Sacramento Archives - i Still Love Dogs

Sacramento Police Dispatcher Adopts Shelter Dog Who Comforted Him after Tragedy

As she stood watch over a woman packing her things to leave during a domestic disturbance call, Officer Tara O’Sullivan with the Sacramento Police Department (SPD) was ambushed by Adel Sambrano Ramos, who shot and killed her. O’Sullivan was only 26 years old and had graduated from the Sacramento Police Academy just six months ago.

“She gave her young life while protecting our community,” Deputy Chief Dave Peletta told reporters the morning after the June 19 shooting. “There are no words to convey the depth of sadness we feel or how heartbroken we are for the family of our young, brave officer.”

The unidentified SPD dispatcher who monitored the tragedy is “the best of the best,” the department wrote on its Facebook page June 22, “and hearing those two words, ‘officer down,’ is every dispatcher’s worst nightmare.”

As they frequently do for police dispatchers after critical incidents, the Front Street Animal Shelter brought in some homeless dogs to provide the SPD dispatcher with some much-needed emotional therapy. The manager of the shelter happens to be a former dispatcher with this police department.

After they provide lots of furry comfort, the dogs are usually returned to the shelter. But that wasn’t the case with this dispatcher.

“This story, after the events of this week, is a little bit of light in the darkness,” the Sacramento Police Department wrote on Facebook. “Please indulge us.”

The dispatcher immediately hit it off with a Rhodesian Ridgeback mix from the Front Street Animal Shelter and decided to adopt him. He’s named his new family member Sullivan or “Sully,” in honor of the young fallen officer.

“We like to think they rescued each other,” the Sacramento Police Department wrote.

May Officer Sullivan rest in peace, and may the dispatcher and Sully enjoy many years of happiness together.

A scholarship in O’Sullivan’s name is being created at her alma mater, Sacramento State University. To find out how to make a donation, go to the university’s website.

To help support the Front Street Animal Shelter, visit its website.

Photo: Sacramento Police Department/Facebook

Firefighter Adopts Abandoned Pit Bull Puppy He Rescued

On their way to a call on a cold and rainy October morning, firefighter Mike Thawley and the Sacramento Fire Department Engine No. 14 crew spotted a sickly, 3-month-old Pit Bull puppy who’d been tied to a fence and abandoned on a Sacramento street.

The shivering puppy’s legs were swollen and covered with scabs. She’d lost most of her hair due to mange.

The crew drove on and responded to the call, but returned afterward to rescue the puppy. They brought her to the fire station, where they gave her a bath and plenty of TLC. Then they took her to the Front Street Animal Shelter so she could be treated for her mange.

Thawley, however, had no intention of leaving her there. He, his wife and their three daughters decided to foster the puppy, who they named Chunk.

“We all just kind of fell in love with her,” he told the Sacramento Bee.

Almost four months later, Chunk has completed her treatment for mange — and she has a loving new forever home. Thawley and his family have adopted the dog he rescued. He told the Sacramento Bee that from the moment Chunk joined his family, he knew she’d become a permanent member.

“I think what’s great about this whole story is that not only did this dog find its forever home, but had the opportunity to go to a foster home, which we’re always looking for at our shelter, to get happy and healthy,” says the Front Street Animal Shelter spokesman Bobby Mann in a video posted on the Sacramento Fire Department’s Facebook page yesterday.

The best kind of failures? Foster failures! I wish Chunk and the Thawleys many, many happy years together.

Photo via YouTube

13-Year-Old Boston Terrier Survives 15-Story Fall into Hot Tub

If dogs could talk, a 13-year-old, partially blind Boston Terrier named Sam would have quite a Christmas miracle tale to tell.

As the senior pooch has enjoyed doing for the past three years, Sam was basking in the sun Monday morning on the 15th-floor balcony of the Sacramento, Calif., apartment he shares with his dog dad, Bill McCourt.

While McCourt is at work during the day, his mom, Bette Plumb, dog sits. She was rather surprised to get a phone call Monday from building workers, who told her they found Sam dog-paddling in the outdoor hot tub. They’d heard a loud splash and had gone out to see what caused it.

“My first thought was he must have got out and taken the stairs or the elevator or something,” Plumb told the Sacramento Bee. “But there’s no way he could have gotten out of the condo. All of a sudden, I knew. It hit me immediately: He fell.”

Expecting the worst, Plumb took the elevator 15 stories down to the ground level. There she found Sam on his feet, walking around with just a slight limp.

“It’s absolutely a miracle,” she told the Bee. “There’s no way that dog should be alive.”

Sam didn’t escape completely unscathed. He had a fractured pelvis and ribs, and a cut on his bottom that required stitches. He was expected to be home for Christmas after spending a few days at VCA Bradshaw Animal Hospital, but a full recovery may take weeks.

And from now on, the balcony will be off limits to the very fortunate dog.

“Whenever I tell someone what happened, they keep saying, ‘The 15th floor? Are you sure it was the 15th floor?’ because no one can believe it,” McCourt, who’s had Sam ever since he was a puppy, told the Bee.

“I just want to get him home. He’s a huge part of my family.”

Photo via Facebook