Dear BAS,

Hello to all at BAS!!

My name is Sarah Mooney, and almost 2 years ago, I took an amazing dog home from you guys. Back in April/May of 2006, you were having a little meet-and-greet with some of the dogs outside of the PetSmart in Vista, and you had the cutest little dog named Luisa. She was only a few months old, but i could tell she had seen and been through enough stress for one lifetime. Her sweet little German Shepherd face just looked to ready for love and a home. I loved her instantly. I brought my pitbull, Bumpass, by to see if they would get along (Bumpass has a tendency to get dominated due to his submissive character). They got along without any dominance issues! It was such a great first meet!

I brought her home that day. I still believe it was the best money I have ever spent. Her name is Daisy-mae and she is the most amazing dog I have ever owned. She loves me so much, and it makes me feel good to see her little happy face everyday when I come home! She also loves my two other older dogs, and they welcomed her into the pack without any problems. Daisy-mae sleeps in bed with me and my husband, crawling under the blankets each and every night. She is such a snuggly little girl! Every morning while i drink my hot tea and read the paper, she comes and hops in my lap for some quality time. Its so sweet! She loves car rides and playing outside with Bumpass. She also has the strangest, most comical way of sitting and laying down, her little legs all tangled up and such. I often wonder if she was a contortionist in a part life.

She has brought so much joy to my life. I cannot thank you enough for bringing us together. Daisy-mae is such a character and a great dog, and I know that she is happy here with us. Thank you again! I am also attaching some pictures of her so you can see how she is doing, including a picture of her and her dog-trainer at doggy graduation :) A proud moment for any parent!

Dear BAS,

It has been 10 months since we adopted Negrita from Baja Animal Sanctuary and her foster mom, Rosy. We knew when we saw her photo on the website that she was the doggy for us and we were right!! Negrita is now called Juanita and she loves her new name and her new home! She has really blossomed over the last 10 months and we are all madly in love with her. She was a bit nervous when she first came to live with us and all the new experiences were a bit overwhelming for her. She was 3 years old and Rosy told us she didn't think she had ever lived indoors and she had not been trained so she didn't know any commands. She was eager to please and wanted to be a good girl so she learned very quickly. It took a few days for her to understand the "sit" command but once she learned that and realized that it made us happy she loved to do it even without being told - and she still does. She sits down with her back straight and her nose pointing up in the air looking very proud of herself. Juanita didn't know how to play when she first arrived here. She didn't know that balls were for chasing and she was frightened of most of the toys we gave her to play with. As she became more comfortable in her new home she started to become very playful and mischevious. She now loves to play fetch with the ball or anything else we throw for her. She will even throw things herself and then chase after them. She loves her leather chew bone the most. She is very mischevious and in the mornings when she is trying to wake us up to take her for her morning run she will start to run around with one of our slippers or socks in her mouth shaking it as noisily as possible. She will also drag her doggy bed around the bedroom and jump around making her special "wake-up" noises so we will wake up and play with her. We call her our "doggy alarm clock" and have not had to use a real alarm clock since she came to live with us! She also likes to hide things - especially her Mom's slippers which we find hidden in all sorts of strange places around the house! Juanita is very affectionate. She loves to cuddle with her head on your shoulder and to snuggle next to you on the sofa when you are watching television. If her Dad is watching TV and she thinks it is time for her walkies, she will sit on his head until he gets up and takes her out. She is so cute it is hard not to laugh when she is being bossy!! For the first few weeks after she came to live with us Juanita never barked. We were a bit worried that something was wrong with her but then one day she saw a ground squirrel and barked at it before taking off at top speed to try to catch it. Her barking has come a long way since those early days. She has become quite the guard dog now and barks ferociously whenever someone comes to the door. She might only be 30 pounds but she scares the bejeezers out of people when she barks and growls and shows them her "scary" face. She likes to keep us all safe. Juanita has turned into quite the little princess! She loves living inside the house and she can usually be found during the day fast asleep sprawled out on the sofa or lying in front of the window in the sunshine with her legs crossed very daintily. She loves to sleep upside down, sometimes with her legs standing straight up in the air and she looks very cute :).

Juanita is truly delightful and a wonderful addition to our family. We are so thankful to you for bringing such a wonderful doggy into our lives. Thank you for the fabulous and selfless work you do to save all the doggies and to find forever homes for them.

