- This happy rescue dog is having
one of the best days of his life,
his very own dog's day out.
And, the way he's bouncing around like a jumping bean
is fitting because his name is Garbanzo.
(upbeat music)
One dog, one day, and one mission,
where I take them out on the best day they've ever had.
And, work to raise enough awareness
to help them find their forever home.
I'm Rocky Kanaka, and this is Dog's Day Out.
I'll tell you something about this shelter dog
that'll make you really happy.
This is the first time that he's ever
felt the sand between his paws,
used his ears to hear those ocean waves crashing in,
or that powerful nose to smell that crisp, salty ocean air.
But, what will break your heart
is Garbanzo has never had a home.
And, what causes this homeless dog to struggle even more,
is that he's recently gone blind.
I knew that to truly understand how Garbanzo got here,
I needed to take a deep dive into his past.
And, when I did, I discovered his puppy picture.
And, at first, I really struggled with
how someone couldn't just grab this little bean
and wrap him up in a blanket like a burrito,
and take him home forever.
But then, I learned that, over time
Garbanzo's eyesight started slipping.
It's got to be extremely difficult as a puppy
to navigate your way through a shelter.
With your eyesight slipping and no one there
to guide you through the process, it becomes really scary.
And, as potential adopters met with him,
he couldn't see them.
And, it was likely that the only form of communication
that he could muster was barking and shying away.
(barking)
The lack of connection surely led to them questioning
whether he was right for their family.
And, that means he continues to be passed by.
Until now, because today is his dog's day out.
And, I knew the perfect place and way to kick this off.
The place is Michelson Found Animals Adopt and Shop.
They're a non profit store that has pet adoptions,
pet supplies, grooming, daycare, where all of the profits
go back into saving more pets.
When they heard about Garbanzo only having
a fraction of his eyesight left,
and being a special needs dog, they jumped into action.
And, he's been staying with them until he finds a family.
So, I thought what better place than the place
he's most comfortable in right now.
Where he can start the day off celebrating
with all of his friends, and with the volunteers,
and staff that have really come to love Garbanzo.
Okay, so that's the place.
Now, to the way that we're gonna kick this day off.
Garbanzo is one, and so we're gonna throw him
his very own birthday party, and then we're all
gonna work together to get him adopted
so that he never misses a birthday in his entire life.
Okay, so I hand baked this dog cake for Garbanzo
because I wanted him to know how much love
was going into his special day.
And, I gotta tell ya, I was nervous
that he might not like it.
You know what, let's bring the cake to him.
You gotta watch what happens next.
You know, at first he was really nervous about his cake.
It's almost like he felt that he didn't deserve this cake.
But then, as we all gathered around,
and showed him love and support,
and assured him that this was for him,
that he was special, that he was loved,
he relaxed and just, I don't even know
if I know how to explain it, I mean.
And, you know what, I probably don't have to.
I mean, look at that derp cake face he has right now.
I say we just get this party started.
♪ Happy birthday ♪
- Okay, let's be civil about this guys,
we need plates, come on.
What kind of party is this?
You guys are crazy.
♪ Hope you have a good one ♪
♪ Hope you eat some cake ♪
♪ Hope you have a lot of fun ♪
♪ On your special day ♪
♪ We're so happy you were born ♪
♪ Life is a beautiful thing ♪
♪ One seal on this day that are here to say ♪
♪ Happy birthday ♪
♪ Happy birthday to you ♪
♪ Happy birthday ♪
♪ Happy birthday to you ♪
- Happy birthday Garbanzo!
(clapping)
- So, not all the dogs could go out to the yard
because, you know, that could cause some fights.
I am bringing cake in here.
And, I think Rex should get a piece of cake.
Rex, hi, here you go, there you go my man.
Okay Rex.
Need a little birthday cake?
Oh, you're so gentle.
In my opinion, every dog deserves birthday cake.
I think this has been a successful birthday party.
In fact, I'll even go as far as to say,
this has been the best birthday party
for a blind dog that I've ever been a part of.
We've got more to do for this bean's dog's day out.
So, let's keep going.
Okay, wait, before we get started,
if you love dogs and you haven't subscribed yet,
what are you waiting for?
Hit that subscribe button, and turn on notifications.
The great thing about what I do
is that you can do it too, right?
