just wants to be snuggled.
So, I think if there's plenty of different people
at that house, then he'll have
attachments with all of them.
Well, that was all good to start with
and then we'll just have to keep working
-with some of those things. -[kanani] good boy.
[mariah] and hopefully some of his shyness will go away.
-[kanani] right. -[mariah] all right, buddy.
-You did a good job. -Good job, buddy.
-[mariah] here, come here. -What a good boy.
Come here. Go in the crate. Good job.
You crate up way better than some of my dogs.
Pleagle did really well today
with the home testing,
but I want him to have his personality
come out and really be himself.
So I'm gonna give him a few days
and then once I feel
that he is completely comfortable
with the noises,
we wanna see how he does with a pool
and because the adoptors do have a pool
in their backyard and we wanna make sure
that he's gonna be confident to go around it
before he goes to his new home.
Thanks, guys, for helping me.
-[kanani] you're welcome. -[luke] welcome.
[mid-tempo music playing]
carter, you wanna go see some dog?
Yeah, this is my job right here.
I was excited to bring carter here to his first visit
to villalobos to show him
to, you know, people that I love
and, you know, that love me.
That been around for me, like, when I ain't got
nothing and when I was down.
God bless 'em. Look at that.
-Dude, you a dad. -A dad.
[man] sent chills up my spine.
[spencer] I would love that villalobos
play a role his life, too,
because villalobos was a prime part
of me becoming a better man within myself.
-Everybody that boy walking up -[spencer] oh, you gotta meet
your uncle earl.
[earl] look at that boy walking up, daddy.
What's up uncle earl.
[spencer] that's uncle earl, carter.
My little carter grew so fast.
Fast, fast.
That's what's happening
getting bigger, man.
What's up, my nephew?
Say, "what's up, uncle?"
it was very special that carter meet earl
'cause, you know, that's his family.
I look at earl as a brother
even though he is older than me.
Like, me and earl, like, have a deep connection,
like, if I need earl for anything, like,
I could call earl anytime, you know.
So it was like... It was like
a very special moment.
[earl] how did it feel like, bro?
It was like every time I get off of work, it was like...
When he see me, he just like... Yeah.
[earl] I didn't been with spencer now
at least four years or more,
and I didn't saw him grow.
And I didn't saw some of his downfalls.
-Ooh. Ooh. -Yeah you big eating.
Oh. Strong.
He's squeezing my finger.
Just knowing where he come from,
seeing some of his struggles,
it was extra special for me to meet his firstborn.
-[earl] you work for him. -[spencer] you a really strong man yeah.
-Every day. -[earl] you know,
that's what you come to work
for this right here.
What I think about seeing some of the parolees,
just seeing these guys growing inside this program,
this is a place that's gonna always
have your back.
I'mma holler, bro.
All right.
[earl] bye, carter.
[spencer] goodbye, uncle.
[mariah] luke, do you like some kicks and some swims?
The potential adoptors for pleagle
have a pool in their backyard.
So they really wanna know how pleagle
is gonna react to it.
[kanani] pleagle, come here, buddy.
[tania] he was a little bit shy.
[mid-tempo music playing]
[mariah] pleagle is heading out
to his new home soon with tania.
All right, pleagle fans.
And I wanted to really see how he's gonna do
in a pool, so we borrowed a friend's pool
to test him in.
-Oh, this is nice. -Oh, this is nice.
[luke] look at that pool.
[mariah] that is a nice pool.
Pleags, what do you think? Man, I want this
-to be my backyard. -[tania] I'm saying.
[mariah] the potential adoptors for pleagle
have a pool in their backyard
and they also have a dog named princess.
And princess loves to go and swim in the pool.
So they really wanna know how pleagle
is gonna react to it.
Luke, do like some kicks and some swims.
-[luke] yeah. -[mariah] good job, you.
-[tania] hey, look. -[mariah] pleags, pleags.
Come on. What's that?
What's that? Look.
He's a little scared, yeah.
[tania] yeah, but it's not super bad.
[mariah] pleagle, you don't know what you're missing, bud.
[luke] you're missing out much.
[mariah] he's like, "I'll just sunbathe."
all dogs are really different.
Some dogs are very confident.
They just go for things.
Babe, maybe sit with, like, your legs in right there
and see if he comes close to the edge.
Pleagle is definitely a little shier
when it comes to new situations
and new things.
So, it will probably take a little bit of time
for him to just get adjusted and get used to the pool.
[tania] give him treats.
[mariah] like associate it with something positive.
[kanani] hey, go, look, I got a treat.
-[tania] good boy. -[mariah] good job.