In August we got an inquiry on one of the dogs on the BAS website, 7 year old Oso, a sweet black lab / shepherd mix who had been a Sanctuary resident for several years.

Oso is a big lover of tennis balls, and his description and photos captured the heart of Faye Kolin, a Massachusetts resident.Before we knew it, Faye had made the arrangements for Oso to be transported all the way back to the East Coast.

Oso was picked up on Saturday September 8th by Sissy with We Move Pets, LLC (http://www.wemovepets.com). Even though they had lots of stops to make, picking up & dropping off other dogs in several states along the way, Oso proved to be a great traveling companion for Sissy. Sissy with We Move Pets did a great job, and Oso arrived in Massachusetts happy and stress free.

Oso is adjusting really well to his new life in Massachusetts. We wonder how he'll do when the snow comes!

Here is a picture of Oso with his new big sister, Olivia. Oso and Olivia often hang out together outside on the back porch. Oso loves to take walks with Olivia, as well!

Best wishes,

Hey there,

Just had to write you guys and tell you how great our dog turned out. We got Marley roughly a year ago. She was extremely fearful of people when we got her, so we knew there was a lot of work to do. After about six mths of training she began to come around, and her fearfulness of humans has subsided. She has become an amazing addition to our family, fulfilling all our needs. She has become the best companion a dog owner could imagine. I will admit when we first brought the dog home I had my doubts, I was unsure if she was even trainable. But much to my surprise she let go of her fear and became the dog we had always hoped for. Thanks again BAS you guys are truly doing the Lord's work.

Sincerly,

For several years I have had 3 dogs. My Sophie passed away suddenly in April 2006 and once my heart was on the mend I decided it was time to “consider” adopting another dog to round out my brood. I went to PetFinders and when asked for the criteria, I selected “older dog located in Southern California”. I scrolled down the page and saw the most adorable face I have ever seen. I don’t know if you can bond with an animal without having met them, but I did.

I knew in my heart that I had to give this fuzzy little creature a home. I looked to see where she was located and it said Baja, California. I immediately emailed Baja Animal Sanctuary through PetFinders and heard back from them the next day. I found out that my new family member’s name was Shaggy (which is the perfect name for her). I just knew, without having actually met her that she would fit in.

It took a long string of emails, a new transmission for my car (which broke down on the way to pick up Shaggy), an “international adoption”, and one whole month of communication with the wonderful volunteers of BAS before I would meet my new love. My husband (as he has with all of my fur children) tried to talk me out of it, but he quickly figured out that he had either “get on the bus or get run over by it”.

I can’t tell you how much love and laughter Shaggy has brought into our lives. Her brothers, Chuey and Samuel, adore her and quickly taught her how to use the doggy door and that dog toys are fun to play with. Sometimes when I look at my Shaggamuffin my eyes well up with tears just knowing that she will live out her days in comfort and that she is a member of my family.

She constantly amazes us with her antics and tricks. We swear that she is part goat. Every time she does something crazy or silly, my husband looks at me, rolls his eyes and says…..”she’s your dog”. And I always reply….”yep, she sure is!”

In late July, 2004, I was on my way into PetSmart on Aero Drive to buy food for my two cats when I saw the sweetest looking puppy named Violet wearing a purple collar and sitting by herself in the farthest corner of the puppy pen. I went over to pet the little pup and the look in her eyes told me that she was looking to become part of my family. I told myself, I have no time for a puppy, I have a full house already with two high maintenance cats. As I went shopping in PetSmart, I kept thinking about the little pup sitting outside and how badly I wanted to give her a good home. I knew that she was going to go home with somebody that day and whomever was lucky enough to take her home would probably be overwhelmed with puppy expenses so I bought her a collar, a leash, a bowl and some treats and asked the volunteer to make sure they got sent home with her to her new home. I then proceeded to do some last minute shopping at Wal-Mart. When I came out of the store, it was around 2:00 and little Violet was still sitting there with just a few other puppies and I started getting worried that maybe her forever home wasn't coming for her that day. I told the volunteer that I wanted to take her home and foster her and after the two weeks if everything worked out, she would become part of my family.

