[tia] coming up on pit bulls and parolees...
Someone posted about this dog that needed help.
-[tia] let me grab her real quick. -[woman] okay.
Here's the thing, wolf-dogs, combination of wolf and dog...
You never know what you're gonna get.
Are we gonna get the wolf?
No biting the butt.
Hey, hey, hey! No, no!
[mariah] ready to meet your new dog?
[man] yes, please.
My hope today really is just to find a new best friend.
So cute.
We found her just skin and bones
but she would go over to the elementary school
and try and visit the kids.
She just wants a person.
What was going through my head at that moment was,
"can I take all these dogs home?"
you guys aren't making this easy on me.
[lizzy] ben. Ben.
Can you hear?
If they do end up being deaf, it does impact their lives.
Spike, spike, spike.
[lizzy] it can make it a little bit more difficult to find homes for them.
[man 2] this is not the pattern we're expecting.
[intro theme playing]
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, 'cause 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.
[dog barking]
[tia] all right, buddy.
Someone posted on our social media page about this dog that needed help.
The situation was a little complicated.
A shelter in mississippi had rescued this dog as a puppy,
and found her in a ditch, emaciated.
So, as this puppy got healthier and bigger,
the rescue went,
"huh! She doesn't look like a dog."
so they did a dna test on her and went, "oops!"
she's, like, three-quarters wolf.
So, at that point they're, like, "well, they are illegal here."
so, freya, as she has come to be known,
had nowhere to go.
I said, "okay. Let me see what I can do."
[tia. M] hi. Come on back here.
So, mississippi has extremely restrictive laws regarding wolf-dogs.
It's near-impossible to have one here
and take care of them properly.
[tia] hi, puppies.
[door creaking open]
[tia. M] legally, we wanted to make sure that we were doing things correctly.
[tia] so, who found her?
[tia. M] she was found as a stray.
She came into the shelter when she was about three months old.
[tia] oh. Into the shelter, okay.
-[tia. M] she was super, super underweight. -[tia] mm-hmm.
[tia. M] when she first came in, she was really wild.
-[tia. M] very aggressive. -[tia] uh-huh. Okay.
[tia. M] when she actually came into the shelter, she was completely black.
And, she started graying out, and I was, like,
"okay, I see what's happening here."
[tia] yeah, yeah.
[tia. M] that's something I didn't--
[tia] well, I saw the picture. I didn't have to even know.
Someone sent me that picture. I said, "uh..." [laughing]
[tia. M] yeah, so I think they said it was over 70%?
[tia] yeah, yeah.
Hub city humane society is a no-kill shelter,
we don't euthanize for space or anything like that.
But, in freya's case, it kinda takes things out of the shelter's hands
and more to do with the state.
So, if tia wouldn't have come to get freya,
and her team wouldn't have stepped forward to take her in,
then I really don't know what would have happened.
That's something about genetics is, it's...
You can have a dog that looks like almost a pure-bred german shepherd.
[tia. M] mm-hm.
[tia] and, then when you do their dna, they still have wolf in them.
So, it sucks because it still technically makes them a wolf-hybrid or a wolf-dog.
And, in a lot of areas, as you found out, they are illegal.
[tia. M] mm-hm.
-So, it just sucks for the dog, you know, yeah. -It does.
-[tia] so, about how old is she now? -Six months.
A little over six months.
-[tia] oh, my gosh, okay. -She's gonna be a big girl, I think.
-Okay. -Let me grab her real quick.
Here's the thing, wolf-dogs,
combination of wolf and dog.
So, you can get behaviors from both mixed up together,
or one more than the other - you never know what you're gonna get.
That's what happens when you mix genetics, you know.
It's like shaking the can and let's see what comes out.
[tia. M] come say hi.
Honey, you were so quick.
-[tia] are you gonna start nipping? -She is mouthy.
Yeah. That's why I did this. I assumed the position.
[tia. M] yeah, she doesn't bite down really hard, but she--
yeah, they get... It's the little flea bites they do.
[tia. M] mm-hm. Yes.
[tia] why are you being so gentle?
[tia. M] she's very clumsy. She's had a couple of accidents.
She ran into something, hit her head and had to have stitches.
-[tia] oh, my gosh. -[tia. M] and then she bit something...
-[tia] oh, my god. -[tia. M] ...And cut her lip and had to have stitches.
So she's into... Very puppy, into everything.
-[tia] oh, my gosh. -[tia. M] come on, freya.
[tia] come here. I'll get down here for you.
Oww, yes, thank you for taking my hand in your mouth.
Yes. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Even though she had a lot of doggy behavior,
there were certain things that were more wolf, which was her mouthiness.
She was, like, "rar, rar," like, just chewing on my arms,
not even hard.
But, wolves, that's how they play.
You've got some big brothers to play with for a good while
till we figure out what we're gonna do.
[tia. M] oh, she's gonna be so excited.
[tia] huh? Yeah?
It was cute. I thought it was cute.
Like, you behave better than my dogs.
-[tia. M] she has no idea she's a wolf. -[tia chuckles] yeah.
[tia] you know that, right? You're almost all wolf.
But, she acts like...
A basset hound. Yes!
Wolves, like wolves in the wild,
they're not these aggressive killers.
Like, they don't harm humans.
They're very gentle.
And they're very shy, very entrusting of humans.
Freya is the polar opposite.
Okay.
Let's go see what's goin' on outside. Come on, let's go.
Come on. You can eat my hands later.
You can eat my hands later.
They are maligned,
by society, through years of folklore
and stories and media.
Sounds like another kind of dog, huh?
The american pit bull terrier.
Come here, mama. Hup!
Good job. Come on.
Good job. There you go.
We're super, super thankful for tia stepping forward
and taking freya into her rescue.
This means she's always gonna have a safe place and
tia's gonna be able to provide for her what we could not do.
Well, this was a very big surprise.
One, I've never met another tia.
I know, I know!
And, two, this was the easiest creature I've ever rescued, I think.
Oh, yeah. She's great, she's pretty great.
[tia] oh, my god!
-All right, well, nice meeting you. -Thank you. Same to you.
-Aww, we'll keep in touch. -Please do.
-[tia] okay, I'll let you know -I'm excited. Thank you so much.
Bye-bye.
I'll probably move her in with our other wolf-dogs.
We're still figuring it out.
[tia] hi. Stay. What? Come see. Come see your little sister.
Lucky, come here. See your sister. Look at her. Sit, sit.
She loves you.
[chuckling] so stupid.
Okay, here we go. Let's go, road-trip. Road-trip.
[dog barking]
[barking continues]
-[mariah] hi, pretty girl. -[lizzy] she's so cute.
[mariah] hey, hi!
-Hello. -Hi!
Hullo, hullo.
[women chuckling]
my name is ben. I came here from california.
My hope today really is just to find a new best friend.
[mariah] ready to meet your new dog?
[ben] yes, please.
I came all this way just because
I'm really passionate about pit bulls
and I just thought it was the right choice for me.
Let's just kinda start from the beginning.
-What your lifestyle's like-- -okay.
...And what kinda dog you're looking for.
I kinda live a pretty active lifestyle.
It's california. So, we get a lot of camping, a lot of beach time,
lots of walks and hikes, and outdoors.
Do you want, like, an affectionate dog? Some people...
Prefer, like, dogs that are a little bit more independent,
so they don't have to be petting it constantly.
-I'm okay with that. It's nice to feel needed. -[mariah] aww.
Okay, so if they're a little bit needy, you're okay with that?
Yeah. Yeah.
-[mariah] and you're a chef? -I am.
-[mariah] okay. -I'm a private chef,
so a lot of the cooking is done in the home,
so even when I'm working, I'm at home.
[mariah] oh. Awesome. Got it.
I think what would make me a unique pet owner is my time.
My time and availability that I have to give.
I'm very lucky that I own my own business.
And living' in california, there's nothing but open space
for us to enjoy that time in.
Do you wanna just tell us a little bit about your last dog?
-Yeah. My last dog, maisie. She was a pit bull boxer. -Okay.
[ben] I did get maisie when she was about three months old.
I had her all the way up till the end.
She was about 14 years old when she passed.
She was blind, but she was up to do whatever.
She would go camping, she'd get on the boat...
She was very confident, sounds like.
-She was really confident. It was a trust thing. -[mariah] yeah.
So, she trusted me, that I wasn't gonna lead her wrong, you know?
Yeah.
[ben] losing maisie was the hardest thing
I've ever gone through in my life.
But then, when I think about all the other positives,
all the joy that I'm missing out on by not having a dog around,
it just doesn't seem fair.
They're very resilient, pit bulls are.
[both] yes, they are.
And, they just learn to use their other senses, you know.
Yeah.
When you have such a good connection with your previous dog,
sometimes it's really hard for adopters to have that connection with the new dog.
So, that's definitely gonna be the task today,
is to find a dog that he really connects with.
And you asked to see only females, correct?
Yes. Probably 'cause maisie, my last dog, was a female.
All my friends that have pit bulls,
for some reason, they're all females.
-Just kinda more drawn to them? -Yeah.
Little sweetheart. Now, I know the males can be very nice as well,
don't get me wrong. But, yeah, something about it.
I dunno why. I've probably just convinced myself that that would be a good look.
Yeah. Okay.
-[lizzie] who do you wanna start with? -[mariah] nikita.
[lizzie] okay. Let's start with nikita.
[mariah] nikita came to villalobos through
the assumption parish jail.
Nikita's personality is just very fun and loving.
She's always happy, always ready for an adventure.
She's also very affectionate.
So she's one of those dogs that,
she loves her person and all she wants out of life
is to be near her person.
