LONG BEACH, Miss. (WXXV) \u2014 For the past nine years, one Long Beach woman has opened her heart and her home to hundreds of foster dogs \u2014 giving each one a second chance at a better life. Now, she\u2019s turning their heartwarming journeys into children\u2019s books, sharing stories of rescue, hope, and the power of love.<\/p>\n
These four-legged friends have stories worth telling \u2014 and now, those journeys are coming to life in children\u2019s books, with a goal of inspiring the next generation and supporting a local rescue.<\/p>\n
Over the last nine years, Tired Dog Rescue volunteer Laura Messina has fostered over 200 dogs and helped them find their forever homes.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s such a need here that we can\u2019t say \u2018No.\u2019 There\u2019s always somebody else waiting to get some help, you know?\u201d said Messina.<\/p>\n
Now, Messina is bringing these rescue stories to life through rhyming children\u2019s books, taking young readers along on each dog\u2019s journey from foster care to a forever home. Through every page, she\u2019s sharing a bigger message \u2014 that a little kindness can go a long way, and every animal deserves love, compassion, and a second chance.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy stories are the hard cases. I like the medical cases. I like the biters. I like the ones that have been traumatized, and then they blossom. So, I like to show that those dogs aren\u2019t broken. They just need somebody that\u2019s not gonna give up on them,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The impact doesn\u2019t stop at the story\u2019s end. All proceeds from book sales go directly back to Tired Dog Rescue, helping provide the care these dogs need.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was just hoping to kind of inspire the younger kids to just say that dogs aren\u2019t toys \u2013 they\u2019re a commitment. We need you to be committed so that maybe in the future we\u2019ll have less dogs to rescue,\u201d said Messina. \u201cthat kindness starts at a young age. and, you know, a fun story with a little special twist at the end that the dog gets adopted and you get to help the rescue.\u201d<\/p>\n
Two of Messina\u2019s books are already available on Amazon \u2014 Denzy and the Big Happy Grin and Diachi and the Wiggly Wise Eyebrow. But, she\u2019s not stopping there \u2014 two more books are in the works.<\/p>\n
Messina also hopes to take these heartwarming stories beyond the page, visiting schools and libraries to inspire young readers.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnything to help the rescue \u2013 help the dogs. Even if it helps one dog, two dogs get the medical care they need and get them into a good home and send that message that\u2026 most of the people that volunteer with us aren\u2019t getting any younger, like me. And we need this next generation to step up and help, and volunteer, and correct some of the problems\u2026 that dogs are lifelong commitments \u2014 they\u2019re not toys,\u201d she said. \u201cThey\u2019re not \u2018Oh, it\u2019s a cute puppy\u2019 for a year and then they\u2019re gone. So, that\u2019s what I\u2019m hoping to resonate with people.\u201d<\/p>\n
Laura says she looks forward to telling more stories inspired by her foster dogs and creating books for young readers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LONG BEACH, Miss. (WXXV) \u2014 For the past nine years, one Long Beach woman has opened her heart…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":504956,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[131,133,132],"class_list":["post-504955","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-long-beach","tag-long-beach","tag-long-beach-headlines","tag-long-beach-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/504955","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=504955"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/504955\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/504956"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=504955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=504955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=504955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}