THIS WEEK AT VRC

Greetings Villalobos Village!

I know we have a few days until Valentine’s Day, but would you be a Villalobos Dog’s Valentine this year? As you all know, we are no longer on Animal Planet, but the show must go on. We still have hundreds of dogs to take care of. We are responsible for giving these dogs shelter, food, and taking care of all their medical needs. 

Without the TV show, our donations have dwindled down significantly. 

Please show us some love this Valentine’s Day and pick a square on the Giving Grid, even the $5 square is helpful! Thank you for all of your support, we could not do this without you! Click here to check out the Grid and support VRC.

Scroll on down 👇️ for all the other information and to see updates from our City and Country locations.

Slobbers and Drools,

Tia Torres

THE ADOPTABLES

Meet Bacall. She came in with her partner Bogey in the back of a truck in 2021. Sadly, Bogey passed away in October to cancer. To keep Bacall from getting depressed, we moved her into an employee’s house. Over the past 4 months, she has blossomed and loves dog friends. She’s also a great car ride buddy!

Meet 7 year-old Bikini. She is a pit mix. Bikini has been with us for a few years now and was shy in the beginning, but has really come out of her shell. She is good with other dogs and loves meeting new people. She enjoys toys and going for walks. She can be a little nervous in the car still, but is getting better. Her signature move is to flop down and get belly rubs. Bikini is still looking for her very own home and, come on, who doesn’t love a good bikini?!

To learn more about Bacall, Bikini and all of the other adoptable dogs at Villalobos, click below.

If you aren’t getting Straight Outta Swampton in your email, subscribe now for free and never miss an update. Don’t depend on the algorithm to know what we’re up to!

VRC SPONSOR PROGRAM

MISS WANDA NEEDS A SPONSOR

Miss Wanda made her way into our lives when a good Samaritan discovered the abandoned mama dog and her litter of puppies living under a house in a rural area.

Her rescue was filmed for an episode of “Pit Bulls & Parolees” and all of her puppies found homes. Sadly, Miss Wanda didn’t get noticed and she’s been with us for years. Now in her senior years, she has developed some severe skin allergies (she’s been to the vet multiple times) and it has to be controlled with regular injections. Realizing this lowers her chances for adoption, we have now moved her to our sponsorship program where we hope to get some virtual adopters to contribute towards her ongoing medical care.

To learn more about Miss Wanda and all of the other dogs in the Sponsor Dog Program at Villalobos, click below.

We know we’ve featured Derek, Beatrice and Wild Turkey in the newsletter before, but we just have to share these amazing Valentine’s with all of you. Enjoy! Remember, all three of these dogs are with Villalobos for life and are part of our Sponsor Program.

Introducing the first Kajun Kitties available for sponsorship!

Hey all you cool cats and kittens… 🐈️ 🐱 We wanted you to know we don’t just rescue dogs at VRC, we also rescue cats.

Let me introduce you to our VRC Kajun Kitty Krew. 😻 Each cat is now available to sponsor. Since they are all new to the sponsor program, the cats listed don’t have many sponsors and could really use your help!

If you are more of a cat person, we got you covered!

Our sponsor dog and cat program is one of the most important programs we have at VRC. Our monthly sponsorship program allows you to virtually “adopt” and care for one of our dogs or cats. While most of them are awaiting a home, sadly some are not adoptable due to severe medical conditions and, in some cases, severe emotional distress and are not able to leave our facility. As much as we want all of our dogs and cats to get a home of their own, it is simply not possible.

When you join the sponsor program you will receive a photo of your sponsored VRC dog or cat signed by Tia Torres thanking you for your support. Additionally, upon joining, you will get an invite to a private group on Facebook only for VRC Sponsors where you will be able to see constant updates on your sponsored pet.

CITY BEAT

From City Managers Jenna and Kyle: It has been a pretty crazy week! Last Saturday, we had a heavy storm which caused some flooding in New Orleans. Thankfully, the dogs have the amazing huts that keep them out of the flood waters!

Volker and Gunder the German Shepherds are doing great in their training with Kyle! I have been interacting with them more as well and am starting to be able to walk them. I’m really excited about their progress!

COUNTRY CORNER

From M2: In the country we are extending the driveway to expand our dog areas to the back of the property. Once we complete this, we will be moving some of our city dogs from the Galvez warehouse out here to live the country life.

We are also setting up a transport to our transport partners at Pet Pack in Illinois. We are sending a handful of dogs to foster homes up there. Some of those dogs include this adorable Shih Tzu named Arlo and this female chow Dust Bunny, whose puppies left for Pet Pack on the last transport. We are so grateful to continue to work with this amazing rescue.

KAJUN KITTIES

From Kitty Kween Jenny: We are currently setting up our 2nd transport with Ten Lives Club in Upstate NY for later this month. We are hoping to send a lot of our adult cats. All of the cats that we sent them right before Christmas have already found loving homes. We also have our first adoption from our new cat adoption program. Little Garfield will be going to his new home soon. If you’re interested in adopting a Kajun Kitty directly from Villalobos, please email [email protected]

After you play MUTT, let us know in the comments how many guesses it took you to guess today’s MUTT and let’s see if you can beat Tia! Click the image above, or here, to play!

If you want your dog featured on MUTT, submit it through the game, or send a photo of your dog and its DNA test results to [email protected] 

Have fun playing the game, share it with everyone you know and let’s help get dogs across America adopted!

LIZZY’S TRAINING TIP OF THE WEEK

Teaching your dog eye contact

Eye contact with a dog is also called “attention” and is one of the easiest behaviors to teach. Once they have attention on cue it makes training all other behaviors so much easier, even the complex ones!! It is also useful when you need to keep your dog engaged with you out in public!

Step 1: When they make eye contact mark with either a verbal marker or a clicker and then reinforce with food!

Step 2: Some people use their dog’s name as the cue word. I use “watch me”.

If you need training help, visit https://www.itsforlifedogtraining.com/ to book an online session with Lizzy.

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