-[ben making playful sounds] -[mariah] she's so happy all the time.
[mariah] so, she's about three and a half.
She came in out of assumption jail, out here,
which is like a little local shelter, where they first
bring, like, intakes and that.
She's been amazing since we got her and she's just always so happy.
-She's always got that big smile. -[lizzie chuckling]
[mariah] she's definitely one that loves attention.
-She doesn't care for being independent. -[women laughing]
[ben] yep. That's all right.
My initial reaction to nikita was actually really positive.
And, she was a sweetheart. So, it was a really good first impression.
[mariah] and, she's definitely got a really strong personality.
Like, if you guys are out somewhere, and she's not ready to go home,
she just deadweights, like, on the ground,
and she'll roll on her back and kinda give you that look, like,
-[mariah] "I don't wanna go yet." -"it's still play-time."
[mariah] she's got some spunk left in her,
so she's, like, definitely up for hiking,
and she likes the water,
-but she also will just do this too. -Yeah.
[mariah] so she's kinda got both.
She's great.
[ben] I liked her temperament. You could tell she was a sweetheart.
She kinda just came up and leaned her body on you.
You could tell that she wanted to be loved.
It's nice when you see that in a dog.
You guys aren't making this easy on me.
[lizzy] I know, and we just started. It's the first one.
-[ben] I know. -[mariah] sweet baby.
[ben] oh, man. She's great. Oh.
[lizzy] bye, 'kita.
[mariah] come on, baby girl. We'll do quiche next.
Quiche is a very confident dog.
She loves other dogs, loves kids, loves everyone she meets
but she's definitely got more independence about her.
Okay. This is quiche.
[ben] hey. What's up?
[mariah] she almost has, like, the same story as nikita.
She came in to our jail out here, as well.
She's also about three and a half.
-And, she... -[lizzy laughing] she's so cute.
[mariah] she is pretty active.
But, after about 30-45 minutes she's gonna just--
-she's gonna gas out? -Yeah.
Quiche was hilarious, really beautiful dog, good temperament, really sweet.
-[mariah] what are you doing, quiche? I know, baby. -[ben] I know.
She's a big cuddle bug but, I think, out of most of 'em,
she does have a little bit more independence.
So, she'll come to you when she wants attention.
But then she'll go find her own spot and lay down and relax.
[ben] she's nice too, you know.
Like, she's gonna lay down.
[ben] yeah, that's all right. Yeah. Make yourself cozy.
[mariah] she always lays in that same spot.
I think it's that gravel... Come on. ...How cool it is.
[ben] you could tell there was definitely a little bit
of an independent streak in there, which was nice.
Overall, great dog.
-[chuckling] gorgeous. What a beautiful dog. -[mariah] I know.
[ben] as sweet as she was, and as much as I could tell she was a great dog,
it just felt like maybe she wasn't 100% into me.
[mariah] look. She wants to go.
-[ben] yeah, she does. -[lizzy] okay, okay.
[mariah] you wanna go, baby?
-[lizzy] you wanna do popsicle next? -[mariah] yeah.
[mariah] popsicle was found in a cane field,
right across from the elementary school in assumption.
She loves other dogs. She loves water.
She likes to be outdoors and she likes to be active.
But, she's content if on a Sunday you wanna stay home all day.
Very calm and mature.
She's got the velvet fur, this one.
[ben] yeah. I could tell.
[lizzy] bring that velvet over here, girl.
[mariah] she's so soft. This is popsicle.
[ben] oh, wow!
[mariah] she gets the happy butt wiggles.
-[lizzy] oh, my god. -[mariah] I know, pop.
-[lizzy] I wanna touch. She's so cute. -[ben] yeah.
[mariah] so, popsicle is about five.
She... And we found her
right next to the elementary school, out here.
And she was just skin and bones,
but she would go over to the elementary school
and try and visit the kids when they were out at recess and stuff.
-[lizzy] that's so cute. -[ben] oh, my god.
-[mariah] she definitely loves her person, yeah. -[ben] yeah.
[mariah] it doesn't take long for her to give in to you.
Popsicle was great. I felt like she came
and leaned onto me a bit, and was showing me some affection.
Just, great temperament. Super soft.
Just a really lovable dog.
[lizzy] and such a cute name, too.
[ben] oh, wow. Popsicle.
-[mariah] we did something, like, kiddish. -[lizzy] yeah.
-[lizzy] you love the kids? You love the kids? -[ben] look at the look.
-She's very... This is gonna be a hard one. -Yeah.
[women laughing]
[mariah] and, we still got two more good ones.
-[lizzy] two more to go. -[ben] oh, wow.
[lizzy] ben travelled such a long way from california,
so we really wanted to give him as many options as possible.
[lizzy] smiley is a very, very sweet dog.
She has, like, a really, really big smile.
She's dog-friendly, she's kid-friendly.
She's just an overall really, really fantastic dog.
This is her first time being shown, too.
It's your first time being shown?
[mariah] oh, she's so cute.
-[ben] oh, yeah. -[mariah] she's so dainty.
-[lizzy] yeah, she's a little gal. -[ben] just a little girl.
[lizzy] her lips, like, wrinkle and stuff, but she's smiling.
And, it's really, really cute.
She's probably about a year, between a year and a year and a half, so,
she is younger, but she's actually pretty mellow for a young dog.
Good girl, smiley.
What happened with her is,
this guy had come and wanted to drop her off, and,
while we were going to take her, we were trying to make sure we had space,
and make some space for her.
He was just being really impatient
so, he drove around the corner and just dumped her out of his 18-wheeler.
Are you kidding me?
[lizzie] so actually, we've only had her, like, three months, I think.
So, for her to be this comfortable with all this,
after what she went through speaks volumes, I think, of her character.
[ben] oh, sweetie.
[lizzy] she just wants a person.
[mariah] mm-hmm, definitely.
[lizzy] someone that's not gonna throw her out of a truck.
Yeah. Yeah.
[ben] hearing smiley's story is definitely hard to hear.
I know that these things happen all the time.
And that human beings aren't perfect.
But, I don't think any animal deserves that in any means, so
I think it's really special she has such a good attitude.
She's a really, really good dog. She can be a little bit,
shy with new situations,
but, it's not to the point where she shuts down.
She's, like... She overcomes it, so...
-[lizzy laughing] -good girl.
But she's really gentle and sweet. She's just a really good girl.
This is pretty good for your first meet-and-greet.
[ben] you're doing good.
[lizzy] yeah. She's got pretty eyes.
[ben] smiley was great. Just a little whippersnapper.
And, she was actually, I think the first dog that jumped on the couch by herself.
And she really wanted to just kinda hang out which was...
Which was really important.
[mariah] this is cork coming.
[lizzy] ben has such a sweet and calm demeanor.
And, I think that any dog we show him is gonna love him.
Because, his energy is very calming.
-[lizzy] this way. -[ben] that's a happy-looking dog.
[lizzy] cork is one of the best dogs at the rescue.
One of our employees found cork running loose in a new orleans neighborhood.
She can pretty much enjoy going anywhere and doing anything.
She's just one of those dogs that you can take everywhere
and not have to worry about her.
[ben] hey, are you excited?
-[mariah] she is very excited. -[ben] she's very excited.
She has energy. So, if you wanna go on hikes and stuff like that,
it would be great for her, but she does settle down.
She is treat-and-toy motivated and she is very smart.
[ben] cork was a great dog. She was very excited.
And it was great to see that energy.
[lizzy] she was found as a stray,
and it seemed like she had escaped from somewhere 'cause she still had a leash on her.
And we never were able to find an owner and nobody came looking for her.
So, it's hard to say what happened.
-You can tell she's calming down now. -Yeah.
It didn't take much.
[lizzy] oh. She's...
Cork! Come here. Come up here on the couch. Good girl.
Just chill. Just chill. Just chill.
[ben] yeah.
[lizzy] I appreciate her little bod. I think it's cute.
Yeah cork, yeah. You little tank.
Gorgeous.
Oh, man.
What was going through my head at that moment was,
"can I take all these dogs home?"
but I started thinking, "just keep it simple
and do what you came here for and leave with a new best friend."
okay. So, that was a lot of dogs, a lot of great dogs.
[ben] that's a lot of dogs, yeah.
[lizzy] they're all very similar and...
-[mariah] same, but different. -...In what you want, in what you're looking for, but,
they're all very different as far as their looks and their personalities go.
I mean, nikita made a great first impression, just being a little lover.
Pop-pop was great.
-Smiley was really great, too. -[lizzy] mm-hmm.
So, to be honest, for me it would be probably between those three.
Well, you don't have to make a decision today.
You can actually take some time and think about it.
You can take a few days if you need a few days.
-You can take your time-- -I'm taking one of 'em for sure.
[lizzy] okay. All right. So you definitely feel like you met someone you can see--
-[ben] yeah, yeah. -...Being a part of your life.
-I know they all need homes and it's kinda heartbreaking. -Yeah.
-You kinda wanna save 'em all, you know? So, um... -[lizzy] yeah.
Yeah. I need to just go with my gut.
[lizzy] grandma sass just appeared to not be as healthy.
[vet] and she's a little thin.
[lizzy] so, we thought that it was a good idea
to have her checked out by our vet.
-[lizzy] do you need to do blood-work on her? -[vet] yes.
[lizzy] I'm just really hoping that dr. Samantha doesn't find anything serious.
You don't have to make a decision today. You can take your time.
-I'm taking one of 'em for sure. -[lizzy] okay.
Yeah. I need to just go with my gut.
So, I'd like to go with smiley, please.
Oh. Oh, you're making a decision?
