North Bay Spirit Award winner has found homes for more than 1,000 abused, neglected dogs

When Duane Ledward once again meets the dogs he’s rescued and placed in forever homes, they wag their tails, demonstrating they remember him, the man who gave them a second chance.

Ledward rescues dogs with broken legs, broken backs or birth defects. Some are ready to deliver a litter; others are within a hair’s breadth of death from neglect or abuse. As an animal lover, he finds some of the stories of what man can do to man’s best friend hard to stomach. But when it comes to dogs, Ledward is into producing happy endings. He will do whatever it takes to rescue the dogs least likely to be adopted and give them the lives he believes they deserve, for however long they have left, even if it is only a few days with a loving touch and send-off as they scamper over “The Rainbow Bridge.”

Ledward, aka “The Dog Whisperer,” is the founder of Dogma Animal Rescue. You might say for canines, he is St. Jude, the patron saint of lost causes.

In the seven years since the Sebastopol resident founded Dogma, he has rescued and placed more than 1,000 dogs, most from overcrowded, underfunded animal shelters in the Central Valley that have no resources to care for pregnant or severely ill or injured dogs. He brings them to Sonoma County, gives them the medical care they need, which can run into the thousands of dollars, spays or neuters them and gives them all their shots. Then he places them in foster homes for more TLC, training and socialization before they’re put up for adoption, almost exclusively in Sonoma, Napa or Mendocino counties.

“He really does so much for dogs. He’s an amazing person,” said Cassie Rico-?Heffington, the director of Tulare County Animal Services. She frequently calls on Ledward when she gets dogs with slim chances of getting adopted that otherwise would be put down.

For his devotion to the cause of saving and rehabilitating imperfect pups, Ledward is May’s North Bay Spirit award winner. The award, a joint project of The Press Democrat and Comcast NBCU, recognizes individuals who go all-in for a cause, often with an organization they created or built themselves that fills an important community need while serving others.

Winners devote countless hours to their nonprofits and projects. The Spirit Award aims to not just recognize their service but to shine a light on projects and nonprofits doing good works and to inspire others to volunteer.

Alicia Collins, co-owner of K9 Activity Club and Lodge in Santa Rosa, which works with Dogma to train and socialize many of its rescues, said Ledward has “a huge heart.

“He really treats each dog like they’re his own. He’s an advocate for them for their whole life, whereas most rescues (organizations) are interested in getting the adoption done.”

Collins said Ledward will call her if an adoptive owner has trouble with their Dogma rescue, like potty training issues, and he will ask what can be done to help. He wants to do whatever he can to ensure the placement is a success, she said.

But the 49-year-old Ledward said the dogs are good medicine for him as well.

“If you need to clear your head or you need some refilling in your head and soul, you sit with an animal and give a few scratches on the head and some belly rubs and spend some one-on-one time with them, and it runs right off on you,” he said.

Ledward is a one-man administrative operation, working out of a basement storeroom at the Animal Kingdom Veterinary Hospital in Sebastopol, one of several vets who support his efforts and provide critical medical care. Here he keeps supplies from dog food to potty pads for his “fosters,” the big network of carefully vetted volunteers who give his rescues a safe harbor until they can find their forever homes.

Dogma strives to provide everything they need to care for the animals in their temporary care.

His work is powered by the passions of volunteers, including the broad network of rescuers who look for doomed dogs in California shelters and try to find appropriate rescue organizations.

Difficult cases

Ledward is known for taking the dogs nobody wants.

“Some shelters will call us directly,” he said.

“Veterinary hospitals will call us if they have an animal that has been injured badly and the owners can’t afford treatment. It’s an option for them rather than euthanasia. We get a lot of calls.

“When I first started, I would hit the pavement and look for dogs. I don’t look for dogs anymore. They just come to me. But some days looking at the number of requests we get is overwhelming.”

Volunteers help with tasks such as twice-a-month adoption events at Sebastopol Hardware, though those events have been temporarily suspended during the coronavirus quarantine. In the meantime, Ledward is promoting his dogs heavily on Facebook, reaching thousands of followers with stories that pull the heartstrings. Social media has made the rescue process easier, he said, with shelters and rescue groups able to immediately post stories and photos about available dogs without the lag time that came with email.

Hank’s story

Few stories are as heart-wrenching as Hank’s. He was found in March near death, wrapped in blood-soaked towels in a dumpster in Madera, where he had been tossed after someone beat him multiple times all over his face and head.

A passerby heard a whimpering and pulled out Hank. He had fractures in his skull and face and a badly damaged eye.

One of Ledward’s rescue connections in the area saw Hank in an online posting, grabbed him and took him to a vet, who said he did what he could but that Hank would be dead within 24 hours.

“So she called me and I agreed to take the dog and pay for treatment,” Ledward said. “I contacted people I know who had planes and had him flown here on a Sunday morning and on a surgery table within four hours. That’s what saved the dog.”

Hank spent his first nights after surgery with Ledward, moaning in pain. Ledward appealed for help to veterinarian Gabrielle Goetze, who works at Devotion Animal Hospital in Santa Rosa.

A five-year supporter of Dogma who also fosters, she took the fragile dog into her home to manage his medication and recovery.

