To Rescuers

[clara]

So a couple of weeks ago, I got my feet wet with helping rescue Cooper from the county shelter here in Eugene. It was a great experience and I'm thrilled to see him thriving as a foster at RDF's.

 

But today, I looked online at the shelter's website, because they don't list their animals on petfinder. There are two lovely male BCs in there this week. One looks like a classic rough coat black and white, the other is a black and white smooth coat like Cooper. I know I shouldn't be, but I'm a little shocked. I'd only looked at petfinder before, and in my area it seemed like all the BCs were in rescues already, and I didn't know the shelter didn't list there.

 

So to those of you who run rescues, how do you keep up with the constant stream of BCs into the shelters? If there is a BC a week going into my local shelter, I don't think I can pull all of them! Do you just have to resign yourself to the fact that you can't help all of them or are there resources out there that I just need to get connected to in order to get each of them out of the shelter? I'm sure this sounds like a naive question, but I just don't know how I can live with pulling one BC, then the next week leaving two of them there! On the other hand, I don't know if I, or my dogs, have the stamina to pull a different dog each week!

 

The website where they are listed is LCARA impounds, and it looks like they're pretty full again.

 

ETA: The first one that was picked up last week is no longer listed, so hopefully it had owners who came and got it.

[MaryP]

Networking. In FL, we don't get a real high number of bc's showing up in shelters, so we can usually keep up with it. There are several of us in FL that specifically do bc rescue and we all communicate with each other. If one rescue can't take a dog, we check with the others to see if they can. I also work with non-bc rescuers, specifically, a couple of aussie rescuers. I'm also on a few Yahoo Groups that are specifically set up to help shelter dogs and rescues, both bc and non-bc. Many shelters that don't post dogs on Petfinder will post them on Pet Harbor, so I have a query that automatically runs every day and checks all the shelters on Pet Harbor for bcs. There are several other volunteer groups that don't actually function as rescues, but work with particular shelters or groups of shelters to help get the word out about dogs in danger. I communicate with them regularly and they let me know when they come across a bc. The longer you do it, obviously, the more contacts you make. Even though we are in pretty good shape in FL, there are still times when it's just not possible to get a dog out and that just really sucks. It sucks because the majority of the dogs that I get come from kill shelters and they are very close (sometimes within hours) of losing their life when I get them. All have been wonderful dogs and I can't imagine them having been PTS. So, I know that there are many, many more like them that get missed all the time. I also know that in other parts of the country (e.g., the Midwest - Puppy Mill Capitol, TX - byb Capitol), there are more bcs needing rescue than there are rescues able to take them. So, I'm sure they face this dilemma on a daily basis. All that I know is that all of the people that I work with bust their butts every day to try to save as many dogs as possible. I don't think many people who aren't intimately involved really understand how much work goes on "behind the scenes."

[RaisingRiver]

My best guess? You pick the ones that aren't likely to get adopted (ie. hiding in the corner) and you grab as many as you have open foster homes for.

 

I'm not a rescuer - but I sure feel badly and I do scour craigslist several times a day looking for some dog I might help, esp since our local BC rescue resource is extinct.

[MrSnappy]

I'm not a rescuer - but I sure feel badly and I do scour craigslist several times a day looking for some dog I might help, esp since our local BC rescue resource is extinct.

 

There are still people rescuing in Oregon, but just far fewer resources without Jill, sadly.

 

Clara, all we can do is pull the ones we can when we can and try not to look again until we have more room. In the last 72 hours I got 6 different emails from 6 different sources asking me to take dogs. I managed to fit in ... 4, I think, and I'm working on a 5th. You can't save them all, regrettably.

 

I no longer cruise the petfinder / pet harbour etc. sites. I don't need to know. They almost always find me anyway, mostly because I have volunteers who scan the shelters for me. When there is a lull of dogs here, and I have room, I go South and get some because there are always more there than here.

 

I am on a PNW BCR list and we post dogs in need there. We network and arrange transport and do what we can to help each other.

 

Whenever I am sad that I can't take a dog from a shelter because I'm full, I think of the story a Lab rescuer in the US told me a couple years ago - she said her rescue would go into a shelter and pull the puppies first, then anything chocolate, then any yellow female, and some yellow males, and possibly a black female if it was really really nice, but never a black male ... because the black males never got adopted. The pups and the chocolates were always the first to go. So on a shelter trip they might pull 7 or 8 dogs .... and were still forced to leave anywhere from 2 - 10 dogs behind, 80% of which would be black males that were destined for the gas chamber.