-[mariah] I know! -[lizzy] is this happening right now?
[ben] yeah.
-[ben] I think so. -[lizzy] okay.
Yes, please.
-[mariah] aww. -Oh, my god. You're so polite.
Yeah. She was a real sweetheart.
-[lizzy] she is a sweetheart. -Yeah.
Well, I'm not gonna complain about that.
[mariah] when an adopter has a gut feeling and they have a connection,
you can't fake that.
And it was really sweet to see
how attached and how quickly he got to smiley.
And, I was just really excited for her and him.
Black dogs rarely get picked over dogs that are, like, blue,
or, you know, tan and white.
She could've ended up actually being here for quite some time
just because of the way that she looks, which is great.
-That's perfect. -[lizzy] okay.
-Really great. -[lizzy] yay, smiley. Okay, cool.
[ben] I think smiley is perfect for me.
It's kinda like we both just won the lotto.
Smiley met all the expectations, to be honest.
She really was an amazing dog. She really had an amazing attitude.
-[ben] thank you very, very much. -[lizzy] yes, absolutely.
[mariah] thank you. No, we're excited.
[ben] yeah. I appreciate everything you guys do.
Of course. And, we'll be in touch soon.
Thank you. Have a great day.
-[lizzy] all right. -[mariah] thank you.
[mariah] he's such a sweet guy. Such a sweet guy.
[lizzy] I think smiley is gonna have a blast with ben.
I think that they are going to love each other so much.
And, I think that she is the companion that he was looking for.
You've a home? What d'you think about that?
[mariah] it was them brown eyes, girl.
[lizzy] mm-hmm.
[lizzy] come on, sass.
Come on.
Grandma sass is a dog that we rescued recently.
[lizzy] what's, um...
[woman] this gray one? Sassy.
-[lizzy] how old is sassy? -[woman] about eight.
[woman] she's been here since she was six weeks old.
[lizzy] when we got back to the rescue with grandma sass,
we noticed some masses on her.
[lizzy] I'm, like, concerned. She has those tumors. See, look at this.
[mariah] oh, my gosh. I didn't see that. So,
that's bad. Did you see that?
Yeah. She needs to be fully checked out.
[lizzy] she just appeared to not be as healthy as the other two.
So we thought that it was a good idea to have her checked out by our vet.
-[woman] here. -[lizzy] hello.
-Who do we have here? -[lizzy] sassy.
Okay. We'll go ahead and get her weighed and get you on by.
[lizzy] she is an older dog. She has some lumps on her.
A lot of times, with older female dogs, the longer they go without being spayed,
the more likely they are to develop cancer in their mammary glands.
[vet] so, this is a new dog for y'all?
[lizzie] yes. We got her from st. Bernard parish.
[vet] okay.
[lizzy] she lived outside, tied to a tree.
[vet] okay. And I hear she's hormone positive.
[lizzy] yeah. And she got some growths and stuff.
[vet] hey, baby girl. Hey, sweet dog.
Oh, yeah. I see that bigger growth on the thigh.
-And she's a little thin. -[lizzy] mm-hmm.
[vet] let me take a look at you.
I love her different colored eyes.
I do feel like her gums are a little pale pink.
Could also be related to her hormone disease.
[samantha] I noticed her gum color was a little pale. Still pink, but a pale pink.
And, a lot of times, that means the dog is anemic, or low red blood cells.
So, I wanted to investigate that further.
It's just a very low grade heart murmur.
Whenever you are anemic, your blood is a little bit more watery,
because you have less red blood cells in it.
And, so it changes the flow in the heart,
and then, we hear a murmur as a result.
[lizzy] okay. Got it.
[samantha] so, that could be...
[lizzy] do you need to do blood-work on her?
[samantha] yes. I'm definitely gonna get a full senior panel on her.
[lizzy] okay.
[samantha] but, I could do a little spot test in-house
-to check her red blood cell count. -[lizzy] okay.
[samantha] okay. And she's obviously had some litters.
And she's got some little ulcerations on her nipples, here.
Were there puppies on her?
[lizzy] mm-mm.
[samantha] yeah, I'm getting milk.
I was surprised to find milk from her mammary glands.
Just with her age, I was surprised
that she had potentially just had puppies.
So, I bet you some of these sores, too, could be from having been in
not the cleanest environment, like, living outside.
And with her mammary glands engorged and everything,
they could've just been rubbing on the dirt.
I don't think any of her mammary glands are infected.
Some of them are just actually,
still full, yeah.
[lizzy] this dog is eight years old. And, you can tell she's...
Had a lot of puppies.
I was just sad to think that she could've just recently gone through that.
[samantha] okay. A lot of these look like little cysts, here.
This feels like lipoma, but we'll poke that.
I think it's going to be benign, though, if I had to guess.
I took a little cellular sample of the growth on her thigh.
And, it was just fatty, so essentially just a lipoma of fatty deposit.
Nothing cancerous, or anything we need to be concerned with.
Now, I'll just get some blood.
So, I'll do the little spot test for the anemia.
Ready, baby girl?
Okay.
Just hold her, right there.
Good girl. You're so good for that.
Okay, great.
We'll get this running.
Grandma sass is so sweet and bubbly and cute.
She wants you to hang out with her. She is absolutely adorable.
Honestly, she has everything that adopters look for in a dog.
And, I'm just really hoping that dr. Samantha doesn't find anything serious.
[samantha] oh, hey. Stay inside. Hi.
Okay. So, yes, she's definitely anemic.
Her red blood cell count was 22%,
and it should be greater than 32%.
[lizzy] oh, wow.
[samantha] so, she's pretty significantly anemic.
[lizzy] does she need a blood transfusion or?
Not at this stage. Honestly, at this point, I would just focus on
clearing her of all the parasites and letting her body rebuild.
[lizzy] okay.
There's a huge number of things that can cause anemia,
but, in any dog that's been living outdoors, not on prevention,
not getting a lot of care,
basically, they're losing their blood from parasites.
So, external parasites - fleas, ticks, and then internal parasites.
So, living in their intestines but again, still sucking some of their blood
from their body and sort of leeching on their nutrients.
And we should probably switch her to some puppy food.
When they're lactating, they need more protein, calories, everything like that.
And then, also, they need the extra calcium
and it will also help her gain weight.
Definitely want to recheck her blood counts in a week
to make sure that she's going up.
If she's declining, you know, her values are going down in any way,
-we would maybe want to pursue the transfusion. -[lizzy] mm-hmm.
But, I think she'll be able to rebuild on her own.
Probably, a lot of this is a product of her environment.
[lizzy] yeah, yeah.
[samantha] she looks pretty happy and healthy, otherwise.
-She's a sweet dog. -[lizzy] she's very sweet.
Right, baby girl. You ready to get out of here?
[lizzy] the next steps for sassy are to change sassy's diet,
continue heart room treatment, and get her rechecked in a couple of weeks,
and hopefully, she is not anemic at that point.
Bye.
And, get her to a place where we can start
getting to know her, behaviorally.
[tia] so, you're actually gonna cook?
[mariah. T] we have hotdogs.
[tia] do it. Throw it on.
Throw it on.
Well, I need to friggin' get the coals going first.
[tia] I should've put you in girl scouts.
[mariah] all right, baby girl. You ready?
[tia] the adopter for smiley is a personal chef and has a catering business so...
Food is his life.
-[mariah] she's pretty shy. -[mariah. T] hi.
-[mariah. T] she's so sweet, though. -[tia] come on. Come here.
[tia] because, the adopter also likes camping,
we thought it'd be fun to kinda set up that environment.
Before you can even start,
she has to learn some obedience first.
[mariah] nice, sweet girl. Does the smoke bother you?
-[mariah. T] here. -What d'you think?
[mariah] sniff. Sniff.
[mariah. T] uh, no.
[mariah] ah, ah, ah.
[tia] okay, so she's... Let's try...
[mariah] smiley around different variables is just to see how she does.
You wanna sit? Sit.
This is a way for us to collect all the information we can about
how she'll react to certain things.
Hey, sit. Hey, sit.
That way, he definitely knows ahead of time a lot of her reactions.
[mariah. T] there you go. She only wants cold water.
-[mariah. T] 'scuse me! -[everyone laughing]
[mariah. T] I mean, we can share.
[mariah] just give me the bottle, please.
[everyone laughing]
the whole bottle?
[mariah] I'll take the whole thing.
[mariah. T] you are a new orleans girl, aren't ya?
[mariah] look. Now she really want to... Look.
[mariah t.] oh, my god. Little brat.
[mariah laughing] no.
[mariah. T] so, do you need one for you and the baby? Or just one for you?
[tia] wow.
-[mariah. T] hey, smiley. -Bit of a brat.
I am not upset with any of smiley's behavior.
Um, right, do you want...
[mariah] oh, my god. What did you do?
[mariah. T] maybe we should just take her swimming and call it a day.
[mariah laughing] should we?
All of these things are just puppy-like behavior
that she needs mental stimulation and exercise.
[mariah] now the trick's gonna be trying to eat with her.
[mariah. T] oh, that's not gonna happen.
[mariah] no. We're gonna have to switch off.
[mariah. T] do you want a veggie-dog or a normal hotdog?
[mariah] look. She's, like, "I'll take whatever dog you wanna give me."
[mariah. T] mm-hmm.
[tia] grillin' food on the outdoor barbeque, you know,
that's where you get the smell goin'.
She definitely was interested.
As was I.
[mariah. T] oh, you just have a little smiley hair on it,
you know, just a little flavor.
[mariah. T. Laughing]
[mariah] she's, like, "if you don't want it, I'll take it."
[tia] not yours, chickadee.