Go to a shelter, take a dog on a walk,
and that will give him such happiness.
But, with Garbanzo, it's just not that easy.
I didn't wanna take Garbanzo out on his dog's day out
until he was ready to enjoy it.
So, we had to work on building trust,
and I had to work on really figuring out
how I could help him.
Now, the learning is still ongoing.
But, right outta the gate, I did some things.
I read through as many blind dog books that I could find.
Gillian, from San Diego, was even kind enough
to come up and visit with us.
And, she taught me a lot on Garbanzo.
And, she's a trainer who specializes in blind dogs.
And, I also learned a lot from David, a dog behaviorist.
- One thing I can tell you about dealing with a blind dog,
or anything, is we can't feel sorry for 'em.
A balanced dog doesn't care what it looks like,
doesn't care what it sounds like,
wants to know what it smells like.
The brain can only be in sort of
an unstable state of mind for so long.
- So now, as we head over to Huntington Dog Beach
for the rest of his dog's day out,
it should be an amazing experience for him.
And also, I think this is a perfect opportunity
to put into practice everything
that we've worked on together.
(upbeat music)
We're making some progress.
- [Woman] Yeah, you're getting there.
- So, see skateboarder, and look, fine.
Old Garbanzo would've been flipping out.
You know, a lot of these things we're doing,
this work, is really important because these are
the tools and the skill sets that are
gonna set him up for success when he is adopted.
It's not just to get him ready
for the best day that he's ever had,
but also to get him ready
so that he's ready to go into a home.
Now, don't get me wrong, if you adopt Garbanzo,
you are taking on a project.
But, hopefully he's one step closer to being ready.
You know, what I love about this moment right here,
is we're about to see if he just loves the ocean,
and we worked so hard to get to this point.
Here's how we're gonna do this,
we can't let him off the leash because he's blind,
and we want him to hang around.
So, I've got an idea that we're gonna try.
Okay, so check this out, I got this 30 foot leash.
Sorry buddy.
Sorry, I should've told you about that.
This thing, we're just gonna let him run
on this leash because he's never really had that,
he's never really had that freedom.
I'm safe with it because we've got
a couple layers of safety, one, he's microchipped.
Found.org if your dog is not registered
in the microchip, go do that.
And then, two, we've got this Whistle right here.
And, what I love about Whistle is
it's a GPS tracker for your dog.
So, that way if something were to happen,
we'd be able to track him.
And, Whistle's such an awesome company,
they're also giving 20% if you buy
one of these to Adopt and Shop.
So, I'll put the link down below.
Check it out.
And, let's go play in the ocean.
♪ In the stillness somewhere above ♪
♪ The city lights ♪
♪ You're falling in love ♪
♪ Still aware ♪
♪ You know it is true ♪
♪ That you were lost and this is a clue ♪
♪ Love is forever ♪
♪ To believe you gotta let go ♪
♪ Light as a feather ♪
♪ Lucid dreaming over Tokyo ♪
♪ Love is forever ♪
♪ Gotta let go ♪
♪ Believe, believe, believe ♪
♪ Love is forever ♪
♪ Gotta let go ♪
♪ Believe, believe, believe ♪
♪ Love is forever ♪
♪ Gotta let go ♪
♪ Believe, believe, believe ♪
♪ Just close your eyes ♪
♪ To believe you gotta let go ♪
♪ Just close your eyes ♪
- I couldn't be happier, I mean, this worked out perfect.
He's so happy.
Look, I'm just getting the chills
just from how amazing that is.
You can just feel how happy he is.
Every dog deserves this opportunity.
Come on bean, let's go.
Please leave a comment of encouragement
for Garbanzo, and I'll make sure
that I read as many of those as I can to him.
And, share this with everyone that you can
because you never know who might see this
and want Garbanzo to be a part of their family.
And, one of the biggest ways you can help,
click the link below,
or go to rockykanaka.com/garbanzo to donate.
Also, by purchasing a Whistle GPS tracker
or a Dog's Day Out t-shirt, a portion of those sales
will go to Garbanzo's fund.
Links to everything including
Garbanzo's adoption application,
and some of the wonderful people
that helped make Garbanzo's dog's day out so special,
in the description below.
And, if you love Dog's Day Out, and you wanna see more,
click that I in the top right hand corner.