MISSION STATEMENT

Saving the lives of homeless animals and improving the lives of people

 

ORGANIZATIONAL HISTORY

After years of observing the shelter system deteriorate and countless pets die, a

vision of how to be more effective began to take shape. In 1997 New Leash On

Life Animal Rescue Foundation was formed and in March of 2002 the organization

moved to a thirteen acre facility in the Santa Clarita Valley and established the

E.R.A. Center for Education, Rehabilitation and Adoption which serves as a safe

haven for many companion animals, and a learning resource for children and

adults facilitating New Leash On Life’s vision of making Los Angeles a no-kill city.

Since its inception, New Leash On Life has been responsible for spaying and

neutering thousands of pets, rescuing and placing over 5,000 dogs, and making a

determined effort to educate the community on responsible pet ownership. We also

have a rich history of Search & Rescue efforts in disaster relief throughout the

nation including Hurricanes Gustov , Katrina, Rita and the wild fires of 2008 in

Southern California.

 

PROGRAMS

Operation Rescue, Rehab and Re-Home is our foundational program of rescuing

dogs from the shelter system, taking them through a rehabilitation program by

providing housing, necessary medical care, basic obedience training, behavioral

adjustments and socialization; and placing them in their forever home.

The Training Program provides basic obedience training as a part of our

rehabilitation process prior to adoption. We believe that properly trained dogs,

when given the proper behavioral skills in a home environment, are more

adoptable and have a very high probability of remaining in their permanent home

as a valued family member.

 

Our adoption contract stipulates obedience training after adoption as a condition;

however, most adopters do not comply with this condition. Typically, they do

not recognize or choose to ignore continuous behavioral issues until they reach

unbearable frustration and then resort to abuse, return or abandonment of their

dog. This contradictory cycle yields an older and un-adoptable dog in need of

extensive behavioral modification training and a low probability of adoption.

 

This program allows NLOL to proactively address these issues by first providing

the dog with the proper quality of training and then providing the adopters with

the necessary knowledge, skills and tools to achieve success with their new best

friend.

 

The Lend A Paw (LAP) Program provides assistance and therapy dogs to

enhance the lives of individuals experiencing physical, mental, emotional or

life challenges. Lend a Paw volunteer handlers and their dogs regularly visit

schools, nursing homes and other care facilities to provide healing for the patients

and students. This program offers a benefit to animal overpopulation problem

by utilizing mixed breed dogs rescued from local shelters instead of relying on

additional breeding to produce certified therapy dogs.

 

The Pet Education Trainers (PETS) Program is dedicated to humane education

and focuses on teaching children about animal awareness, care and safety, and

includes a literacy assistance program where children build their reading skills and

confidence by reading to our dogs. Early education directly lends itself to saving the

lives of animals as children are made aware of the pet overpopulation problem and

how they can be a part of solving that problem.

 

The Mobile Pet Adoption (MPA) Program seeks to expand community awareness

of New Leash on Life and the dogs we have available for adoption. Each week

dogs and volunteer handlers visit various locations throughout the area, and we

often collaborate with other rescue groups for greater impact. The MPA Program

allows NLOL to place more dogs with adoptive families which in turn allows us to

rescue more from the shelters.

 

The Senior Sanctuary Program provides permanent housing, care and necessary

medical monitoring for senior canines who are highly unlikely to be placed in an

adoptive home. NLOL does not discriminate in its rescue efforts. We do not seek

to only rescue those dogs who seem the most highly adoptable, but also those

that have been deemed “hard to place” due to their age, medical conditions or

behavioral issues. Sometimes these precious pets need special medical care,

experienced handling or simply are seniors. Some of our seniors have been

fortunate to be adopted or to be placed in foster homes and their foster families

have graciously decided to incur the cost of their medical treatment.