At that point, it was just a matter of who was going to
get a hold of those hotdogs faster, her or me.
[tia] she's gonna jump all over you. Look at her, look at her, look at her.
[mariah] just eat. Just, like, she's gonna...
Oh.
[mariah] she was sitting.
[tia] mm-mm. Come here.
Come here.
Mm-mm, mm-mm.
[mariah. T] look at this.
I mean, here's the thing. I mean, you have a gauge now on how she's gonna act.
[mariah] absolutely.
[tia] she's doesn't know her "sit", her "stay", her "leave it",
[mariah] I'll talk to him about it.
[tia] she doesn't know any of that. She doesn't have a foundation at all.
She's just a wild, little pony.
In watching smiley, I said the first thing that we're gonna have to do
is start to work with her on her "sit", "stay", that kinda thing.
Just basic commands before we can even get into the next step.
Rather than worry about this...
[mariah] mm-hmm.
...Let's just teach him how to manage it
with crating her in another room, that type of thing.
And, let's get him started on basic obedience and teach him some--
[mariah] I'll show him some stuff on there.
Let's do that first because you can't even address this issue.
[mariah] yeah. It's too much.
She doesn't know what a "leave it" is, she doesn't know what a "sit" is.
Now that I've seen the whole picture, now it makes sense.
Smiley is a happy-go-lucky dog.
She's young, she's wild but...
All she needs is some direction and keeping her busy
and including her in his life, and his daily routine.
She'll be fine.
She needs to learn her abcs first.
-[mariah. T] got it. -[mariah] yeah.
[tia] watch, watch, watch.
[mariah. T] uh-uh, come here. Come here, mama.
[mariah] yeah, she's kinda like a toddler, not knowing anything yet.
[tia] see, that's it. So, you made her fall.
[mariah] oh. Here's the beast.
[woman] I mean, you can see her teeth from miles away.
[tia] I recently rescued a wolf-dog pup, freya.
Oh my god. Let me just get this over with.
Ouch! Ouch!
[dogs barking]
[lizzy] here, ben.
You don't care about toys.
Ben is a sweet, white pit bull who was dropped off to us a couple of weeks ago.
Oh, my god. Why are you the cutest dog in the world?
One of the biggest things that makes us think that ben can't hear
is that if he's sleeping in his kennel and we approach him
and try to get his attention, he doesn't always wake up or lift his head.
So, that's one of the biggest indicators he may be deaf.
So, alise and I are taking ben out today and doing some testing with him,
trying to see if there's any truth to the suspicions that he may be deaf.
[toys squeaking]
[lizzy] oh. Sorry, ben.
Ben.
[lizzy clapping hands]
sometimes, ben responds to us and sometimes he doesn't.
[lizzy clapping hands]
can you hear?
It's been really difficult to tell whether or not ben can hear.
Ben.
[alise laughing]
[alise] do you think he can hear?
I don't know.
[lizzy] it's not as shocking when a white dog is deaf.
They are more prone to deafness.
[keys rattling]
[dog panting]
[lizzy] oh. Maybe he can.
[keys rattling]
[alise] ben! Ben!
Ben.
[lizzy] we've had a couple of deaf dogs at the rescue.
If they do end up being deaf, it does impact their lives.
And, it can make it a little bit more difficult to find homes for them.
[lizzy] I don't think he can, like, fully hear.
Do you care?
Since we're unsure whether or not ben can hear,
we are gonna talk to tia to see if she has any pointers
on how to figure it out.
[toy squeaking]
[mariah] oh, here's the beast.
[tia] somehow, I feel like the theme to jaws is playing in the air.
[mariah] uh-huh.
[woman] I mean, you can see her teeth from a mile away.
[tia] yes, you can.
I recently rescued a wolf-dog pup
named freya from mississippi.
Oh, my god. Let me just get this over with. Ouch! Ouch!
[dr. George] the test is kinda like a modified eeg test.
I think some dogs it's very obvious when they can't hear, but,
in the situation with ben, we were all pretty torn on him.
So, I'm gonna just hold this outside his ear.
This is not the pattern we're expecting.
[mariah] we gotta see how she's gonna do.
She's gonna be around a lot of cooking.
Smiley is not used to having normal manners in a home.
Oh. Okay. Hey.
[kanani laughing]
[mariah] what are you doing? You can't do that.
[kanani] that was rude.
[mariah. T] oh, here's the beast.
[woman] I mean, you can see her teeth from a mile away.
[tia] yes, you can.
I recently rescued a wolf-dog pup, named freya, from mississippi.
Oh, my god. Let me just get this over with.
Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!
We decided we wanted to introduce her to athena...
My sweet girl.
...Who is another mixed pup from our rescue situation in texas,
in hoping that we could give her another playmate.
[tia laughing] holy-moly! Come here. Come here. C'mon.
She acts like a dog sometimes. [sighing]
and she looks like a wolf sometimes.
[mariah. T] oh. Come on, girls.
[tia] yeah, she's very offensive, freya is. Come on.
So, it was a nice little way to bridge her,
to make her feel comfortable with another "hairy" dog.
Plus, being on the property at the sanctuary, because she's not used to it.
-[tia] well, she's... [laughing] -[mariah. T] okay.
Athena was, like, "whoa!"
because freya's, like, a beast.
-[mariah. T] what are you doing? -[tia] good job.
-[tia] no. Lay down. -[mariah. T] okay. It's okay.
[mariah. T] it's okay.
Oh. You're scared. Now, you're scared.
[tia] she's a lot, this one.
[mariah. T] she's just trying to play with you.
It's all right, athena.
[tia] oh, my god. I wanna call her rudolph,
'cause nobody wants to play in any reindeer games with her.
She's just, like, flailing...
[making guttural choking sounds] ...Wanting to play with everything.
[tia] she's so wild.
[mariah. T] athena wanted to play with her, she's just...
She's desperate for attention.
[tia] she's desperate for a friend and she's so... [laughing]
[mariah. T] right! Athena, she plays exactly like you.
She's just bigger.
-[mariah. T] good girl. -[tia] freya!
[tia] freya's a lot. Like, she's a lot.
Athena got a little bit braver, she would try to play,
then she was, like, "oh, no, no, no, no.
You're too much."
and then she'd try to play... "no, no, no, no, I see those teeth."
[tia] I knew it. I saw it coming. I saw the eyeball.
Whoa! Drive-by.
[mariah. T] pay attention, tia.
Freya, freya, freya.
[sighing]
[tia] we gotta get you a friend.
Yeah. Okay, let her sniff you. Let her sniff.
Freya, you're never gonna get a friend.
I'm thinking I might need to find a...
Pack of, like, grizzly bears for freya to play with.
[freya panting]
[mariah. T] hello, hello, hello, hello.
[tia laughing]
[mariah. T] how does that taste?
[tia] yeah. Everything in the mouth.
Freya is a force to be reckoned with.
[sighing]
[mariah. T] all right, ladies.
[tia] all right, good job, freya.
[mariah. T] that went better than I thought, already.
We will continue to keep adding to freya's group of playmates,
in the hope that we can find her a permanent pack of beasts,
that appreciate her energy level. [sighing]
[tia] okay. All right.
[mariah. T] well, that was a good start.
[tia] oh, freya!
[mariah. T. Laughing]
-[tia] no, freya. -See, she's still trying to play.
[tia] nobody wants to join you in any reindeer games.
[mariah. T] I promise, next time. You're beautiful.
[tia] holy-moly. Come here.
[laughing] my good gracious!
Ouch!
[dog barking in distance]
[lizzy] earl. We're gonna go see if ben and spike are truly deaf.
We'll call you guys with the results.
A'ight, y'all.
After talking with tia, she was able to find a neuroscientist,
at lsu veterinary school in baton rouge who was willing
to donate his time to testing ben so we can find out
whether or not he is actually deaf.
We decided to also bring along spike, who we recently rescued.
-[earl] think he really deaf? -[heidi] yeah, I'm clapping.
[earl] or, he's just, like, ignoring you?
[lizzy] heidi found spike on a really busy road, not far from the rescue,
and we suspect he's deaf, as well.
[mariah] ben's already in. We just have to get spikey.
[lizzy] spike! You gotta go potty, before your ride?
It is sort of surprising that we may have a deaf, black dog,
because it's really not as common.
Statistically, deafness is pretty common in white dogs.
Spike, spike, spike, spike, spike!
[lizzy] we really wanna take advantage of this test
because if they turn out not to be deaf,
then we know that there's something more going on
that we don't see or that we don't know about.
He seems like he's deaf. Deaf spike.
The more we learn about a dog, then we know exactly what kind of home they need.
[heidi] oh, my god. His face is so cute. He's a really cute dog.
I dropped sass off at the vet this morning
so they can see what could be causing the anemia.
Obviously, there's no way to know how much time she has.
She's eight years old.
That made me sad.
It just messed me up. We know she would've been adopted.
[dr. George] hi, folks.
[lizzy] so, today heidi and I are going to lsu veterinary hospital
in baton rouge so spike and ben can get a hearing test.
-[women] hi! -[dr. George] we gotta mask up.
[lizzy] all right.
[dr. George] as is the norm now. Do you wanna follow me?
We'll go down to the lab where we're gonna do the test.
All right. Sounds good.
My name is george. I'm a professor of neuroscience here
at the lsu school of veterinary medicine.
So, I'm gonna explain how all this works to you.
-[lizzy] okay. -[dr. George] give you an idea.
My area of specialty is neurology, especially deafness disorders in animals.
The test is kind of like a modified eeg test.
The hearing test that we do is called the baer test.
We put four electrodes on the scalp
little, tiny needles that generally don't bother them.