Oh, he's a taker and then eater.
-Maybe call him. -[tania] come on.
[kanani] pleagle, come here, buddy.
[whistles]
-[mariah] oh, good boy. -[tania] there you go. Good.
[mariah] good job, buddy.
That feels good, bud?
[tania] this is good.
-This is very good. -[mariah] yeah.
For it being the first time
pleagle seeing a pool, I think he did pretty well.
He was a little bit shy, but he did walk
right up to my brother who was in the pool,
so that's good.
[mariah] hi. You're doing so good, bud.
He's not scared of luke's jumping and splashing.
He is walking to the edge
-to greet a person, so... -Yeah, totally.
At least, the other dog
will help with his confidence.
Yeah, and princess is super confident.
He probably wanna follow her.
[tania] yeah, totally.
There's definitely not anything else
that I'm really concerned
about in the home for pleagle before he goes.
Yeah, buddy, come on.
[mariah] once he is in the home
and around princess who's a very confident dog,
that's where he gets a lot of his confidence as well.
And he will most likely react
a little bolder around the pool.
You did good.
Are you so excited to go to your new home?
Yes.
Now, all the testing's out of the way,
I get to take pleagle to his new home in florida.
[mariah] thanks, lukey, for your help.
[tania] thanks, luke.
[upbeat music playing]
[dog barking]
[mariah] come on, angel face.
Peeve is a dog
that elise and I rescued pretty recently.
Oh, my god.
[elise] she's so cute.
[mariah] peeve had a radial fracture
and ended up having to be in a cast
for about four weeks.
-Oh. -[laughs]
you wanna come up? Come on.
She seems to be doing a lot better now,
but is still in the process of healing
even without the cast on.
-Oh, there we go. -Go.
-She's perfect. -She really is.
-Huh, look at this thing. -It's nice to see
her attitude has not changed.
No.
So even though peeve isn't limping anymore
because she already went through
all the medical treatment,
she's still healing
and we can't allow her to run on it yet,
so we still gotta be patient.
[elise] calm down. You're maturing.
Now that she's not trying to over compensate it...
-Mmm-hmm. -...I think, for the cast,
she's calming down.
[mariah] since the day that we got her
up until now,
her personality has just always been bubbly
and really friendly and sweet.
And it's something that I do cherish about her.
[laughs] you do the arms.
The arms. Arms up.
[laughs]
this dog, I...
Look at this thing.
She's like, "I gotta get it all in."
she's pretty perfect, elise.
[elise] I don't... Like, I have no words.
-She's perfect. -[elise] she really is.
Perfect size, perfect shape, perfect attitude.
[mariah] once she's healed more,
-we'll, like, officially dog test. -[elise] yeah.
[mariah] we don't want to try and dog test peeve right now
because if she is dog-friendly,
she's gonna wanna play.
She's a very playful dog
and it's not gonna help her healing at all,
so we do need to wait
until she's completely healed
and then we can dog test her,
kid test her.
And after that, we can take some pictures of her
and get her up on the website
and hopefully find her forever home very quickly.
Are we gonna put my pet peeve
-or peeve on the website? -My pet peeve.
[both laughs]
[mariah] come on, angel face.
[tia] come here, shank.
Okay. Okay.
This is shank who is very...
-[toy squeaks] -...Very toy-driven.
Oh, my god. Oh, my god.
Ready, go.
[laughs]
come on. [laughs]
she is a pit bull, rottweiler, golden retriever,
and herding breed mix.
[laughs] he's about four and a half years old,
super friendly, good with kids
but probably the best as an only dog
just because of her energy level.
Come here.
[laughs]
it's snapping turtle, loves the water.
If you're interested in adopting
this really fun dog, shank,
or any other villalobos dog,
or to donate to villalobos,
go to animalplanet.Com/pit bulls.
Have another toy behind the camera.
You don't normally sit this still for very long.
[laughs]
[country music playing]
[lizzy] all right, moe, I'm coming in.
[moe] all right. Watch out, here comes the dog.
[lizzy] here comes cherokee.
[moe] here comes cherokee.
[lizzy] I'm in a really unique position
to be able to give a senior dog like cherokee
a lot being that I am home more.
[moe] this is a dog we're gonna have.
[lizzy] I'm able to just spend so much more time with them
and give them all the love and attention
in whatever time they have left.
He was like kid tested
-and he did well. -[moe] yeah.
So that's why
I'm letting him, like, go up to them
because he has been kid tested.
But obviously meeting them is a little bit different,
-they're a little younger. -Right.
[lizzy] I did not have any concerns
bringing cherokee into my home with my kids.
Dakota wants to say hi.
