Abandoned dogs still homeless

GLENDALE — All three dogs that were found abandoned in a foreclosed north Glendale home last month have not found new families yet, officials said.

All the dogs are in good health after being abandoned for weeks at a home on Delisle Court off North Verdugo Road. Families have expressed interest in two of the dogs, but one, a King Charles spaniel mix, needs some behavior training before he can be adopted, said Ellen Leyda, a coordinator at Glendale Humane Society.

Someone had been leaving water and food for the dogs until rescue arrived. The house abutted a hillside, and the area has a history of mountain lion sightings, Leyda said.

“They are like other dogs — they like people a lot, the Chihuahua especially. He just wants to curl up on your lap,” Leyda said.

The home foreclosed last August, but homeowners fought eviction until June, said representatives for Property Masters Reality, who found the dogs when they arrived to secure the home.

The organization contacted Cheryl Lang, founder of No Paws Left Behind Inc., a nonprofit that specializes in abandoned pets due to foreclosure. Through some Los Angeles connections, the Houston-based group was able to find them a home at Glendale Humane Society.

They have their own cages at a no-kill shelter, and are fully vaccinated, Leyda said.

Neighbors said they couldn’t fathom why the pets would be abandoned.

But the foreclosure experience is oftentimes too much for families to grapple with, and if they do contact animal services, the typically underfunded and overfilled operations try to dissuade rather than accommodate families, Lang said.

“You have to figure out where you’re going to take your family and what are you going to do with your pets,” she said. “If you don’t find anyone who will help you, you leave them behind because you hope the real estate agent or the bank will be shortly behind you and it will be someone else’s responsibility.

“Right or wrong, that’s the reality.”

Families can find short-term housing through the No Paws Left Behind website, as well as pet-friendly apartments and foster groups, Lang said.

“It was probably a family who just didn’t know what to do,” she said. “There are so many other things we can do other than torture these poor little guys and leaving them.”