Eve

Eve is our first pregnant mom rescued from euthanasia in the shelter, and she is the reason we started PLMR.

In mid summer, 2023, Angi saw a post from Bakersfield City shelter, begging for help so that this sweet pregnant dog would not have to be euthanized the following week. The director of the shelter is also an animal behaviorist, and recognized this dog was gentle, kind, and loving even in the worst of circumstances. She had been dumped in Bakersfield, heavily pregnant and was scheduled to be euthanized due to overcrowding, not enough fosters, and the fact that moms and puppies have a terrible survival rate in the shelter due to infection, cold, stress and lack of rescues to take responsibility. She was on “the list”, and he was devastated to see such a nice dog destroyed.

Angi was motivated to reach out, and she asked me to accompany her on the drive to Bakersfield. We had no idea what we were getting into, but she was compelled to step up and protect this mother. I was just along for the ride.

We met the dog, handled some paperwork, shoved her in my Tesla and drove her home to the original ranch in Somis. She was shut down and stressed by having been in poor situations, but she was regal in a proud way- she was carrying lives, and intended to do her best to protect them.

We settled her in a warm, safe place, gave her space to decompress, and named her “Eve”, for the “Original Mother”.

Within 24 hours of her being safe she delivered 9 female puppies! She seemed to take comfort with our presence, and we were able to assist her delivery.

We knew that “nature” was already set in the puppy’s genetics; these are usually teenage pregnancies from loose, random unspayed or neutered dogs. Eve was no exception. We had no idea who the father/fathers were, and we knew no interest had been given in choosing the parents or in any pre-natal care.
But we believed “nurture” could make a big difference in creating wonderful family dogs, so we researched and implemented “The Puppy Culture”- a program to stimulate early positive neurological development, and help lay down neural pathways for the puppies to better handle stress as they grew. From 3 days on, each puppy was worked with, every day!

The result was a beautiful litter of 9 girls, all socially adept and friendly. We had everybody on the ranch interacting with these puppies, and the girls grew into lovely dogs that all found responsible, caring, devoted homes! (I even adopted one, and she is exceptional!)

We spayed Eve as soon after she weaned her puppies, and she lived on the ranch with Angi as one of our own. Our greatest hope was to find her a family of her own….

Finally, last month during fire evacuations (January, 2025), she was taken into a foster home where they fell in love with her! Latest is that they want to fully adopt her!

It was through this process that Angi and I felt compelled to be of service in this way- rescuing pregnant moms from euthanasia, assisting them to deliver and raise their puppies in a safe, caring environment while providing stimulation and enrichment to best set up the puppies to be good citizens in their new homes.

We created PLMR, and have since placed over 80 moms and pups into caring homes!