By Jarissa Aquinde, Positively Woof Rescue and Adoption Story Editor
Darla (who was saved by Karma Rescue) recently turned 7 years old and was adopted by her forever parents, Jerry and Courtney, in mid October 2016. She is an American Bulldog/Boxer mix (aka “Bulloxer”).
Karma Rescue had Darla since she was a puppy. She was actually adopted when she was young, by a family who ended up moving to Colorado with her and without telling Karma Rescue, dropped her off at a kill shelter with bite marks all over her head. The shelter called Karma and asked them to claim Darla or they would have to put her down within a week. What this family did clearly breached their adoption contract, not to mention an inhumane act of injustice to the poor puppy. Karma sued and won the case.
Ever since that incident, Darla had been fostered by different caretakers until Jerry and Courtney saw her profile on PetFinder.com. They immediately fell in love with her and wanted to meet her. Since she was being fostered in the Bay Area, it took some coordination to get her to Los Angeles to meet her new humans. The first meeting with Darla and her assigned K9’s Only trainer went well, and she was very hyper. It was a bit intimidating at first, because neither Jerry nor Courtney had interacted much with a strong and energetic Bulldog before. Despite this, they knew after that visit that they were going to give her a forever home. Being an older dog and cared for by Karma Rescue and K9’s Only her entire life, she had a solid training foundation that they could really build upon, right from the start.
Both Darla’s parents work freelance in the film industry, so, they have constantly changing schedules, but also a lot of time to dedicate to her. Darla is now an active part of their lives and they take her to their office via the LA subway, take her on road trips and exercise her as much as they can. Given her history of being abandoned by her previous family, as well as switching foster homes her entire life, she doesn’t like to be left alone and always wants to be with her parents. However, she has been getting used to being home alone. She’s confident enough to know that her humans will always come back.
Like most dogs, Darla loves to chase squirrels. Her last foster parents told Jerry and Courtney that she once encountered a squirrel that fought back and actually won! She is a very loving dog and her favorite time of the day is when she jumps on her parents bed in the morning to say ‘hello’. In essence, she is a big baby who didn’t seem to have much of a childhood growing up. She is very needy, playful and loves to rip up toys as a sign of happiness. Her smile is captivating and people on the street always think that she is a puppy.
Follow Darling Darla on Instagram @darla_wunderdog