Come here, dakota.
Dakota's still very young.
But nakoa has learned from a very young age
to be gentle with dogs
that makes things a lot easier
knowing that he knows
how to behave around an older dog
and how to be gentle with them.
-Cherk. -[moe] go get the dogs.
This is baby girl.
Oh, careful, mama. You love him?
He wants you to come. See? He's excited.
-He's just excited. -Hey, buddy.
[lizzy] cherokee hasn't met my kids yet.
And before I can add him to our family,
he needs to be able to do well
with both of my kids.
Nakoa, you wanna help me walk cherokee?
-[nakoa] yeah. -[lizzy] okay.
I'm really hoping that everything works out
so cherokee can have a home with us.
[moe] wait. We gotta look both ways.
[lizzy] yup. We're good.
Okay, hang on, hang on, hang on.
[moe] yeah. You like that?
[nakoa babbling]
[moe] whoo!
My kids get really excited about a new dog in the house.
Who is that?
[lizzy] it's cherokee?
More importantly,
it's really great for the dog
to be able to have a family at the end.
-Okay. -[nakoa speaking]
-oh, he wants to go home? -[nakoa speaking]
should we take him home with us?
-[nakoa speaking] -okay, let's go.
-Say, "come on cherokee." -[nakoa speaking]
[lizzy] I asked nakoa if he want a cherokee
to stay with us and come home?
And he said, "yeah, come on cherokee.
And obviously that makes my heart burst.
Weee.
It meant a lot to me
that he was also on board with it,
and excited, and happy to bring cherokee home.
I think he wants to be part of our family.
So now, we just spoil cherokee.
I think he likes to walk next to you, nakoa.
And just make sure that
he's getting all the love and attention
just the same as if he went to a home
and was adopted out from the rescue.
Come on, cherokee.
[country music playing]
[tania] pleags, come on.
Today I am loading up pleagle
to take him to his potential forever home in florida.
Ready?
Are you ready?
Yay.
Getting dogs homes
is like the best part of our job.
So I'm actually really excited
for him to have a new life in florida.
Pleagle is a really good dog
and did really well with home testing.
So, I'm really hopeful that everything works out
perfectly for him.
We're going to florida.
Yay.
[lauren] good boy.
[tania] pleagle and princess have not seen each other
since they're meet and greet.
So, it will be a lot of pressure
to reintroduce them
especially in princess's house.
[david] back. Nope. Nope.
[country music playing]
you scored on a really nice neighborhood, pleagle.
Holy moly.
Today I'm in florida to do pleagle's home check.
It's a very, very long drive
to florida from where I'm at
and I'm hoping that everything goes well today
'cause pleagle really deserves his new home.
[knocks on door]
-hi. -Hello.
-I'm tania. -David.
-Trysta. -Hi. Nice to meet you.
Princess.
Princess, I've heard a lot about you.
[david] since our trip out to louisiana,
we have been waiting with anticipation
and excitement for pleagle to get here.
Okay. You wanna show me around?
Sure. Okay, so this is the living room.
This is where we hang out most of the time.
[tania] cool.
This is supposed to be pleagle's bed,
but this is where princess likes to lay down.
[tania] that's really funny.
We bought a whole bunch of new stuff for pleagle,
new toys, a new bed
just so pleagle can feel comfortable
in our house.
So we have both food bowls separated.
So her side is here, his side is here.
Cool. I don't have to go over that with you then.
Because I was thinking about that...
[trysta] just in case like one of them's too aggressive.
-[tania] yeah. -[trysta] so not to worry about that.
Cool. That's the perfect size.
[trysta] yeah, we have his crate.
So that way we can crate train him
and then we got plenty of toys
and treats for him to start with.
They're gonna both have their own treats.
[tania] awesome.
The family prepared their house
perfectly for pleagle.
I think that they were definitely excited
and prepared for the whole thing.
-So this is the pool. -Oh, my gosh.
I am so jealous.
Oh, my god, this is amazing.
I wasn't at the meet and greet.
So I'm actually very excited to meet pleagle.
I'm just waiting to see the dog
come in the door like actually meet the dog.
On this trip, it's like the most
I've ever spent with pleagle.
He's such a funny, cute, cool dog.
I had a mirror in my hotel room
and he saw his reflection.
And it was like the cutest thing I've ever seen.
He was like pawing it
and like shaking his butt in front of it
and like jumping on it.
Seeing pleagle play with his own reflection
is definitely a really good sign
that he will thrive off
of having another dog in the home with him.
My sister-in-law fostered him at her house
with their son to get him ready
-for me to bring here. -Okay.
