Sunday
Jul042010
Camp Cocker alumni Zach has some news!
Sunday, July 4, 2010 at 10:36PM well, maybe Zach should just show you himself . . .
Well after we watched this and got all weepy eyed . . . we decided to share with you Zach's rescue journey. We had rescued him from a high kill Los Angeles County Shelter where he was out of time. On any given day within a hundred mile radius of Los Angeles, there are upwards of forty to fifty cockers in the thirty shelters we try to keep an eye on. In fact, this past week, the week before the holiday, there have been more cockers turned in to the shelters by their owners than we have ever seen in the history of doing rescue. There are more than sixty five cockers in our shelters right now and it is making us heart sick. We can never ever save them all, so we just try to focus on the ones we can help, one dog at a time. Zach was not getting adopted because of his color and he was on the top of the list to be euthanized at the shelter. Even though Camp Cocker had another black dog at that time, we decided to take Zach in anyway.
Zach had some chronic skin problems and after we had exhausted all western medicine methods we had just started him on a program from a holistic vet. We of course don't feed any of the dogs in Camp Cocker food that has grains, wheat, whey, corn and we only feed food that has at least one whole source of quality protein. When we had some adopters from Portland inquire about adopting from us, at first we wondered how we could manage a long distance adoption like this. We often drive dogs all over the state of California, but we've never gone as far as Portland.
Through a little networking, we were able to track down a local volunteer who was able to go to the adopters' home to get the home safety check done. Next was finding the right dog for Steve and Karen. Steve flew down to Los Angeles and spent the day with the dogs of Camp Cocker. He put great thought into each dog, spent time with each one going for walks. He took video footage of the dogs. Then he went back to Portland and he and Karen reviewed the video footage and had real discussions about which dog might be the best match for them. We had conversations about this as well and finally it was determined that Zach was going to be the candidate! So we flew Zach up on a non-stop flight from Los Angeles to Portland and he began his new life as a much loved dog.
Some of you might not understand why this video really touched us. Doing animal rescue is not something you get paid for. It is a tremendous amount of work, seven days a week, perhaps fifty, sixty hours a week is dedicated to the rescue (in addition to working a full time job). Really, why do it at all? Well . . . it is for the delayed satisfaction like this. Of seeing what has become of a dog you saved, months and years after they've been adopted. It is this kind of emotional reward that makes it ALL worth while. And to top it off, to know that Zach is now out there making the world a better place for the people he is a therapy dog to, well that is a feeling like no other.
Thank you to Steve and Karen for going to such great effort to adopt a rescue dog like Zach. And thank you to Zach for being the wonderful perfect amazing little dog that you are and for bringing healing powers to people who need you. Good boy, Zach, good boy! We love you!
Below is Zach's video from when he was with Camp Cocker (October 2008). You've come a long way baby!
tagged Zach, therapy dogs
Zach, therapy dogs 
Reader Comments (2)
Thank you to Cathy and all the Camp Cocker team who give dogs like Zach a second chance. We just celebrated the second anniversary of his “Adoption Day” with a giant stuffed bunny. He’s a happy little guy!
Zach has his own web page, sharing his story.
http://livingattheendoflife.com/meet-zach.html
Thanks again, Camp Cocker!
Karen, Steve, and Zach