SAVE A LIFE! ENRICH YOURS!
12682 Kagel Canyon Road, Sylmar, CA 91342, US
MORE ADOPTED DOGS HAVING THE BEST OF THE REST OF THEIR LIVE
CARROT - ADOPTED
May 14, 2026 was such a crazy busy day, that I didn't even share our great news of the day until May 15. We rescued louie #a2265741 from the north central shelter. Louie, now carrot, is just the sweetest thing! He has the most wonderful foster and we're so happy to give him the best of the rest of his life. He is a 10 year old terrier mix who has typical senior issues such as dental disease. He also has thickening of his skin. Bloodwork revealed he does not have a thyroid condition or Cushing's disease. So we are treating his skin with topical and oral medications. he is very happy in his forever foster home!
COMPLICATED - ADOPTED
We were not planning on saving another life on May 28, 2026, but who am to say no when death is on the line. So meet Complicated, aka nugget. Nugget, #a2273170 is a 10 year old Australian shepherd who was brought to the west valley shelter as a stray on may 16, 2026. He had a large mass on his face and smaller masses on his chest and paw. He quickly came shelter volunteer favorite, yet no one wanted to adopt him. He had a deadline for last week. We asked for an extension, hoping that we would find a foster. She granted the extension that we have not been able to find a foster. For whatever reason, the veterinarian at the shelter put a drain in his tumor. Today, he shelter veterinarian felt that he was suffering and wanted to euthanize him. A volunteer reached out to ask. If we could please help him. My veterinarian was able to put him in an appointment today. So I said we would take him even though we didn't have a plan, which I never do. But the universe was looking out for him as someone who previously submitted an application called and said they they could temporarily foster a dog for two weeks. We do need to find a forever foster asap. Our veterinarian did blood work and a needle aspiration on the tumor. hopefully we'll have more answers about his health in a few days. In the meantime, he is a very sweet, calm dog. he loves going on walks and loves being with people. Complicated went to a foster home on June 28, 2026. The foster love him and adopted him on July 13, 2026. here is his freedom walk!
CYPRESS- ADOPTED
Drumroll please.....we did it! Philip, #A2271501 from the east valley shelter is safe on June 8, 2026! Philip had a euthanasia date of June 5, 2026. He has had no interest from rescues and there's no social media posts on this dog. We didn't have a foster for him, we knew we would find a foster, so we asked the shelter for an extension and they gave us until tuesday. Over the weekend we verified our foster. on Monday June 8, 2026, we confirmed our pull, and snagged him out of the shelter. We didn't get an exit video, so we took this cute little video of him walking down the hallway of the veterinarian office. Philip, now Cypress, is the sweetest thing! He had a mass removed at the shelter during his stay. He has other masses, sever dental disease and is simply old. We rescued him and immediately took him to our veterinarian for an exam and bloodwork. His foster fell in love and adopted him on July 8, 2026. we know he will have the best of the rest of his life .
COCONUT - ADOPTED
And now back to our regular programing.....today we had a plan in place to rescue Nelly,#a2264363 from the north central shelter. Nelly, now Coconut, is just the cutest little thing! she is so happy. She was constantly wagging her tail the entire time she was at the vet. She loved meeting Chipper. When we took her to her foster home, she immediately followed her foster mom into the house, met the other dogs and made herself at home on the biggest bed biggest bed in the house. The coconut sized mass is, unfortunately, not a tumor, but a hernia with her intestines inside. It is not preventing her from having regular poops. As she demonstrated to us, we did blood work today and bloodwork is good. She had surgery to repair the hernia and all went well! The person who transported Coconut from the shelter to the veterinarian office fell in love with Coconut and adopted her on July 3, 2026 We love happy endings!
CALLAHAN- ADOPTED
On January 12, 2026, we rescued Rocky, #a4871718, now Callahan, from the Downey shelter. He is the 400th dog we have rescued since the inception of Golden years Dog Sanctuary in September of 2017! Rocky. Now, Callahan, was owner surrendered to the downy shelter on November 25, 2025. He was very friendly with people. He had a good behavior assessment. And yet nobody wanted him. His 72 hour notice came and went. His deadline for euthanasia came and went. A networker reached out to us with a foster. We reached out to the shelter saying we could pull the dog, and then the foster backed out. We thought all hope was lost. But then the networker found a second foster, and when I reached out to the shelter days later, Rocky was still there. So we made a plan, and he was rescued! He went to his foster home in San diego the next day. His foster moved out of state and we needed a foster fast! We found a temporary foster in San diego and then, we found him a great foster. The third home was the charm as his fosters fell in love an adopted jhim on June 26, 2026.
