Team Smokey's Pay it Forward Fund

Hi, my name is Sharon and I’m fundraising for an extraordinary and outstanding dog rescuer in our community named Ingrid. The following is my account of witnessing in person the harrowing work that she does.

Please donate and support Ingrid to further her heroic efforts. Supporting Ingrid is bettering our community and bringing love and care to neglected and abused animals struggling to survive. Ingrid saves them and now Ingrid needs our help.

Donations can be made directly to:

Berkley Pet Hospital (for Ingrid's account listed under Pacific Coast Dog Rescue)

10908 Burbank Blvd,

North Hollywood, CA 91601

(818)798-2868

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Tax-deductible donations can be made through PayPal to:

[email redacted] please attach note saying Watts Project

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You can donate right here on GoFundMe

For those of you who connected to Smokey's story and wanted to give him what aid you could, he is now living his best life thanks to Ingrid. Can we please pay forward the funds you had in mind for him and help keep Ingrid going to save the next Smokey. Thank you! The complete story follows if you'd like to read it.

Team Smokey’s Pay It Forward Fund

I just had perhaps the most rewarding experience of my life. I want to share the details with all of you in hopes of inspiring more outcomes like this and to support the amazing angels who stepped up and made all the difference for this poor dog, in particular, Ingrid.

It was eight in the morning on a rainy Los Angeles day when Smokey, a dog the size of a small bear, crossed the street in front of my car all by himself. Smokey was on his way back to his prison, the only home he knew. I followed him there and found him sitting in front of the padlocked door of a seven-foot high cinder block wall. He had some of the biggest paws I’d ever seen, but his body looked skinny in comparison. As I petted him, I was startled by the crusty, crumbling state of his skin and was taken aback by the horrific, rotting smell it exuded. My fingers turned black from how filthy he was. He looked at me with soulful eyes as I stood there wondering what to do.

One of the cars whizzing by on the other side of the street paused. A lady leaned out her window and with a hopeful face called “thank you” to me and then drove off as quickly as she had stopped. A few minutes later, a man walking his own dog stopped and said, “Oh yeah, that’s Smokey. He lives here but they let him roam the streets sometimes.” The man tested the door and it opened. The padlock hadn’t been properly closed. As he shooed Smokey in, I got a glimpse inside. There were several vehicles in disrepair with hoods up, garbage, dirt and concrete - no humans, no home, just some sort of vehicle repair yard with the stench of gas, oil and grease. Feeling sorry for this mess of a dog, but not knowing what else to do we comforted ourselves by saying at least he won’t get hit by a car. The man left.

I immediately went to the store and returned with dog food and a bowl. Kneeling on the wet ground, I slid the food under the three-inch opening at the bottom of the door. Peering beneath it, I could only see Smokey’s nose and paws as he ate.

After that, I continued to go by twice a day to feed him. Sometimes the man who owned the yard would be parked on the street, on the phone, and tending to his work. Upon the second time seeing him there, I got up my courage to ask what was going on with the dog. He answered that an employee of his had left the dog in his yard. This man didn’t want Smokey, but he didn’t have the heart to take him to the shelter because he thought they would kill him. He had asked around to find a home but no one wanted a smelly, filthy, itchy dog, least of all, him, so Smokey’s fate appeared to be sealed. He would live behind these walls of sensory deprivation and languish there until the infection took over and finished the job.

Alone behind the high walls, Smokey lived a completely neglected life. Day and night alone. He had no shelter from heat, cold or pouring rain. On an occasion when I saw him being fed, his food was spilled out on the dirty ground for him to eat, not even a bowl of his own. At best, he might have been fed once a day and I’m sure there were days he wasn’t fed at all because it wasn’t convenient for the lot owner who didn’t live there.

Wanting to help Smokey but not knowing how, I posted on our neighborhood group's Facebook page specifically requesting an Igloo house. Many people responded, offering to donate beds, blankets and food and contribute towards a bath for him. The outpouring of love from people wanting to help was encouraging.