That first night was so hard, the cats insisted on sleeping on top of the crate and poking their paws inside teasing the little pup. I finally broke down and slept on the floor next to the crate to "keep an eye" on the mischief. Little did I know that this was the first bonding experience of the three racketeers.

The next day, I took the pup, who was still without a forever name, to my sister's house to play with her three shih tzus. We took her outside to play ball and since all four of the dogs mouths were so small, we used cat balls to play fetch. Well, this little pup decided she didn't want to bring back the balls, she only wanted to fetch rocks. Each time we threw a ball, she would bring back bigger and bigger rocks. Finally we realized that she was telling us her name was Roxi. Throughout the rest of the foster period, she would use her gigantic paws to hold the cats and my sister's dogs heads away from her "babies" (rocks) and we gave her the middle name Balboa. She was now Roxi Balboa and I was so attached to her that there was no way she would be able to find another forever home, she was right where she belonged.

She finally outgrew fetching rocks and now she play with regular sized tennis balls and she no longer uses her paws to keep the cats away from her toys. She loves to play soccer with the cat, Roxi drops the ball in front of the cat who then curls her body around the tennis ball and kicks it back to Roxi. This game will last all afternoon or until the other cat decides he wants to play and pounces on the ball and drags it away by pulling the fuzz with his teeth.

Roxi Balboa has a wonderful life here, she goes to the park, to the beach, she went to the local hockey games on dog night, she goes everywhere with me and on the few occassions when I travel without her, my parents and my sister fight over who gets to Roxi-sit.

Although Roxi loves me and knows I am her mom, her favorite person in the whole world is my 18 month old niece. Roxi has loved my niece since my sister was pregnant, Roxi would sit next to my sister on the couch and would lick her stomach and listen to the baby moving around. Now whenever my sister calls, we put the speakphone on and my niece bables incoherently and Roxi "talks" back to her. When the two of them see each other, it is a competition over who gets more excited, my niece points and pants and Roxi runs in circles with her tail wagging telling everyone "look, it is my favorite person".

At home, Roxi is a total sweetheart, she sleeps in her den with the two cats and when one of the cats became very ill earlier this year, Roxi refused to leave his side and would cry when I took her out to potty. The vet had to put her on anti-depressants until the cat recovered because Roxi would have dog panic attacks if I tried to take her anywhere away from home for longer than 20 minutes. Fortunately, the cat recovered within 6 weeks.

My neighbors have told me, they know when Roxi is not home and is out with me because the cats sit at the front door and cry until they hear her jingle. My parents are amazed at how attached the cats have become to Roxi and how attached she is to them.

Roxi is not just a dog, she is my companion, my best friend and most of all, an important part of my family. I don't know who raised my Roxi Balboa the first 10 weeks of her life, but I would love to thank everyone who was involved in giving her a healthy start in life and for giving me the opportunity to love her more than I have ever imagined.

Roxi just celebrated her 3rd birthday and each year I remember that look she gave me the first time I bent down to pet her.

I have attached some photos, some of them are blurry but the goofy grin on Roxi's face shines through on all of them. I couldn't decide which ones tell her story the best but all of them say she is loved and she loves her home.

Thank you.

Hi !!!!

I wanted to send in Stewie's Happy Ending so everyone can see how awesome he is doing. Stewie was considered "special" because Stewie is an ankle and finger biter but for us it was love at first sight.

Stewie now has 2 (one is another Baja Rescue) sisters and a big brother (as pictured) Ralphie. Stewie LOVES to skate board with his dad and is the world's best cuddler. Stewie smiles all the time and he knows he has a great life living on Mission Beach.

Thank you so much for Stewie. We love him soooooooooooooooooo much!

Hey Baja Animal Sanctuary!

My mother and I, both volunteers for Carmel Mountain, adopted Charlie in 2005. He came up on an event one day with his brother, then named Captain and I believe his brother was named Sargeant. My little sister and I instantly fell in love with Charlie, the shyer of the two. I cuddled with him all day and finally convinced my mom that having him would be a benefit. To this day, we love him, and we love being a part of the Baja Animal Sanctuary. It's fulfilling, and having Charlie brightens my day up easily, wakes me up in the morning, and loves to go on long walks and down to the beach. I don't know I how I ever lived without having him in my life! Thank you, Sunny, for everything you've done.