10th Anniversary Celebration - Friday, June 12th

Purchase your tickets in advance for our biggest celebration yet... the BIG 1-0! Limited amount of tickets available for general admission and VIP. Can you believe we are in our double digits!? With over 600 dogs saved, hundreds of events, many many miles driven, fantastic fosters, amazing adopters and out of this world volunteers we have reached this huge milestone.

We hope you will help us celebrate in style at the amazing Chicago Party Animals venue. This place is a lofty, amazing location, fantastic views and the perfect spot for us to celebrate!

Purchase tickets here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/new-leash-on-lifes-10-year-anniversary-celebration-tickets-16919001188

General Admission ($50 in advance/$65 at the door) Includes: Live Music by Blackest Crow (https://www.facebook.com/BlackestCrowband?__mref=message_bubble) Heavy Appetizers 2 Beer/Wine tickets (more available with donation) Photo Booth access to remember this fantastic night!

VIP ($100 in advance/$125 at the door) - 60 available! Includes VIP Lounge Access Rooftop Access with an amazing Skyline view! Private VIP Bathroom Chef Demo 3 Cocktail/Beer/Wine Tickets (more available with donation) Free Wine Live Music VIP Host/Concierge

Back this year will be our fabulous Auction full of great restaurant gift certificates, concert tix, and more. Watch this space for donations as the list grows! Want to donate for our silent auction? Email lisa@nlolchicago.org

Town & Anchor Apothecary Few Spirits Lyric Opera of Chicago Little Beans Cafe Peckish Pig DAVIDsTEA Hamburger Mary's Milk Handmade Amy's Candy Bar Ballroom Dance Chicago The Logan Theatre Summer House Santa Monica Finch's Beer Company Cafe Selmarie The Goddess and Grocer Old Town School of Folk Music Double Door Glamour Girl Airbrush Tan LLC ENJOY, AN URBAN GENERAL STORE ComedySportz Chicago Cemitas Puebla ZED451 Rotofugi Designer Toy Store & Gallery Bottle and Botega

Last Minute Saves...

All of our dogs come from rough backgrounds and we never know how close they are to being euthanized until our intake directors arrived a few Saturday's ago.  Our intake directors arrived Saturday to begin the long (usually 5 or more hour) process that it takes to pick the dogs that come into the NLOL family.  Little did they know that as they were walking into the shelter, one little pooch was being walked to the euth room.  One of the workers stopped and redirected the little sweetheart to our intake directors who immediately fell in love with her shy demeanor. 

Adorable, apartment sized Noca had no idea that her life was about to change big time.  She was pretty reserved and withdrawn while in her crate at ACC.  The intake directors took her out and spent time with her, played and just waited for her to open up, and boy, did she!  She was one of our most outgoing pups, willing and eager to meet and greet everyone.  Noca always made time for a good belly rub and quickly found her way into her forever home. 

Congratulations Noca and your new family.  We loved every minute you spent with us!

a Good Laugh.

These pups have all been adopted, but going through our albums of rescued four legged animals, one can see that each has their own personality.  Thanks for the laughs NLOL Alums!

Karl 

Maeve

Magnolia

Miss Pickles

Sawyer

Levi Update!

LEVI HAD HIS SURGERY!

Levi's eye surgery went well and we couldn't have done it without the amount of support we received from everyone near and far.  We were overwhelmed and humbled by the turn out.  Thank you, thank you thank you.  You can read about the whole story on his blog here.

Little Levi sends his thanks as well!

ALSO:

Remember these?? If you ordered a Super Levi T-Shirt but either didn't get one, or it never got picked up, please email Jenna at: jennanlol@gmail.com to claim yours!! THANK YOU!

Wouldn't it be great to snuggle all day?!

Going to work and missing out on this, can be so hard!

please note, this is Scout, a NLOL Alum- ADOPTED!

Jenny in Time for the Holiday!

I'm sure you all remember this heart breaking story.  11 year old JLo was left at our vet's office and abandoned.  With the rising vet bills and the family deciding to not return, the office was left with few options.  They asked New Leash on Life to take JLo on and get her adopted.  It was a tall order.  She was older and thus has the 'old dog stigma', she had been in boarding for so long that she became leash reactive, and she had infected paws and ears.