It's an acronym for brainstem auditory evoked response.
It has been around for at least 40 to 50 years.
[lizzy] I didn't even know it was possible to find out for sure so I'm pretty excited.
[dr. George] and, it was quickly adopted by the veterinary community.
I've done hearing tests on about 16,000 dogs.
Any extra information we can give an adopter is perfect.
And we do this a lot. I have a deafness webpage
where there's actually a section on sign language for deaf dogs.
You probably already figured this out. You can teach them to respond to certain signs.
And, you know, "good dog", "bad dog",
"let's go for a ride", "go to the park", that kinda thing.
[lizzy] yeah.
A big part of my purpose is to educate people
about how to deal with their animals when this actually is a medical condition
in their pet.
Which one of 'em do you wanna do first?
[lizzy] oh, my gosh. Who should we do first?
[heidi] it's up to you, lizzy.
[lizzy] oh. They're about to play. All right, let's do ben first.
-Okay. -[lizzy] and, just find out once and for all.
[heidi] yeah.
[lizzy] I think, some dogs, it's very obvious when they can't hear.
But, you know, in the situation with ben
we were all pretty torn on him.
[dr. George] okay. So we're gonna have him facing me. I'm gonna sit down here.
There were times we thought he could hear and times we thought he couldn't.
But, he never really behaved like a typical deaf dog.
[dr. George] so we have these tiny electrodes,
they're almost like acupuncture needles.
And, I put four of them in the scalp.
[lizzy] he doesn't ever appear to be startled, even when we're introducing him
to a new dog or if we come up behind him, to pet him.
He doesn't seem startled by any of those things.
So, it's really difficult to tell whether or not he is deaf.
[dr. George] these go in his neck. It's a ground.
[heidi] wait, are you piercing him with that?
-[lizzy] he put one in. -[dr. George] I'm sorry?
-[heidi] it's a needle in? -[both] yeah.
[lizzy] oh [bleep]. Looks like acupuncture.
When the vet said that he was gonna put four needles
into the dogs' heads, I was a little bit alarmed by that.
-[heidi] good job, ben. -[dr. George] only one more.
[lizzy] but, at the same time, they definitely were not in any pain.
-[dr. George] if you can... -[clicking sounds]
maybe you can hear that. I don't know. That's the sound that we use to test.
So, I'm gonna just hold this outside his ear.
And, on the screen, we are averaging the response of,
11 clicks a second, so it goes fast.
And they're counting up here. So, we've already done 100.
Now, a normal-looking response
will have a real sharp peak,
right about here.
And, we see this is flattening out as it averages multiple responses, so,
we wanna get enough responses averaged to make sure we're confident.
[lizzy] okay.
Now, if an animal wasn't panting and moving around,
this one really would've been pretty much flat.
But there needs to be a real sharp peak right here.
So, I recognize from having done--
-[lizzy] so many. -...More than 16,000,
that this is not the pattern we're expecting.
[lizzy] dr. George explained that when you look at the screen,
you should see really big spikes.
[dr. George] it's flattening out. So, this ear's deaf.
So, we'll stop and we'll move to test the other ear.
-[heidi] wait. So, that ear's deaf? -[lizzy] that ear's deaf.
[dr. George] that ear's deaf.
If he had been able to hear, we would've seen the pattern that is expected.
Instead, we got essentially a flat line.
And, you can see now. The very first part of the response is flat.
[lizzy] mm-hmm.
[dr. George] so he is deaf in both ears.
-[lizzy] he's deaf in both ears. Deaf ben. -[heidi] wow.
[lizzy] when we did ben's test, both ears,
when you look at the graph, there were no spikes.
-[dr. George] so, he's done. -[lizzy] he's done. All right, ben.
Good boy.
So, after dr. George explained everything, it was clear that
ben is, in fact, deaf.
[heidi] and so they are actually hearing the clicks, then?
[dr. George] yes. Just like we are.
And it's fairly loud. It's about 95 decibels.
So, if they had partial hearing loss,
we would still see the pattern that we wanna see.
[heidi] oh. We're hearing it.
[dr. George] so, with spike, I did not expect that he was likely to be deaf
because we see deafness more often in white dogs.
And again, I'm not seeing the nice teeth where I expect to see it for this ear.
We performed the same test with spike that we did with ben.
[lizzy] so, it looks like he can't hear, either?
[dr. George] looks like he is deaf in both ears, too.
[lizzy] I have to say, I don't know that we've ever had
two deaf dogs at the same time.
I wonder if that makes them more scared.
[dr. George] sometimes, I see anxious behavior in deaf dogs.
But, most of the time, they make great pets.
[lizzy] these dogs are both really great and sweet-natured
but they do need a little bit more work than a dog that can hear
in order to get them ready for a home.
You just need to be aware of the limitations and potential liability.
-[lizzy] yeah, that's so true. -[heidi] yeah.
We're very grateful to dr. George for donating his time
and this test to ben and spike.
[lizzy] good. It's helpful to know for placement purposes.
So, I'm glad that we know.
Because now we have more information about these dogs, and it's really helpful.
[lizzy] thank you so much. We really appreciate it.
[dr. George] thank you. I'm glad to be able to help you.
[lizzy] it is very helpful to know. Thank you.
[lizzy] the next steps for deaf ben and spike are
actually not steps for them, they're steps for us.
[dr. George] all right. Well, it was nice meeting y'all.
[lizzy] we need to learn how to work with them and, hopefully, we can
teach them some things that'll help make them a little bit more adoptable.
[heidi] look at these two little deaf boys. So cute.
[mariah] come here, smiley. Come here, baby girl. Come here. She's shy.
[in a playful tone] go say hi. Go say hi.
Ben is an adopter from california who recently did a meet-and-greet with us
and chose a dog named smiley.
You're sweet. Good girl.
[kanani] smile! Hi!
[mariah] look, it's a kiddo.
Her adopter cooks for people.
So, we gotta see how she's gonna do 'cause she's gonna be around a lot of cooking.
Once the dogs are chosen for a home, we take them in to one of our homes,
to start fostering, to get them adapted to home life,
and just get them ready for the new home they're going to.
If I hang out with the puppy, you can help daddy cook something simple?
-Sure. -[mariah] hey, get down, get down. Good girl.
[mariah] okay. I wanted to start out with her loose first
to see how interested she would be while kanani started the food prep.
We're gonna hang out. I'm gonna keep an eye on her and you guys do your thing.
Oh. Okay. Hey, hey.
[kanani laughing] yeah.
[mariah] get down. What are you doing? You can't do that!
[son laughing]
-[kanani] that was rude. -[mariah] I know. That was rude.
[mariah] smiley is still very young and she's not used to
having normal manners in a home because she's not used to being in a home.
Hey. [makes kissing sounds] hey. Down. Good girl.
Hey. Uh-uh, uh-uh. No, don't jump.
Hey. [makes kissing sounds] uh-uh, down, down.
You know what? I may put her on leash, since she's
really, really, really wanting to jump on stuff.
[kanani] come on. Down.
[mariah] because we don't want her to know that that's okay.
She's still got a lot of puppy-like aspects, so she just has to learn.
We need to correct this behavior and so I decided
it was better to put her on leash so that I could control it a little bit better.
And, trying to get her focused on the treats and getting her to sit versus
trying to jump up and see what kanani was doing.
No, ma'am. Come here. [kissing sounds] let's go focus on something else.
Sit. Sit. Good job.
Here. Let's walk by... [makes kissing noises] ...Without... Uh-uh.
C'mon. [makes clicking sounds] good girl.
After I had smiley on leash, I was just walking her round by the counter and the food
to see if I could just get her attention off of it while going by.
Don't jump.
[cooking oil sizzling]
uh-uh. Uh-uh-uh-uh. Uh-uh.
Just stay right here. Let's watch.
Uh-uh. Uh-uh. Uh-uh. No, ma'am. Hey.
Hey. No, ma'am. [makes kissing noises] come here, leave it. Come.
No.
Very interested.
Smiley was having a really had time not focusing on
the smells and what was going on in the kitchen.
Here, come here. [makes kissing noises]
[makes clicking noises] hey, hi.
[makes kissing noises] look at me. Hi. Hi.
And when a dog gets over stimulated,
it's really hard to get their focus after that point.
She's getting a little rambunctious, a little overly excited.
So, I wanna see if she'll calm back down.
Or if she's gonna bark away.
So, I definitely wanted her to just relax a little bit.
[kanani] you got it, buddy. Good job.
You're a very good helper.
[smiley barking]
[mariah] hey. No. You're okay.
Smiley, once in the crate, was definitely still anxious.
She was biting at the crate, she was whining.
You could just tell that she was a little on edge.
And, it took her a while to calm down.
She's in a new place, new smells, new sounds, new everything.
Aww.
[kanani] an actual house? A home?
[mariah] no, you're okay.
It's a lot to take in.
[kanani] yeah. A lot goin' on.
Mm-hmm. But she is calming down now. She's laying down.
-Being a good girl, now. -[kanani] good girl.
[mariah] I think she's finally chilling.
But we could see, if we sit over there and eat close to her crate,
if she's gonna get worked up.
[kanani] if she does? Right, right, right.
[son] the eggs look good.
[mariah] they do. Oh, she smells that.
[son] mama, don't eat it!
I'm not. I'm waiting.
Good girl.
Because she was doing so well and relaxing a lot, we decided
to eat at the table to see if that would amp her back up
or if she could still relax with all of that going on near her.
She's being totally fine. So, that's good.
-You like the eggs? -Mm-hm.
-[mariah] good girl. -[son] teamwork! High five!
