Update on rescued La Mesa dogs

For those of you who have been following the plight of 40 dogs discovered in a horrifically unsanitary La Mesa apartment, I wrote an update. Eleven of those dogs are now in foster care, with hopes that the rest can follow.

The ones in foster care the longest, mom Christie and her three puppies, are doing great.

Their foster mom, Michelle Cohn of Del Cerro, told me she suspects Christie had never been touched by a human or been outside before the rescue. She’s quickly adjusting though, now demanding pets when Cohn checks on her.

“I’m starting to see touches of her personality,” Cohn said. “She’s so sweet, so cuddly.”

San Diego Humane Society spokesperson Nina Thompson is impressed with Christie’s recovery.

“It’s truly remarkable what just a couple weeks in a loving environment, or home environment, can do for an animal,” she told me.

But rescuing the dogs came at a cost. SDHS shelters are more overcrowded than ever. Due to their trauma and health issues, placing the remaining 29 dogs will be a challenge.

Thompson told me that even if households can’t take in one of them, it still helps to empty kennels of other dogs so the staff are less stretched caring for the hoarder rescues. If a new foster or adoptive dog isn’t in the cards, SDHS is also taking donations at sdhumane.org/year-end-rescue.

The full story is below.