We put the call out- this dog matched what NLOL stands for, taking in the dogs that would have been put down or overlooked because we believe that there is someone for every type of dog.  Because we can only take on as many dogs as we have foster homes, we hoped someone would step up to the plate and let this beauty come home with them.  And boy did people step up!!  We were overwhelmed with the love and concern that was extended to JLo and were so happy that a former adopter opened up their home to foster JLo. 

JLo (now Jenny) came with quirks and kinks that needed to be worked out, but overtime, she grew to know her family and fit right in.  We are so blessed that Halstead's (Moe) parents decided to officially adopt Jenny after his passing this year.

She is IN LOVE with her new family, the fenced in back yard where she is able to run throughout the day.  She came just in time for the Holiday! 

When trying to take a picture, she could barely contain her excitement and sit still.  But, her paws and ears are looking fabulous, she looks at rest and ease, and her coat is looking so much better!

Welcome home Jenny!

Cooper

 Mr. Cooper came into our family at New Leash on Life.  He was originally a shy little mutt and was on the skinny and rough side.  He quickly opened up and showed us his personality in his "wookie" barks, and soon he was a favorite of everyone that met him.

He showed us his goofy side on Halloween.

And his soft gentle side when it came to eating doggie ice cream on a hot summer day.



Cooper was in desperate need for a foster family.  The boarding was stressful and Cooper needed some confidence building.  One family took him on and soon, he snuggled right in.

We are happy to announce that Cooper's foster family, is now his forever family.  With the dedication and patience, we are so blessed to welcome another family into New Leash on Life with the addition of Cooper into their forever home.

Congratulations!!

Abandoned JLo

As any true Disney story starts out with heartbreak and sadness, JLo's story ended with a happily ever after.  Through the power of networking, JLo's world turn upside down overnight.  JLo came to us from the vet's office that treats and fixes our dogs before they find their forever homes.  She was abandoned two months ago and became a favorite of all the workers, however, living in a kennel just wasn't the life for this yellow lab.  She was starting to get a bit stir crazy after staring at the same four walls day after day.  New Leash on Life was asked to take this gal on and find her a foster/forever home.  NLOL is only able to take in as many dogs as we have foster homes available, so we put out the plea on Facebook. 

Overnight we received countless offerings and felt so blessed to have such a strong community behind us.  JLo's is now in her foster with the intent to adopt home, she has a beautiful backyard to run and play and she has awesome former NLOL adopter parents. 

JLo was a rockstar in the car, sitting nicely the entire way.

And as soon as she entered the home, she was showered with love and affection.  You can barely see her tail in this picture because it was wagging so fast.

And because JLo had been through so much, we thought she deserved a cupcake as a "Welcome Home" treat.

She is one very happy girl.  Thank you to everyone who reposted this story and spread the word.  NLOL is so blessed to have such an amazing support team and we thank each of you for being able to get this girl into a home so quickly.

Along came Murphy.

This is the unbelievable, rags to riches story about Murphy, the small border collie with a fairytale ending. that might sound a bit dramatic, but Murphy's whole story with New Leash was a bit dramatic. We'll start at the beginning.

One of the hardest jobs for our intake directors is going into ACC and choosing which dogs will be leaving with us that day. Too often, we see dogs who shut down at the shelter. It's loud and overwhelming and even the strongest of pups don't always act like themselves. When we met Murphy, this SUPER shy kid had to be coaxed out of his crate. When we took him outside, it still took him a few hours before he warmed up to the Intake Directors. We knew we were taking on a challenge of a gorgrous pup who needed to be won over, but we were ready. He quickly became a part of our NLOL family.

Every new pup has to wait 7-10 days at our vet's office to get their shots and to ensure they have been throughly checked out before they become available for adoption. During this time frame, one of our volunteers was taking Murphy for a walk when he got a little spooked and backed out of his collar. He looked at the volunteer for a second and then took off running. He was hotly pursued by the volunteer and a couple of good samaritans...but 4 legs are faster than 2. NLOL volunteers swamped the area-hanging posters and asking passerbys if they saw a black and white blur come by their area.  We were fortunate that he had on 2 collars: the one he backed out of, and the one with his NLOL tag on it.

