Susanna Morgan has a full house near the Village—two kids, two dogs, many fish and a gecko—but she decided to take in another dog to foster for Voice for the Animals, a Santa Monica-based nonprofit.
Morgan grew up in the Valley with a bunch of dogs, including a young Dalmatian-pointer mix that the family took on a houseboat trip. Her barks echoed over the water, so she was named Echo.
After Morgan attended Smith College in Massachusetts and got married, she and her husband moved to Pacific Palisades in 2009.
“This is such a great place. Everybody is so friendly,” Morgan says. “I belong to the Woman’s Club and feel like I’m part of a community. Having dogs in the Palisades is the best; I love how there are water bowls out for the dogs in town and you can eat outside with your dogs. It’s how I’ve met people.”
Morgan’s eldest dog, Cleo, 13, is a Boston bull terrier that she found at a pet shop. “She’s been my only dog with health problems and she’s the only pure breed,” says Morgan, who later acquired Frank, a 28-pound Daschund mix, from a rescue shelter.
Earlier this year, Morgan’s mother called and said she had been on the Web site for Voice for the Animals and saw a cat that she liked. The family went to the Sunday VFTA adoption site on Swarthmore, and while Morgan’s mother visited the cat, Morgan spotted Shaggy, a Shih Tzu poodle mix. She fell in love with him, and her son Jacob said, “Well, let’s get him.” They talked to Voice for the Animals and decided to foster him until he found a home.
“But we’re keeping him,” says Morgan, a single mom. “I just love him. He’s so sweet and lovable and sleeps in bed with me or my kids.”
Morgan prefers to think that Shaggy was named for the rapper rather than the Scooby Doo character. This summer she hopes to train him to be a therapy dog. She remembers a few years ago, when she was in the ICU at St. John’s Hospital, how a therapy dog sat with her and how much it helped her spirits.
Morgan’s two sons, Jacob, 8, and William, 6, attend Village School and both love dogs.
“It’s funny,” Morgan says. “Sometimes we have kids come over who don’t know how to react to our dogs. I didn’t want that for my kids. I let them walk the dogs and the dogs cry when they get on the school bus. My kids are so great with them: they play with them, involve them in their games, and try to teach them tricks. I hope that one day one of them will become a veterinarian.”
This page is available to subscribers. Click here to sign in or get access.
