Khaz Brooks, Atlanta’s Dog Liberator

Khaz was born and raised in suburban Kennesaw, Ga, and graduated from Kennesaw Mountain High School, where she played in the high School drumline.  Though she now resides in Atlanta, she still attends Kennesaw State University and plans to graduate in the fall of 2012 with a degree in Forensic Anthropology.

Growing up petless for the first six years of her life, she has compensated greatly for what she considers “lost time”, for even as a little girl she knew working with animals was her calling. Currently, she works at K-9 Coach Bed and Bark, Cobb County’s top dog training, boarding and daycare facility, and winner of Cobb’s Best Small Business award in 2011. She hopes to earn a training apprenticeship in the coming months.

She enjoys reading and painting in her spare time, and has a strong affinity for the outdoors and the environment. Animals have always been a passion for Khaz and she has aspirations of one day attending vet school, and continuing her efforts for marine species conservation. Her partner, and best friend is Steven Golden, an Emory Undergrad who will be attending Georgia State Law School in the coming semester.

Though not in the same category as saving sea turtles and whales, Khaz has always held a deep fondness, and appreciation for rescue, and was always in search of ways she could help out.  When she was eighteen years old, she began searching for local rescues in need of volunteers, excited to finally be considered an “adult”, and very willing to learn. Much to her chagrin, her local rescues did not see her passion for animals as it truly was, and wrote her off as being too young,  too irresponsible to handle the complexities of dog rescue.

Disheartened, but not quite ready to give up, her discovery of  The Dog Liberator was somewhat accidental.  A google search of the word “Borzoi” brought her to a photo of one of The Dog Liberator’s then-adoptable dogs, Kudos.  It was love at first sight for Khaz, and she continued to follow the dog’s progress through the facebook fanpage.

“I was quickly drawn to the warm, friendly, and open manner of the rescue, and I quickly developed a weekly routine of browsing through all the new and wonderful dogs that passed through TDL’s doors.  Since I had become jaded as to the efficacy of  rescues in my area, I was impressed at the manner in which TDL conducted themselves, and even more impressed to discover that their methods worked,” explains Khaz.

It has been nearly a year since her initial discovery of The Dog liberator, and she is still just as impressed with their continuing compassion, level of care, and commitment to each dog as she was on that first day she unknowingly clicked in to the world of rescue.

Today Khaz and Steve are our Atlanta hub.  She and Steve hold down the foster-fort in Georgia, and sometimes transport dogs to Florida.  She has been posting transport photos and updates on Facebook for us, and now she will be posting on TDL’s website.  Her first post will be about a gorgeous English Shepherd named Sonnet.

To date, Khaz has transported and fostered numerous dogs, but her first pull for TDL was Noodle, in 2010!  Holly and I had seen Noodle on a petfinder site in the Atlanta area, and her photo made us laugh.  The joke was on us, when a week later, Khaz told me that she wanted to pull her, “I can’t stop thinking about her.”  I gave Khaz the green light, and Noodle proved to be an awesome dog!  A few dogs later, Khaz then pulled Memphis Blues, a young pup who had not been properly socialized, and labeled not adoptable.  He was adopted within weeks. Another great save by Khaz!

Recently, both Khaz and Amy Benz were paramount in the transport of Rhys.  It was a very joyous day for me personally, knowing that our own TDL peeps were coordinating transports and making arrangements for our rescued dogs, working together like a well-oiled machine.  Their professionalism throughout this transport was impressive!

We are honored to welcome Khaz & Steve to The Dog Liberator!