We all went home and were so relieved to have received an email from the Chicago Fire Department.  It simply stated that NLOL dog 443 (Murphy) had been found in the river, was hanging out at the fire station waiting to be taken to Chicago Animal Care and Control, and we could pick him up there. A good samaritan who was out walking her own dog and orchestrated his rescue wrote us the next day to tell us what happened: Murphy ran almost two miles and was spotted by the good samaritan and another woman jumping the wall behind a bowling alley on Diversey...and into the Chicago River. As he swam, she called 911 and within minutes several police cars, fire trucks and 1 diver appeared.  Murphy had found a little ledge to rest on, and a fireman finally got down to the river and pulled a terrified Murphy to safety.

After NLOL got Murphy back, we got an inquiry from a Chicago Fireman about how Murphy was doing. Then that fireman showed up when some NLOL volunteers took sweets to the firehouse as a thank you for saving Murphy. Then that fireman asked if Murphy was available for adoption. And so it was that the fireman who rescued Murphy from the river, introduced his rescuee to his wife, Helen...and then rescued Murphy a second time by officially adopting him a few weeks later. To add to this story, Joel is a young firefighter and Murphy was his first "save". So at NLOL, it just reinforced a few different things. #1-Losing and then finding Murphy reminded us how big and wide our family stretches. #2-That every dog deserves a happy ending.

Murphy's new family had this to say:

"My wife Helen said she knew from the day I came home from the firehouse
talking about Murphy that we were going to be welcoming a new family
member into our home. When the alarm sounded for a person in the river,
everyone was on high alert. Once on the scene, that person turned out to
be Murphy fighting to stay afloat. Murphy's initially shy and uneasy
demeanor only made us want to give him the stability and love that he
needed. Day by day Murphy's timidness has disappeared and his true
fun-loving personality is beginning to come through. Helen and I are
thrilled that we were able to adopt such a fantastic dog, and the kindness
and support we received from Megan at New Leash on Life really made the
whole process feel right. We love Murphy and we're excited to have him as
a part of our family!"

Happy Adoption Day to Murphy and the the Rivamonte Family!



Cameron, Rosalyn & Janice

New Leash has been very busy working on saving dogs and finding great homes for them.  This summer seemed like it has flown by and many of the dogs we fell so deeply in love with have officially found their forever home.  Congrats to:

Cameron

Rosalyn:

Janice:

We are so happy to be a part of these dogs journeys in finding their homes.  Thank you adopters for opening your hearts to these lovable four legged animals.

Sweet, sweet Oliver [Calvin]

Calvin came to live with his new family quite quickly after coming into the NL family.  He was renamed Oliver once he was officially adopted making his new family a family of 5.  Oliver already has a dog brother Sinclair, and a cat sister, Mimi.  He is a great dog and really calms down quickly.

When he first came to live in the new family, he didn't know how to play with dogs nor did he realize what toys were used for.  Through continued praising of playing with his brother and learning to give his sister a wide girth when she's in one of her 'moods', he is already part of the family.  His favorite spot is snuggled up next to his mom and dad.

No dog is perfect and although Oliver is a wonderful addition to the family he is still working on space, a little leash aggression and some separation anxiety.  He is also in the process of learning basic commands and is showing great progress with consistency and boundaries.

Oliver's favorite food is cheese.  Carrying string cheese has worked wonders when redirecting him on walks and motivating his basic learning commands.  Oliver hadn't been tried out on kids and we were happy to find out that he was great with his three human nieces.  S (age 5), A (age 3), M (18 months) met Oliver and he was super gentle and just laid down while the girls climb on him.

Oliver is also excelling at the dog park.  He goes daily with Sinclair and can usually be found passed out on a piece of furniture relaxing for the rest of the day.

Oliver was crate trained when he came to us, and that has really helped with behavior modification.  He is a great addition to his family and is constantly adored by his whole family and the most popular with the nieces.

Herman

Herman (Hermie)

Herman came into our lives at New Leash a few weeks ago.  He was the so friendly and so happy and just wanted to be around everyone and anyone.  He was the the glue that joined the entire new class together.  Big dogs, to little dogs Herman wanted to greet everyone with a big smile and a big bundle of fur.  

After many brushes and being put on a bit of a diet, Herman was ready for adoption and has really excelled in his new home.  His family loves him and was already at home by the first night.  

We are so happy to welcome Herman and his new family into the New Leash community!