One neighbor, Sean, had an Igloo but it needed a pressure washing to clean it up. Sean stopped what he was doing and washed it that same day and within hours of my request, I was dropping it off at Smokey's lot. As luck would have it, I was able to get inside Smokey’s lot that day. It was a relief to give this dog’s bones some cushion and protection from the cold ground at night and the rain we were experiencing. He was so happy with his house after that, that he would be in it when I arrived to feed him, would come out to eat and then go right back in.

The next day Mirna, who had seen my post, dropped off a thick dog bed and blanket to put inside his house and Elizabeth came to my house with more blankets and toys and treats. A village was forming in support of Smokey.

Perhaps most importantly, two lovely women who are active in the world of dog rescuing, reached out to me via the Facebook post and began to advise me on how to network the dog for a possible rescue. Paula made a powerful flyer with a photo describing Smokey’s condition and dire situation. She and Cindy began to send it to everyone on their lists of contacts in the world of dog rescue. The next day Cindy was at my doorstep with enormous amounts of dog food donated by Rosie Bunny Bean on York Blvd. (Please support them with your pet need purchases in the future).

Smokey was more comfortable and being fed, but he still lacked love, companionship and care for his woefully infected and painful skin. We later found out his ears were badly infected too.

Good things were happening because a community of caring strangers was forming around this dog and everyone was doing their part, doing what they could. It was truly amazing. I urge you to get involved and take action when you witness the desperate need of an animal who depends on your kindness. You will be amazed at the army of people who arrive to help, each in their own way. Now for the mind-blowing part of this story!

My phone number had been attached to the flyer, but no rescue group had yet responded. Things were feeling bleak when out of nowhere a call came from a woman named Ingrid. She stated that she was a rescuer and she was in our neighborhood dropping off a newly adopted dog to its new owner. She didn’t have much time but would come to see Smokey if we could make it happen now.

She brought along Kim who had just adopted the dog Ingrid had delivered. We met at Smokey’s enclosure, and the lot owner was called to come and meet us there.

The only word to describe Ingrid is “ACTION.” Ingrid arrived and assessed Smokey’s abysmal condition: severe skin and debilitating ear infections that had probably been festering for years. She knew this by looking at his teeth which were worn to mere stubs from chewing on himself to relieve the itch. All of his front tiny teeth, top and bottom, were completely gone, down to the gums. His canine teeth were worn to nubs, exposing the dental pulp cavity. Truly tragic shape. Ingrid said his awful smell was his skin infection. We looked on as he rolled his back in the dirt trying to calm his itchiness, he stood and continued scratching with his hind paw, he was always scratching. Imagine a dog in this condition spending his nights in the pouring rain and 40-degree weather without shelter. It was horrifying. Ingrid with calm confidence, took control of the situation and determined she wasn’t leaving without this dog. She gently insisted that Kim’s yard would be a perfect temporary shelter since we could take Sean’s Igloo house there. Kim compassionately and graciously agreed that we couldn't leave this dog here. In that instant, Smokey’s life was forever changed. Smokey has since seen a vet, received extensive charitable medical care and is recovering on a ranch in the hands of trained animal caregivers. His story is truly a fairytale and goes to show what miracles can happen when people resolve to try and make a change.

Ingrid has rescued hundreds of dogs off the streets of Los Angeles for more than 20 years. She works for a local nonprofit rescue called, Pacific Coast Dog Rescue ( www.pcdogrescue.org ) and constantly takes on projects in the community where help is urgently needed. During our recent heavy rains, Ingrid and her rescue partner Ronnie rescued close to 20 dogs and 3 cats from the streets of Watts and provided medical care for all of them. Ingrid has a long-standing relationship with Berkley Pet Hospital so they extended credit to her and aided these animals. Her current bill at the Pet Hospital is now $9000.

Ingrid urgently needs help to raise those funds as she isn't able to rescue and provide medical care for any new animals in need until her bill is reduced to $3000. Ideally, we could help her reduce it to zero.

I am asking everyone who wanted to make a financial contribution to Smokey, to get him groomed, fed and to a vet, to please donate here to Ingrid’s fund so that she can continue to care for the neglected and abused dogs in our community. She is a hero and we are so lucky to have her bravely, lovingly and knowledgeably doing what she does. There is such a great need for it.

Please get involved when you see these things happening and please send support to Ingrid who desperately needs it. She is making all the difference in our community.