[mariah] she's doing really good. So she's good in a crate while we're eating.
I'm just gonna have to tell him to not have her loose for a while.
And just watch her till she learns his manners.
The next step for smiley is to just continue working with her in a home,
and around food and getting her used to those situations.
That way, when she goes to her new home with ben, she will be a little bit more adjusted.
High five. Good job on your mixing skills. Good job on your cooking skills.
I appreciate you both. You did good too.
You just got a little bit of learning to do.
[heidi] sassy. Sass. C'mon.
[lizzy] today, we are taking grandma sass to the vet
because dr. Samantha had found that grandma sass was anemic.
And we are going to recheck her levels and see how she's doing.
-[dr. Samantha] she been acting okay? -[lizzy] yeah.
[dr. Samantha] she looks better. She looks a little pinker today.
So, we'll check her levels and make sure she's gone up.
[lizzy] sassy being anemic can be dangerous.
Depending on how anemic she is, she could possibly need a blood transfusion.
But, in some cases anemia can mean
that there's something else going on that's more serious.
[dr. Samantha] okay. The murmur's still there, but it's lower.
-[lizzy] you said that was related to the anemia? -[samantha] yeah.
[lizzy] dr. Samantha had wanted to run some more blood work
and recheck her levels to see if she was still anemic.
She did do a fecal at the last visit and all of that came back negative which means
that she was rid of all the parasites that she had come in with.
Which means there could be more issues going on here if she's still anemic.
[dr. Samantha] okay. So, her numbers are actually worse.
-[lizzy] oh. -[dr. Samantha] yeah.
[dr. Samantha] so, we definitely need to do some more tests on her.
-[lizzy] okay. -[dr. Samantha] she could be having
an auto-immune breakdown of her red blood cells.
If you look at the list of anemia, there's, like, 50 things, right?
Auto-immune's a big category of reasons.
Cancer's a big category of reasons.
-So, yeah, we need to run some more blood tests on her. -[lizzy] all right.
[dr. Samantha] and, then, I also probably wanna set her up for an ultrasound this week.
[lizzy] I'm just hoping that she has a chance. I'm hoping that we can get her healthy
and get her to a good place because she seems like a very adoptable dog.
It's just... It would be very sad to think that
she lived her whole life outside, tied up.
And never got a chance to live inside of a house.
[dr. Samantha] okay. Let me pull a little bit more blood.
This is where they're going to do some more tests on her red blood cells
to get more information about the anemia, specifically.
[lizzy] okay.
Dr. Samantha's gonna do more comprehensive blood work
just to be able to cover all of our bases so,
we really can't make any plans or decisions for sassy as far as treatment goes
or as far as adoption until we understand everything that's going on with her medically
and are able to treat her.
[dr. Samantha] ok, sweet girl. What d'you think? More tests.
[tia] no biting the butt, no biting the butt. Hey, hey, hey hey, hey hey!
Another wolfy trait is, "what's mine is mine, and what's yours is mine."
no, no! No, no, no.
Let go!
[lizzy] so, I think it would be good to try practicing some sign language.
The most important thing when you're working with a dog
who can't hear is that you have their attention.
[heidi] does he care about... Oh, he doesn't care about treats.
[lizzy] the problem is that he takes the toy and wants to leave with it.
[heidi] yeah.
[heidi] so, grandma sass, you know, lizzy and I took her to the vet yesterday?
And she's still anemic.
[dr. Samantha] her numbers are actually worse.
-[lizzy] oh. -[dr. Samantha] yeah.
I dropped her off at the vet this morning so they can do an ultrasound
and just kind of see what's going on inside of her
to see if there is something that could be causing the anemia.
And they didn't really see anything that exciting on ultrasound. But then,
they went ahead and did chest x-rays
and it looks like she has cancer on her lungs.
-[lizzy] oh [bleep] -[earl] oh.
[heidi] a lot. Like not a... Way beyond that.
Obviously, there's no way to know for sure how much time she has,
but it's not long.
[lizzy] this is really [bleep].
She spent her entire life outside. She's eight years old. Like...
That made me sad.
[heidi] it's really sad.
[sassy barking]
[lizzy] she lived her entire life outside, chained up.
And we just got her, so we haven't...
Had a chance to show her all the good stuff.
And, it's such a horrible feeling, like, this is...
This can't be all you're gonna know.
And she's just been, like, so happy.
[lizzy] she's so sweet. That's the thing that sucks, she's so adoptable.
Just wants to be, like, under people like, just me and you. C'mon.
Like, we have to figure something out. We have to figure something out.
There's no... That dog lived her entire [bleep]... Entire life outside.
[earl] it just messed me up about sassy 'cause she's a good little dog and, uh...
We know she would've been adopted.
[heidi] I think what's hard is I don't really know
what we have options wise.
As far as hospice, I know we could probably sort something out.
We her second chance.
Oh [bleep].
[dog barking]
[tia] oh, my goodness. Look at you.
You're a lot friendlier than--
[woman] I feel like she's grown.
[tia] you've been so... Yike! It's only been a minute.
When I got the post on social media about freya, the wolf-dog pup,
my intentions were just to go rescue her,
just to get her out of the situation she was in.
Release the kraken.
Release the kraken! Ow! Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow ow!
My plans were to try and re-home her with another facility
that was legally allowed to have wolf-dogs.
Yes, okay. Ouch, ouch!
[woman] everything in the mouth.
[tia] everything in...
After contacting a couple of places,
it just wasn't the right fit for her.
So, ultimately, my final decision was to have freya come live here
at the sanctuary with some of our other wolf-dogs.
[dog barking]
[tia] could probably use a little more weight on her. She's grown.
[woman] yeah, she's... Oh, yeah. [laughing]
thanks!
Thanks. She's like a clown.
She just is in her own little world sometimes.
[tia] jenny has been with villalobos for, like, eight years.
And she is one of the primary people who work with the wolf-dogs.
Is she easier to feed and handle now?
Yeah. She's gotten good at, like, I make her sit.
-And, then, I open it a little bit. -[tia] mm-hmm.
-She'll wait ten seconds, -[tia] oh, good.
And trying to, like, put a word to it, like, "okay."
[tia] right, right.
So she kinda knows that she can do it.
She's getting good, though, like, she's...
When she wants something, she's got that "sit down."
[tia] right.
The second I move to go do it, she goes for it.
Ow! You're like a land shark.
All you see is teeth coming at you.
One of the behaviors that freya has that is very wolf-like
and that's the mouthiness.
It's just a sign of affection.
It doesn't always feel good, but it's her way of just greeting and saying hello
and showing that she likes you.
[dog barking]
[tia] she's got you. She's... Look at that.
No biting the butt. No biting the butt. Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey!
Hey, hey! No, no!
Come here! Let go!
You got some treats? C'mon, let go.
[freya growling]
-[jenny] hey! Freya! -[tia] it's okay. She wants your...
There you go. I got her. She wants your bottle.
No, she'll get possessive over it. Did you hear her growling at me? Yeah.
Another wolfy trait is, "what's mine is mine and what's yours is mine."
it's just kinda how they are. They zone in on something,
and they want it now.
This is what I tell people about how genetics work.
-'cause you have a wolf-dog cross. -Yeah.
And, you never know what you're gonna get.
-So, she looks like a wolf. -Yeah.
Bur there's things that make her act like a dog.
And then there are things that make her act like a wolf.
So, um...
It's kinda like a crapshoot,
when you get one, 'cause you don't know how they're gonna act.
Freya is what she is. And not only is she a big puppy,
but she is a canine that has some wolf in her.
And, so, when you start mixing genetics...
This is why I don't recommend them as pets
'cause you don't know what you're gonna get.
Are we gonna get the wolf or are we gonna get the dog?
She wants... No, you're not gonna go get him.
[laughing] no.
She's definitely a wild child, though.
She is.
[tia] ah, ah, ah, ah, ah ah.
When she acts like the wolf, it can be...
They're not aggressive animals but they do have behaviors
that make them different than a dog.
Yeah. You're an acquired taste.
-You're an acquired taste. -[jenny] she's definitely an acquired taste.
You know, we're very fortunate that the rescuers involved in rescuing her
did a great job in socializing her, did a great job with some preliminary basic training.
So, she's got some amazing qualities about her.
That being said, she definitely has wolf qualities, too, we have to adhere to.
So, she's just gonna be here having a good ol' time with the rest of 'em.
She'll just be here, playing with the other wolf creatures.
Little wolfsters. Huh.
-[emily] toney! -[toney] a'right.
[emily] you ready?
[toney speaking gibberish]
[tia] whenever we have a dog that's in a hospice situation,
it's pretty common for one of our employees to step up,
and take that dog into their home and let them
stay with them for the remainder of their life.
I was just talkin' about a blue-haired... Look.
-No. -That's a sign.
[tia] toney is a very passionate guy.
He always has been from the day I met him.
He's very kind, very caring, both, with people and dogs.
So, when we heard about the dog, sassy, having cancer,
it did not surprise me one bit that toney and emily, toney's girlfriend,
took her in as a hospice dog, to live with them.
She's, like, the perfect little size, too.
[emily] oh my god. She's such a peanut.
[toney] I might have to get a man-satchel for...
-Carrying her around? Little babybjorn? -[toney chuckling]
-[emily] can you help her out? -[toney] come on, mama.
[toney makes kissing noises] that's it. Come on.
Come on, baby.
[emily] go with your father.
[tia] you know, I remember when that call came in,
and I sent toney and them out there to rescue these dogs,
he was very emotional, you know.
He sent me pictures and he said that was one of the most
horrible situations that he personally had ever seen a dog in.
