Yossi Ohana is known to many Montreal locals as a popular DJ. Not only has he been seen spinning at many of the cities hottest spots, but he's also been fortunate enough to play at Oscar and Grammy parties, plus events with celebrities like The Backstreet Boys and Usher. Ohana has also spent the past seven years touring with one of Montreal's most loved comedians, Sugar Sammy. He's also one of the faces behind some of the coolest and trendiest spots in our city including Biiru, The Escondite Franchise, and Koa Lua. Editor's Choice: Quebec Just Released Its Plan For A Potential Second Wave Of COVID-19 (VIDEO) But, his hard work and passion are not solely put into restaurants and events, as Ohana is very fervent about his non-profit Rescue All Dogs (R.A.D.). With co-founder Kim Desautels, the two founded R.A.D., where they aim to be the voices for these loving animals. He went on to tell us that "Rescuing dogs is something that is truly rewarding in ways I can't explain. I always make time no matter how busy I am." Recently, he and his team drove across Canada to pick up a group of mistreated dogs and that was just one of their many rescue mission. We got to pick his brain about the rescuing process and the importance of what R.A.D. is all about. Answers have been edited and condensed for clarity. Is it hard to bring the dogs back to Montreal from the US or other places in Canada — especially with the borders being closed at the moment? View this post on Instagram Needed a little bit of time to decompress from this whole trip we just did to Manitoba to transport and home 23 babies from there thanks to the help of the amazing @k9advocatesmanitoba. I am still a bit tired from all of it but really wanted to take this time to thank some people who made this mission a reality. First, @kimdesautels... your passion and dedication to wanting to help save neglected and abused dogs all over is infectious. Your craziness,determination and focus is one of a kind. @rescuealldogsco is where it is today and growing because of your heart of gold. @khoffster like I said via text, you truly are the backbone of RAD. Kim says it over and over again, without you, a lot of this wouldn't be possible. To the volunteers that made this mission, @kimlevy @_thisgirlyouknow @themonthofjune92 @chefrobleonard, you guys are extraordinary!! You took time out of your everyday lives to go into this trip in which we all barely slept, drove about 60 hours in 4 days just to help give a second chance to dogs that would maybe have no chance at all. To @nicolesvoboda_ @xoxlaurenelizabeth @tenysarkissian_makeupartist, in the background making magic happen with fosters and donations and logistics here in Montreal. Thank you so much for that. To the fosters and hopefully foster fails, I hope you understand the impact you have on those dogs lives at this point. You will change everything for them. Make some of them trust humans again. Make them sleep on proper beds. Love them. Appreciate them. Give them proper food and a proper home. To the donators, funds are always needed to do stuff like this. You helped make this happen!!! To the team @earthrated, you guys are truly amazing. Such big hearts. You donated so much to help these dogs come to MTL and have a 2nd chance. This was RAD's first BIG rescue mission. Hopefully not the last. I truly thank all of you for the support, generosity and love you have for animals in crazy times we are living. Gonna go back to sleep now and start giving you some more DJ mixes and live feeds.... ❤️ P.S. jess, you didn't accept my follow request yet so didn't have a pic to post about you 🤷🏻♂️ #adoptdontshop #rescuealldogs #rad A post shared by DJ YO-C Montreal/L.A. (@djyoc) on Jul 22, 2020 at 2:34pm PDT COVID hit us hard, we had to cancel a few rescue missions because we couldn't cross the border. We have about a dozen dogs in the Middle East that we still need to fly over. Usually, it's not extremely hard to bring back dogs from other countries as we do a lot of vetting on the dogs before transporting them in the original country they are rescued. Custom/borders always appreciate that. We do come across problems when it comes to transporting Pitbull type dogs as most airlines refuse to fly them. How do you guys find these dogs in need? I will head to kill shelters and try to get dogs that are on the euthanasia list and try to get them out of there before anything happens to them. View this post on Instagram Kali was pulled by Yossi from an LA shelter where she was going to be euthanized for the simple reason of lack of space in the shelter. Millions of innocent healthy dogs are euthanized yearly due to the overpopulation and humans failing them. Kali was one of the lucky ones that got out alive. She hadn’t seen her rescuer in months but when she saw him walking down the street she knew and recognized him. This is the reaction, pure love. Rescue dogs are so grateful. The love and loyalty that you get from a rescue is truly something like no other. 💛🙏🏼🐾 A post shared by R.A.D. (@rescuealldogsco) on Jun 22, 2020 at 4:54pm PDT Kim also gets contacted by other rescues that need help. What is the biggest misconception people have about rescue pets? That there aren't any purebreds and that rescue dogs are damaged in some way, which is far from the truth. View this post on Instagram Here he is ... Meet SNOW! Snow is a smallish terrier mix approx 1 yrs old. He was abandoned by his family and dumped, @betalebanon rescued him and he’s doing great. He’s a love bug! He will be arriving Montreal April 24th (fingers crossed flights will be back to normal by then) If you or anyone is interested in this boy, you can apply in the link in bio. 💛 A post shared by R.A.D. (@rescuealldogsco) on Mar 17, 2020 at 8:38pm PDT They euthanize amazing dogs even puppies daily for the simple reason of lack of space at the shelters. This includes ALL breeds, small and big. What can Montrealers do to help R.A.D.? View this post on Instagram Still on the road! It’s been a long uneventful 24 hrs, we are tired but so excited to get to the doggos! We are in the last stretch of the trip. We wanted to take a moment to say a BIG THANK YOU to @earthrated and @enterprise for partnering up with us for this mission. We can’t do any of this without help. These companies believe in us, what we do, and want to help dogs in need. We are feeling very grateful for them and all of you. We have the RADDEST community. 💛🐾 A post shared by R.A.D. (@rescuealldogsco) on Jul 18, 2020 at 9:47am PDT Rescues cost money — it's the sad reality of it. If we have no funding, we can't save the lives of these dogs. We are 100% non-profit and the majority of our funds go to medical care. That being said, monetary donations of any amount keeps us going or even calling our amazing veterinarians at Vet Clinic Pointe Saint-Charles at (514) 938-5911 to donate directly towards our bill. Gently used dog items as well, like toys, beds, collars, leashes we always need. We always look for experienced fosters, too. Simply sharing, advocating, educating, and being a voice for the voiceless helps in really big ways.