CHOPIN - ADOPTED
Did you hear the great news? Lalo is free on November 17, 2025 after ;being at the shelter for over 8 months! That is more than 240 days in a small concrete cell. A networker put us in touch with someone who fostered for us once before, and voila! Lalo, now Chopin, just began the best of the rest of his life. Lalo, a 10 year old white shepherd was surrendered to the shelter on March 8, 2025. He had a family and a furry friend. All that left him in an instant, and he sat for over eight months (nearly 240 days) in a small concrete kennel waiting for someone to adopt him. The chance was slim. He was a large dog with medical issues including bad skin, arthritis, difficulty getting up, and being underweight. On top of that, he entered the shelter angry and difficult to handle. Behavior notes showed that he was a friendly dog who just loved attention. he was not aggressive with other dogs. During his stay at the shelter, his skin cleared up and he gained weight. But, at one point he had a URI and his arthritis was getting worse by the day. He saw our veterinarian. He had several laser treatments for his arthritis and is now on supplements and medication. he is doing great and his foster family loves him! He was adopted on June 25, 2026.
CHALLAH - ADOPTED
CHINCHILLA - ADOPTED
CHINCHILLA - ADOPTED
On June 6, 2026, we rescued 15 year old Chloe, #a5778501 from the downey shelter. She came in as a stray, but she had an old microchip number. Her birthdate is listed as April 1, 2011. no joke, she's fifteen years old and was dumped at the shelter! Thankfully, we found a most wonderful foster who's willing to give her the best of the rest of her life. We named her challah, which is bread in hebrew. She saw our veterinarian and her bloodwork was surprisingly good! We know she needs to gain weight. She also has a little bit of separation anxiety, so we're working on that. Its very typical for dogs when they first get out of the shelter. Thankfully our foster is patient and loving and helping challah feel comfortable and realize she is hit the jackpot with this home. Challah's foster is so smitten with her, that she adopted her on June 10, 2026!
CHINCHILLA - ADOPTED
CHINCHILLA - ADOPTED
CHINCHILLA - ADOPTED
Saturday, September 6, 2025, was a great day. We rescued this "rescue only" very old chihuahua. Meet Chinchilla, aka Baby, #a4114885, from the Downey shelter! This poor 16 year old dog was brought to the shelter as a "stray" on August 23rd. He has an old ID# so was in the shelter once before. He is blind and has no teeth. Oddly, he was found with sutures and drains in his neck. It looks like he was bitten by another dog. We will never know what happened to him. But we do know that he's very sensitive about being touched around his neck. The shelter did remove the stitches and the drains. his neck is healing up very nicely. But he's still blind and has no teeth. The shelter said his prognosis was poor and sent out an urgent medical alert on him. We had a foster, reach out to us and say she could foster, so of course we jumped at the opportunity to get him out of the shelter and give him the bes of the rest of his life. We don't know what time he has left, but we know that every day will be awesome. Chinchilla was at a foster home with other dogs. Someone who worked where chinchilla lives fell in love with him and adopted him on June 5, 2026! We are so happy for chinchilla. His new owner said, chinchilla deserves a couch of his own!
CHIPPER - ADOPTED
CHINCHILLA - ADOPTED
CHIPPER - ADOPTED
Today was better than great! This amazing, sweet, friendly dog is rosa,#a2264950. We renamed her Chipper. She almost wasn't saved. This dog was on her radar, and we were waiting to find a foster. Yesterday staff from the shelter called and said that rosa's deadline was 4 PM on Tuesday. They wanted to know if we could pull her. However, they left the message on my home phone and not my cell phone.i dont check those messages as often. Good thing I checked the machine at 630am. Once i heard the message, I scrambled to get a foster and transport. I had both secure before 8am and contacted shelter staff to verify we could pull her. I only hoped I wasn't too late. And I was not! We rescued her!
Chipper has an amazing foster. She saw the vet today we started her on medicine for the glaucoma in her eye. The medicine did not do much to help the discomfort with her eye. She is scheduled to have her removed in June, 2026. In the meantime, the foster and her family love chipper and want to give her a forever home. So she was adopted on May 30, 2026.