So, I think, him taking sassy into his home,
it's extra special.
[emily] think she remembers you from the rescue?
[toney] yeah. I think they always do.
She knows you saved her. Remember toney?
[toney] good girl, good girl.
Come on, mama.
This gonna be your new hangout.
[emily] hi.
[toney] good girl. Get used to this place.
[emily chuckling]
[toney] it's gonna be your home.
[emily] she's christening this house for us.
-[toney] come here. -[emily chuckling]
[emily] she's obsessed with you.
[toney] I told you they remember.
I definitely feel that a bond has started from the rescue.
And, that it remains, you know. That she trusts me,
and she knows that I'm trying to do the best I can for her.
[emily] you're gonna be daddy's girl?
[toney laughing]
oh. To be a part of your life, sassy, allowing us to...
[emily] yeah.
[toney] we'll make it a good chapter, girl.
It's important for her to know what it's like to live in a home and be loved.
And, to know that these people gonna care for you until the end.
[emily] she seems happy.
[toney in nasal voice] sassy.
-[emily] sassy. -[toney] eat it out, eat it out, sass.
-I'll get you more stuffed animals, whatever you want. -[toney chuckling]
[toney] she likes the squeaker.
[emily] yeah, I think.
[both laughing]
[toney] based off, like, her introduction to toys,
she's probably never seen one in her life, you know, kind of nosing at it.
And then when she started tossing it in the air, you know, just real cute.
[emily laughing]
she's, like, "I'm ready."
-[toney] you gonna take a walk now, then? -[emily] she's a road dog.
[toney] from here on out, sassy gonna know what it's like to be a normal dog.
We gonna play, have fun, take her on walks,
bring her on a few little trips and just give her the world while she's here.
Oh, sass. You're spinnin' me in circles.
We gonna get it together.
Come here, little one. [laughing]
this is twiggy. She is about a year old, so she's full-grown.
[squeakily] go, go, go, go, go, go. [laughing]
she's super dog-friendly.
A little on the energetic side so maybe some older kids.
She's super, super sweet.
Oh, you're so cute, you're so cute, you're so cute.
Yeah, she's gonna be a little tiny one, so,
if you would... Oh, my gosh!
If you would like to adopt twiggy,
or any other villalobos dog,
or to donate to villalobos, go to:
Eww! You gave me tongue! Eww! Blergh!
[dogs barking]
[heidi] deaf ben, deaf spike.
We recently discovered that two of our dogs, ben and spike, are deaf.
-[heidi] oh. I love them together so much. -[lizzy laughing]
we decided that we wanted to do some basic training with them,
that will help, when it comes time to adopt them out.
So, I think it would be good for adoption purposes
to try practicing some sign language to them. So, at least they go to a home with a base.
[heidi] yeah.
So, we should just start trying to work with them on that.
Just start with some simple things, like "sit" and "come".
I guess the first thing is just to get them to be looking at us.
The most important thing when you're working with a dog
who can't hear is that you have their attention.
And a great way to do that is just to use treats,
anything of high value that smells really great.
[heidi] he already knows how to sit. That's a good first step.
[heidi] oh, that was good. He looked over.
Now, we'll just continue to work on different things with him, and,
I think, one of the things is, having him come and getting his attention.
He's a quick learner.
[heidi] now try to do it from all the way over there, with your hand.
[lizzy] oh! Good boy! Oh, my god.
What we tried with ben is we would put our hand out
and when he would look at out hand then we would reward him with a treat.
And, the point of that was to be able to just put our hand out
and have him come over to us, 'cause he was associating
the hand coming out with coming over and then getting a treat for it.
[lizzy] oh. Yay!
He actually picked up on it very quickly.
He's very treat driven. I do think that ben is smart,
but, the fact that he is treat motivated is extremely helpful in this situation.
So, I think, the most important thing is just to be able to get them to
-to focus and look. -[heidi] yeah.
[lizzy] and, he caught onto the hand signals really quickly.
-[lizzy] should we move on to spike? -[heidi] yeah, try spike.
[lizzy] all right. Good job, ben.
It's really important for deaf dogs to understand visual cues
and to be able to teach them to come back to you.
Because, if an accident ever happens or a mistake happens, and the dog gets out,
you wanna be confident that you can get them back.
Does he care about... Oh, he doesn't care about treats.
I don't think he cares about these. I realized it a little.
[heidi] do you think he likes toys?
[lizzy] should I get that ball?
[heidi] yeah, get the ball.
[lizzy] he doesn't care about the treats.
The difficult thing with spike is that he doesn't seem to be treat motivated.
Or, he just doesn't like the flavor of treats that we have.
-[heidi] oh. -[lizzy] do you like the ballie?
[heidi] oh.
[spike panting]
[heidi] yeah.
[lizzy] turns out spike does like toys.
So, I thought that using the rope toy and the ball
would be a great way to at least get him to pay attention to me.
[spike panting]
-[heidi] oh, he does kinda know it. -[lizzy] yeah.
Some of the hand signals we use would be if we put our hand up to our nose
so we can get the dog to watch us so we know that we have their attention.
And, then, that's when we wanna try to get them to sit.
And, so we'll hold up a treat in our hand and make like
this type of motion and as soon as they sit down, treat them .
[heidi] he doesn't care about treats.
[lizzy] the problem is that he takes the toy and wants to leave with it.
Maybe we have to just find the right flavor of treats.
Oh, there. He's eating it, he's eating it.
We did try a different flavor of treats
that he seemed to be a little bit more into.
So, that's good. At least he got "sit".
Oh. Here we go.
[heidi] I mean, the sitting has improved...
-[lizzy] yeah. -...From when we first got in here.
We were able to get spike to sit a few times,
which is great because he did not know how to sit before.
We were able to get him to look at us when we would put our hand up to our face.
Good.
So, that was some good progress for spike's first time.
I think that was a good start, since we don't wanna really overwhelm them,
and try and teach them too many things at once.
So, from here, we'll just keep working with ben and spike
on their basic training and manners and, hopefully,
we'll be able to find homes for them very soon.
[heidi] I think ben's at a little bit of an advantage because,
you know, we think that he came from a home before,
so don't feel bad, spike.
You can't hear me.
[toney] ready, mama? Okay. That's the thing.
Yo, e came to visit.
[earl] what's happenin', bro?
[toney] you all good?
[earl] I was thinking, since we had all that stuff goin' on.
I wanted to bring her somethin', bro.
[toney] all right, sass. Come here.
-[earl] she want it, too. -[toney] I know.
[earl] sassy is a dog we just recently rescued.
We got some bad news that she was suffering with cancer,
you know, so, I just took it upon myself to kinda,
just let her eat anything in the world. Anything I eat, she could eat.
[toney] be patient. Oh, lord, yes.
[earl] you know, she goin' through her last days, you know what I'm saying?
[toney] yeah. My baby girl.
[earl] and, I wanted to make sure...
[toney] yeah, she's been doing good, thankfully.
Oh [bleep]. Slow down!
Trying to devour it. E, I'm gonna take her for a little walk real quick.
[earl] yeah. I'mma walk with you.
[toney] c'mon, we'll give her a little more to see.
We gotta work for that, ma'am.
Just with the naked eye you'd never believe, like, she's suffering with cancer
because, you know, she's still upbeat, she's still waggin',
she's still happy to see people.
She loves the lovin', you know?
I don't know, people probably ain't never talked to our girl or nothing.
[toney] now, she ain't eating that whole bag of chicken, now, 'cause,
this ain't her last night or nothing.
There ain't gonna be...
[earl] were you tryin' to blow the roof?
[earl laughing]
[toney] are you trying to blow it up?
[earl] good, good, get it, get it. Grab the bag, girl.
[toney] oh, don't do that with her. She gonna bust that, bro.
Just spending time with sassy like I did,
seeing her really enjoy her meal, you know,
it just made me forget about her situation at the moment.
She just was a nice, healthy, friendly, loving dog.
But, in the back of my mind, I know, she's not doing well.
And someday, you know,
she gonna have to go home, you know.
From this point forward, you know, me personally,
I'mma just do my part in feedin' her.
All free world food and ain't no more dog food for sassy.
[toney] say "thank you."
[earl] thank you. I love you, too.
[tia] you know, I always tell people that come to work for us,
"you can come here as an employee and just have a job,
or you can come here and get a job and it becomes your lifestyle."
and that's what happens in a case like this,
with toney and earl just jumpin' in, you know, after hours, days off.
And it feels good to have people like that.
To become as dedicated as my own kids.
It's nice to be able to rely on them.
[earl] bye, sass. Thanks for the kisses.
[toney] say "bye-bye" sass. And, say thank you for the food.
Stop by anytime. Anytime!
[earl laughing]
[earl] all right, homie.
[toney] all right. Love you, brother.
[mariah. T] come on.
With smiley, we've been working on her commands.
"sit", "stay", "lay down", all of these things.
She is thriving and doing amazing.
So, today I am loading up smiley to take her to her potential forever home,
with ben in northern california.
Come on, mama. Good girl.
[tia] cali girl.
-Cali girl. -[mariah. T] okay.
I'm excited that smiley is potentially gonna get to go to somebody
that saw something in this dog, like I see.
And, really bring out all the potential that she has.
-I'll call you when I get there. -[tia] happy trails!
-[mariah. T] I'll teach him some obedience stuff. -[tia] yeah.
-[mariah. T] okey-dokey. -[tia] okay.
Hopefully, everything goes well with the home check
with ben, and smiley will find her forever home with him.
[tia] phew! Long drive.
[mariah. T] whoa! Burnout.
-I can go get her and I'll bring her back here. -[ben] okay.
