Southwest Las Vegas-based Pawsitive Difference a stop for dogs on the way to new homes

About a dozen dogs — mostly small and wearing yellow bandanas around their necks — played and ran freely around Kellogg-Zaher dog park on a chilly Monday.

They hadn’t always had that liberty.

The dogs have experienced trauma such as abandonment, severe injury and illnesses, leading to them being taken in by rescue group Pawsitive Difference LV.

The nonprofit was created in 2016 by Southwest Las Vegas woman Annette Thomas and her accountant Margaret Deibert, who helped her attain 501(c)(3) nonprofit status. Thomas, 52, said she has loved dogs since she was much younger, but hadn’t thought of starting a rescue until Deibert encouraged the idea.

“Before I even became a rescue, I was doing it and I didn’t know what a rescue was,” Thomas says. “I was finding dogs and spending my own money. I didn’t have foster homes; I was the home.”

Thomas says her rescue journey began about five years ago with a Chihuahua named Brandi, who was being given away on Craigslist by a woman who found her.

“I took her from a bad situation, but I couldn’t keep her. I got her a home,” Thomas says. “She was severely neglected and abused. I had to take time, about a month, to get her to like humans … She’s still very afraid of humans, but she loves her new owners.”

Thomas has rescued nearly 100 dogs since, finding each a permanent home. This doesn’t include the dogs currently in foster homes and those that are on trials with potential adopters. Thomas says it is hard at times to give up the dogs she has fostered.

“It’s a joke I have that it’s kind of like the Mafia. Once you’re in, you can’t get out,” Thomas says. “Sometimes I get excited to get a dog to a home, but that’s still my dog because you’re emotionally attached to them and I try to keep a relationship with them.”

Thomas says the most dogs she has rescued in one month is 36, but the average is about 10 a month. Thomas, a full-time hairstylist, says operating the rescue group is a time-consuming, “demanding hobby” that she loves.

Pawsitive Difference holds events throughout Las Vegas where the public can meet dogs and sign up for adoption. Thomas posts the events and listings of the dogs on the organization’s Facebook page.

“We are really looking for matches, not just any type of homes,” Thomas says.

Summerlin residents Sue and Kert Robins, who adopted a beagle Chihuahua named Bella in August from Pawsitive Difference, said they appreciated the one-month trial period that allowed them to see if Bella and their other dog would get along.

With other rescues, “it’s like you buy unseen,” Sue says. “There’s no trial; you can’t do a meet-and-greet ahead of time with your other pets. It’s like you’re stuck sort of whether it works out or not.”

Rebecca Tarr of Spring Valley adopted two beagle Chihuahuas — a mother named Sam, who is between 2 and 3 years old, and her 4-month-old puppy Baxter. Tarr lost one of her dogs to prostate cancer, so her friend Julie Blount, a foster owner for Pawsitive Difference, showed her the two dogs.

“I don’t have kids, so they are my family,” Tarr says. “I can’t imagine my life without them or what it was like before.”

To reach View intern reporter Kailyn Brown, call 702-387-5233 or email kbrown@viewnews.com. Follow her on Twitter @KailynHype.