[tania] and she said that he did great.
We took him to a pool. He didn't go in the pool.
He did go up to it though and he was fine.
Like my nephew was splashing around the pool,
jumping around, and he was not fazed
-whatsoever. -Okay.
[tania] so that's pretty awesome.
Since she's a total water dog.
-Yeah. -If he sees her,
you know, splashing around and jumping around,
that might encourage him to want to join
-and play too. -Sounds good.
Cool. So that's pretty much it.
You guys are all, like, set up and ready to go.
So that's really cool. It makes my job a lot easier.
Yeah.
[tania] what I'm going to do
is I want to, uh, just take a quick look at the yard
and then I'll go grab him.
-Okay. -[tania] cool.
[david] when they do come out here,
we watch them the whole time they're out here.
[tania] okay, cool. Is it all fenced off?
[david] it is completely fenced off
and the fence is actually buried
-into the ground. -[tania] oh, cool.
It looks good. And now that I know that it's in the ground,
that's even better.
Just watch for landmines.
-Oh. -[laughter]
-yeah, that. -Story of my life.
Yeah, no. It looks great.
I think it looks... It's perfect.
-Yeah. -I think they're gonna have a lot of fun.
This is, like, such a change for him.
He came from like a tiny, tiny animal shelter
where no one ever like even has heard of it.
So he never would have gotten a home
like being from there.
So it's really awesome that now he's gonna be, like,
playing in florida.
All right, I'm gonna go grab him.
And then I'll meet you guys out front.
-Okay. -[trysta] I'm feeling, like,
so excited to, like, finally pet pleagle again
and get to, like, hug him and, like,
have him jump on me again finally.
[tania] you have some really excited people
waiting for you.
Okay, come on.
Hi. Hey.
Hey.
[tania] it takes him a minute.
-[david] hey, buddy. -[trysta] oh.
[david] it was overwhelming excitement
that he was finally here.
And when he came right up to me was even better.
-[trysta] pleagle. -[tania] you say hi.
Hey, pleagle.
First day jitters.
[tania] it doesn't take long.
Good boy.
[ryon] he really got comfortable with us.
And he seemed to really fit in a lot with everybody.
[david] just taking my time to walk down the line.
-Yeah. -[lauren] pleagle just came
right up to us.
It's like he remembered who we were.
Now if you want, you can grab princess
on leash and bring her out here.
Come on, pleags. Come here.
Pleagle and princess have not seen each other
since their meet and greet.
So it actually is a lot of pressure
to reintroduce them,
especially in princess' house.
[david] back.
No. No.
[dramatic music playing]
[tania] come on, pleags. Come here.
[david] back. No. No.
[tania] I'm always concerned and worried
and a little bit stressed out
when I'm bringing a dog into a home
with another dog.
[trysta] both of them are doing it.
-[tania] come on. Let's go walk. Come on. -[david] let's go.
[trysta] my main concern is that princess
might get like kind of shy
and just not really play as much.
But other than that, I have no concerns.
[tania] pleagle.
[trysta] let me get out of here. What...
[tania] no, no, come. Come on.
-Pleagle. -[david] come on.
-[trysta] pleagle. -Pleags.
Hey.
Remember?
[david] you can see an instant
they want to run up to each other.
They wanted to meet each other.
And then after a few minutes, we're like, okay, yeah,
you're here. We're good.
Here we go, tail wag.
[lauren] it's like they were ready
to just come and play with each other right away.
-[tania] look. -Hi, pleagle.
Good job.
He's... Like, he's fine.
[trysta] yeah, he's ready to go inside.
Yeah.
Princess and pleagle fell in love
right off the bat again.
So it was basically the perfect reunion.
It was like everything I could ask for.
-There we go. -[laughter]
I knew it wasn't gonna take long.
Yeah.
-[tania] pleags. -[lauren] oh, yes.
Aw.
[ryon] I'm really hoping that pleagle will like me
more than trysta. [chuckles]
that way I have like a little buddy
to go on car rides with.
[tania] let's go in the pool, guys.
All right. Pleagle, here.
-Get it. -[laughter]
[tania] did you like that? You want to go in the pool
and be a pool dog?
-[lauren] we'll get it later. -[tania] yeah. It will...
It will take some time. Maybe with some time
and, you know, a lot of patience,
maybe princess can teach pleagle to go
into the pool, but even if he doesn't do it
I know he's just gonna be happy to be there with her.
Honestly, I love taking dogs to their new homes.
I was super happy for pleagle
but the highlight to me was to see princess
diving into the pool.
Ready?
-[tania] yeah. That's great. -[trysta] oh, there you go.