[tia] coming up:
[mariah. T] you have no idea what is about to happen to you right now.
I think it's human nature to be a bit worried the dog won't remember me.
-[ben] I hear dog feet. -[mariah. T] come on!
[ferry horn blowing]
[toney] all right, now. Be careful. Okay, get out first.
Okay. Come on.
Good girl.
You did it. You gotta look.
We got somethin'.
Raw shrimp and boiled seafood.
[makes kissing noises]
[emily] sassy.
[car door closing]
I have no tackle or nothing.
I'm a survivor fisher. I just got a hook and a shrimp.
And I'm gonna make somethin' happen.
Fishin' is calmin' for me. It's my little escape, you know,
from the real world. It always has been since little.
You know, just get that pole and just go somewhere,
and, to me, it helps, you know, the soul.
[toney] take a good breath. [inhaling deeply]
open your nose up and take a good breath out here, sass.
Smell that?
[inaudible murmuring]
mama.
When I catch this fish, you gotta help me get it in.
It's gonna be a big one, now.
You just ride us back and I'm gonna...
Muscle it down. [laughing]
[emily] you really think she'll do the rest?
Being able to go do little trips like that
and share that time with her is real special for me.
And, I know, rewarding for her.
You're my baby girl.
She's such a proud girl. You see, how, like, she ain't scared?
[emily] when you leashed her up to go out,
in the neighborhood, she was so proud to go with you.
You know, instead of dying at the end of a chain,
all alone, she's gonna be with a family that cares.
And I don't care what time we got, as long as we got this time with her now,
to make it, you know, a better life for her,
and assure her that there was a better world out here.
[emily] you're a good fishing dog.
[toney chuckling]
[mariah. T] today, we are in california doing smiley's home check.
I'm hoping that ben is understanding with smiley's little quirks,
and that she does need some work.
Okay. I'll be back.
But, there's no doubt in my mind, that once she has repetition,
that she won't end up being great with
being in the kitchen and other things like that.
[doorbell ringing]
[ben] hey. How are you doin'?
-[mariah. T] nice shirt. -[ben] welcome.
-I made those actually. -Come on in.
I'm incredibly excited to see smiley. I'm incredibly excited that she's here.
I can't wait. If I was a gymnast, I would do a back flip for you right now.
I'm ecstatic.
[mariah. T] I know things are gonna be weird because of all this stuff.
[ben] no, it's all good.
No, I mean, it's cool. I wish I could give you a big hug.
But that's where we're at, you know what I mean?
-It's so hard for me to not shake people's hands. -[ben] yeah.
How I've been preparing for smiley is going all out.
We got all the dog beds, tons of toys, treats.
She's gonna be spoiled beyond belief.
[mariah. T] this yard is beautiful. You want a roomie?
[both laughing]
[ben] you guys are welcome whenever.
[mariah. T] so, I'm gonna do the fence and just walk around first,
-and then we can actually sit down and talk. -Yeah, yeah.
You don't have anyone that comes back here to take care of the plants or...
-No gardener or anything? -It's all me.
-Do your neighbors have dogs? -Uh, no.
-You're making this easy. -[ben] yep.
[laughing] okay, this gate. You have a lock on it already, I can see.
[ben] it does.
I don't have to do anything. [laughing]
-[ben] yeah, it's got a little baby lock on there. -Yeah, this is easy.
[ben] and then, this one over here. Even though I doubt that
she would ever be able to get this door open.
-But, it's carabinered up, anyway. -Yeah.
-[ben] it's carabinered up. -That's perfect, that's super easy.
[ben] and, yeah, there is double access on the pool too, you know,
she can get out here and there's a stair in the deep end, as well.
[mariah. T] okay.
Ben's already on top of it. He has a padlock on the one gate.
The fence goes all the way into the ground.
I like seeing this. I have one for my dogs, too.
[ben] it just helps, right?
The one thing I will say, because you don't have a fence around it,
-don't leave her back here by herself. -[ben] yeah, of course.
Which, I wouldn't assume that you would, but I still need to say it.
-Yes, I hear you. -Just to make sure, and,
most dogs will figure out how to swim and get out, but,
-when you panic, things happen. -[ben] yeah.
I mean, it'll be a new thing for her.
-Yeah, I'm not worried about it. It's really on her terms. -Yeah.
Ben seems really on top of his stuff.
He already has a life jacket for her if she does end up, like, in the pool.
And that relieved some anxiety for me for sure.
Mariah, the other mariah, and my nephew, luke,
did some kinda kitchen stuff.
Okay.
[mariah] oh. Okay. What are you doing? You can't do that.
That was rude.
She didn't do good, but, it's not...
-[mariah. T] just gonna tell ya. -[ben laughing] it's all good.
But, it's not because she's not going to.
It's because once we did it, we realized that
the only thing that she needed was just obedience training.
-[ben] right. Yeah. -That's it.
No, that would be great. We'll work on that. I got nothing but time to work on all that.
[mariah. T] it was kinda weird having to tell ben that she didn't pass her training.
And, having an adopter react like that is exactly what I'm hoping for.
-So, I can go get her and I'll bring her back here. -[ben] okay.
[mariah. T] and then, you can see her again.
Now that I know the backyard is good for smiley,
I can go get her and bring her in to see ben again.
[playfully] what are you doin'?
You have no idea what is about to happen to you right now.
[smiley whining]
[mariah. T] come on, sweet pea.
I think it's human nature to be a little worried
that the dog won't remember me, but, I don't mind any of that stuff.
It's not worry. It's mostly a lot of excitement.
[mariah. T] come on!
This is xena. She's about five years old.
My sister actually rescued her about three years ago.
Sit.
She was left in an apartment. She almost died giving birth to her puppies.
Her puppies have since gotten wonderful homes, but,
xena, unfortunately, is still with us
and looking for her forever family.
Xena needs to be the only dog in a home, but,
loves, loves, loves people.
She's definitely a couch potato.
She is very, very cuddly.
And, just an all round happy dog.
If you're interested in adopting xena,
any other villalobos dog, or donating to villalobos got to:
Come on, mama.
Good girl. There we go.
Here's my girl. Come on.
[mariah. T] you have no idea what is about to happen to you right now.
Come on, sweet pea.
Come on.
-I hear dog feet. Oh, girl! -[mariah. T] who's that?
[ben] hey!
[mariah. T] you know, she's a little bit nervous at first,
but, she gets out of it very quickly.
[mariah. T] what are you doing?
-[ben] look at all that, huh? -What is that, honey?
[ben] got a whole new yard.
I definitely connected well with smiley.
I felt like she showed me love. It felt great.
-[ben] oh! There we go, there we go. -Oh. It's okay.
-Come on. -[ben] you're all right.
[ben] you doin' okay?
We're already being calm around each other and I like it. She's a real sweetheart.
-[ben] yeah. -I know. I need you to come over here and see this. Look.
[mariah. T] it's water. What is that?
Is it scary?
[laughing]
sometimes, it just takes a little bit of time.
Even if she doesn't like the water, the biggest thing is
ben just showing her where the steps are
so that if she does fall in, she's not completely panicked.
[ben] yeah. Let her check it all out.
[mariah. T] go!
[both laughing]
[mariah. T] don't fall in the pool.
What are you doing?
[ben] plenty of room to run. Got a lot there.
[mariah. T] whoo! [laughing]
[ben] oh, yeah. Happy dog.
-She's looking in the barbeque. -Straight for the brush.
[both laughing]
[mariah. T] hey, hey, hey, don't eat that.
Uh-uh.
Come on. [makes kissing noises]
when she jumps on things or she jumps on you, say "off" not "down",
-cos "down" means lay down. -[ben] yeah.
[mariah. T] hi. Off.
-Sit. [makes kissing noises] -[ben] good girl.
You sit.
I'm gonna wait till I get you a treat. Can I grab some of her treats?
[ben] yes. Let's do it.
Stay here. Uh-uh. Come on.
-No, no, no! -[ben laughing]
[mariah. T] go!
[ben] what is this?
Sit. Good girl.
[mariah. T] see? Already on it.
Good girl. No. Off.
[mariah. T] if you turn and say "off", then she'll...
-Off. -There we go.
[ben] sit. Good girl.
I'm excited to kinda work with her,
and, teach her to not kinda jump on tables,
not jump up for food,
just basic dog stuff, basic dog-living-in-house rules.
So, it'll be good.
If she does end up liking the pool, I better get all of the pictures,
[laughing] 'cause I'll wanna see them.
Is there anything that you are worried about or have questions about with her?
No, not at all. I'm stoked. I'm good.
[mariah. T] you're just excited?
I'm ready to cuddle up and post up.
I think smiley's life here is gonna be amazing.
[laughing] it's gonna be a lot of chill time.
And, when we're not doing chill time it's gonna be a lot of outdoor activities.
So, she should lead a good life.
[mariah. T] this is officially yours.
-[ben] mariah, you're the best. -[mariah. T] I wish,
-I could hug you right now, but I can't. -I know.
Goodbye. I'm not gonna miss you at all.
-[ben] mariah, thank you so much. -Of course.
Please thank everybody for me. It's honestly...
[mariah. T] quit being so rude! I guess it's your kid now.
-You have fun with that. -[ben] please have a safe drive home.
[mariah. T] thank you.
Smiley needs someone that wants to put time into her and
really care about everything that she needs, and,
without a doubt in my mind, that person is ben.
[ben] where'd she go? Yeah.
You're all right.
Smiley is finally here and I cannot wait to start the next chapter.
Having something that I can take care of and nurture and be kind to,
it's a big joyous moment for me.
I can't wait to get it started.