He had multiple fractures to his skull and sinuses and damage to the cheekbone beneath his eye. One of his eyes was too damaged to save and had to be removed, she said. At first he was so brain-damaged and traumatized he would stand frozen in one spot for long periods like a stuffed animal.

“It probably took two weeks before the personality of Hank came back,” she said. First there was a wag of his tail, then he could walk on his own. Pretty soon he was playing and getting into mischief.

“I came downstairs and the trash can was overturned and trash strewn all over the floor,” she said. “That’s a really good sign.”

Hank won the hearts of a large following on Facebook and drew many applications for adoption. But Ledward vets scrupulously to find just the right situation for each dog. He loves to find homes where at least one person works at home or works or goes to school part time so the dog isn’t left alone for the entire day.

In May, Hank joined his new family and pack, Brian and Jill Wellington of Santa Rosa and their two dogs and three cats.

Jill Wellington, who does equine bodywork, said Hank suffers separation anxiety but otherwise is a happy dog adjusting well to life with one eye.

Not all stories have a happy ending. Lilly, a trembling chihuahua, arrived in May afraid of the world.

“In the few days she spent with us, she learned that the world isn’t all bad and people can be kind and loving,” Dogma posted on Facebook May 12. “Yesterday Lilly fell ill and was dead of Parvo 24 hours later. Her life did not go unnoticed. She leaves behind many broken hearts. We love you, Lilly. Run free now. Please, please, please vaccinate your pets.

“We had a couple wins but then followed by four losses, right after each other. That’s how it goes in rescue,” Ledward lamented.

“You can’t save them all but we try our best. If you’re going to take an animal, you’ve got to give it everything you can.”

More than 1,000 rescued

Ledward might feel a bit of kinship with dogs because of his upbringing. Born in Fremont and raised in Placerville by a single mother, he was the last child in his family and didn’t get a lot of attention or supervision. He dropped out of high school when he was a freshman to help support himself, becoming the youngest employee at a Pizza Hut in the 1980s.

But his family always had pets, from chickens and rabbits to small farm animals, rodents and a parrot. And there were several dogs.

He enlisted in the U.S. Army at 17. In exchange for the promise of a better assignment, he trained to be a drill sergeant. The diaphragm-powered yell he had to master has helped round up runaway dogs.

“Every dog has a sound. If you found that sound, you can get that dog. But you’ve got to find the sound,” he said.

After years in the military, he found time to get his GED and a paralegal certificate from San Francisco State. During the economic downturn ?10 years ago he took the opportunity to finish his history degree at Sonoma State. He now makes a living doing freelance administrative work and the odd gig. It’s all in service to the dogs, which amount to a full-time job.

He started in animal rescue about 12 years ago, first fostering and then volunteering with a dog rescue organization he wound up running.

Parting ways after a disagreement over a decision to euthanize a dog - Ledward was against it - he started his own rescue in 2013, initially with the vision of focusing on pregnant dogs and dogs with newborns. At that time, most pregnant dogs in shelters were destroyed. Newborn puppies may not survive in a shelter.

“They need to be kept warm and clean. The mother needs to not be stressed and producing milk,” Ledward said.

“In some shelters there’s going to be a run with a concrete floor with a drain in the middle. Each one is different. I’m not talking about our shelters here, which are way better than most. But I’ve been to shelters where there is ?2 inches of feces in the run. In those environments, newborns are going to catch a bacterial infection, waste away and die.”

Over the years he has expanded his scope to include sick, injured and abused dogs, as well as some healthier animals.

Puppies are easiest to place. The $400 adoption fee helps support vaccinations, microchipping and a first exam and supports care for dogs that need expensive medical treatments. The adoption fee for adult dogs is $300. But the fee is waived for senior dogs.

Last year Dogma suffered a setback when the organization’s storeroom flooded, destroying virtually everything. Donations and a grant from the local Rotary helped them get back on their feet.

It’s not easy work, particularly emotionally. Dogma has taken in dogs from hoarder houses in frightful conditions, dogs tied up and left to starve and dogs like Barbie, who was thrown from a car and left for days in the middle of an orchard without food or water. An animal rescue tagged Ledward and now Barbie is fully recovered and romping about on 6 acres in Crescent City with her new family.

“I’ve seen him pull dogs out of a shelter because they were an older dog with a tumor and put them in foster care because he doesn’t want them to spend their last days in a shelter,” Goetze said.

Ledward figures he’s rescued more than 1,000 dogs. He also fosters himself and has adopted dogs.

Deformed legs

His current sweetheart is Timmy, “an inbred nightmare” as he puts it, who was born with two deformed legs and was bound for euthanasia. Dr. Russ Gurevitch, a friend of Dogma, did enough repair work so the tiny dog could at least hobble on three legs.

It’s the wins that help Ledward stay with rescue, an avocation that eventually drains many volunteers so much they have to withdraw.

“These animals come in from god-awful situations,” he said. “I empathize with everyone but I sympathize with animals more. They’re like kids. They don’t deserve anything that’s happening to them.”

So he keeps fighting to save lives, one dog at a time.

“Rescuing these animals is a big adrenaline rush,” Ledward said.

“Once you see them and you’ve closed the book on one, you take a deep breath and know you’ve won.”

Staff Writer Meg McConahey can be reached at meg.mcconahey@pressdemocrat.com or 707-521-5204.