-And she has her own towel. -[tania] oh, my god.
That's cute. She knows exactly.
This is officially yours. You're happy right?
Thank you. Yes, yes, definitely.
Awesome. I'm happy.
[trysta] I'm so happy that we finally have
like a new member of our family
and he's finally home.
We get to like spend all this time with him now.
[tania] he is your... Officially yours now.
-Yeah, yeah. -[ryon] most likely me
and pleagle are going to be best buds.
Yes.
New brother, huh?
[david] pleagle's life is going to be like
any one of our other dogs, which aren't our dogs.
They're our family members. So he's gonna be spoiled
just as much as the rest.
[rock music playing]
[lizzy] okay. Lay down. Lay down.
Good. Good.
Cherokee, is a hospice dog that moe and I
recently decided to take into our home.
Oh, careful. You wanna give him a french fry?
Okay. Hang on. We got to take it...
Okay, come bring it to him.
You got to just give it to him.
Drop it in front of him, drop it in front of him.
[nakoa giggles]
[lizzy] when we find out a dog is hospice,
it's like all bets are off.
They can have whatever they want.
-Hey, bubba. -[nakoa] stegosaurus time
[lizzy] I try to manage how much people food
I give him so he doesn't get an upset stomach.
But I mean, if he wants some french fries,
he can have some of the nakoa's french fries.
Nakoa, what color is... What color of hair
does cherokee have on his face?
Purple?
I feel completely relieved that
cherokee settled in and loves my family
and we absolutely adore him.
I'm gonna put cherokee back into rest.
And then, uh, me and you got to make
-a phone call. -[nakoa speaking]
[lizzy] we've to call one of the adopters
and check in on a dog.
What do you think old man?
I named him roan because that's the color
of a horse when of this color.
[lizzy] a couple of our employees brought roan
to his forever home and did his home check.
Yeah, it's a dog.
His name is roan.
I just wanted to call connie and tony
and follow up and see how roan has been doing.
Connie.
-No, not kanani. -[nakoa babbling]
[phone ringing]
-[connie speaking] -hi connie,
this is lizzie calling from villalobos.
-[connie speaking] -[tony speaking]
hi tony.
So I was just calling to check in
and see how roan is doing.
[connie] what you're doing there, buddy?
Good boy. Good boy, roan.
This is your new yard, checking it out?
[lizzy] connie and tony were
the perfect adopters for roan.
[connie speaking]
[tony] I'm sure it's probably a big change for him.
Now he's here, he's like, "what's going on"?
[connie] yes.
Good boy.
How cute is he nakoa?
Oh, look at him, is he lying on the couch?
Oh, my god, he looks so cozy.
Look at his little leg hanging off.
[connie] he's enjoying the cold weather.
And we had our first snow here
-two weeks ago. -Oh, does he like the snow?
It was really sweet to see
how comfortable roan is with them.
Yeah. There you go. All the love.
[lizzy] he went from being a hound
that was clearly living in some very bad conditions.
Now he's sleeping on a couch
and riding in a car on a huge fluffy blanket,
playing in the snow, going for walks
where everybody in the neighborhood
is just in love with him.
That's what we want for all of our dogs.
[tony speaking]
oh, I love that.
Well, it sounds like you guys are really happy with him.
[tony speaking]
yeah, no, I agree it was meant to be
because, uh, it would have been very difficult
to find a home for him.
After talking with connie and tony,
I know 100%
that they were the right people for roan.
And I am not worried about him at all.
[tony speaking]
-[connie speaking] -[tony speaking]
[lizzy] one of the things that I've taken
from this adoption is that
there's hope for our hospice dogs
and our senior dogs to get homes.
Well, I'm glad that we were able to catch up.
And thank you so much for sending the pictures
and I'll definitely make sure to pass them along.
[delightful music playing]
[tia] working around these dogs,
you learn the responsibility,
you learn patience,
you learn to care,
and you learn compassion.
That absolutely is the elements
that you need to be a good parent.
So I think working at the rescue
does prepare you for that.
You have all type of doggies up here.
One day you might work here.
[tia] I think absolutely that there's a good chance
that some of these third generation youngsters
could be the future for villalobos.
I'd like to think so.
Definitely, they're gonna be dog lovers
for sure, you know.
Oh, man, I was gonna help you.
You don't need my help.
This whole vrc family,
these are my kids, all of them.
And I'm super proud of them
and I'm happy for them,
and just to see everybody grow
and still be a part of the rescue,
I'm very fortunate.
[dramatic music playing]
[david] efe, let's go. Go.
[dramatic music playing]
[woman] come here.
[dramatic music playing]