 

As bad as it is for BCs, it's not yet that bad. So however much my heart hurts, someone else's is hurting worse. So I don't think about how bad it is. I think about the dogs I have and how I can best place them. Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to do it.

 

But let me tell you, it SUCKS.

 

RDM

[3dogslater]

My best guess? You pick the ones that aren't likely to get adopted (ie. hiding in the corner) and you grab as many as you have open foster homes for.

 

Having to choose who to save is a hard and horrible decision to make. If you're lucky, you don't have to choose right before they march the others down the hall to be killed. Thankfully I've never been in that position, although Chester was pulled the day he was due to be killed.

 

I personally disagree with choosing the "one hiding in the corner" if that dog is fear aggressive and not just shy. I used to choose only the messed up dogs for fostering, reasoning that if I didn't take them, who would? After doing this for a few years, I've changed my views. There are dozens of dogs to choose from - why would I choose a dog with human or dog aggression issues to rehab and attempt to find an owner willing and capable of dealing with those issues, when I could take in an untrained but generally "good" dog instead?

 

The average owner isn't willing or able to deal with a dog with issues. With limited resources, I'd rather see stable dogs fostered and placed into homes. When a shelter is dealing with unlimited intake and a certain number of kennels, some of the dogs aren't going to make it. One of our local shelters had a 72 hour hold policy and after that if they ran out of room, the "least adoptable" dog were killed. Sometimes that meant being the ugliest of the five or six rottie crosses, or the oldest, or the longest resident even if there was nothing wrong with the dogs.

 

When you know that "good" dogs are killed for lack of space, why save a dog who needs extensive rehab to be adoptable when good dogs are dying too? I also foster for bully rescue and breed bans are a scary reality. We only want great dogs being adopted out, breed ambassadors who show these dogs in the best light possible since there are already so many places with restrictions on ownership.

 

Some rescues will also make decisions based on the dogs they already have in foster. If you've got six seniors and a few puppies, the next dog you pull may be an adolescent so that you have some variety in the dogs available through rescue.

 

It also depends on your foster homes. In my experience, very few foster homes are able to take whatever dog is thrown at them. Most will have at least one restriction like cat friendly, or no males or something else that decides what kind of dog can be placed with them. A good rescue will respect those restrictions - foster homes are hard to come by and not stressing them out is important! I've fostered for good and bad groups and that makes all the difference in the world.

[Kyrasmom]

I personally disagree with choosing the "one hiding in the corner" if that dog is fear aggressive and not just shy. I used to choose only the messed up dogs for fostering, reasoning that if I didn't take them, who would? After doing this for a few years, I've changed my views. There are dozens of dogs to choose from - why would I choose a dog with human or dog aggression issues to rehab and attempt to find an owner willing and capable of dealing with those issues, when I could take in an untrained but generally "good" dog instead?

 

When you know that "good" dogs are killed for lack of space, why save a dog who needs extensive rehab to be adoptable when good dogs are dying too? I also foster for bully rescue and breed bans are a scary reality. We only want great dogs being adopted out, breed ambassadors who show these dogs in the best light possible since there are already so many places with restrictions on ownership.

 

I agree very much with this sentiment. Our adoption rate at the county facility has increased a lot of late so the decision is not as heartbreaking, but the bottom line is that I can't walk away from a good dog because my heart wants to rescue one that needs to be rehabilitated. I do try to take the seniors as I abhor people turning in the good dog they've had for 12 years because they got a puppy but the bottom line is the more good dogs I can place in good homes, the more I can help. Indirectly, this also allows the shelter to keep other dogs for longer times. I don't pull only BC's (especially as I usually end up keeping them) and fortunately many of them get transported out of County (thus the lower kill rate in general).

 

Maria

[Bordercentrics]

Most of what I have to say has already been said. I volunteer at two shelters, in one as a trainer, where they have taken to using me to work with dogs who don't present well in the kennels for a variety of reasons. This brings me back to Raising River's comment about taking the dogs that are cowering in the corner, since it is my job to get them out of the corners (make them want to come out, actually).

 

Since I serve as an agent for Mary Ann Lindsay of Inland Northwest Rescue for Border Collies and Aussies, I pay particular attention to these two breeds. It is my observation that most adult Border Collies do very poorly in the shelter environment, often shutting down and/or acting fearful. They are not usually aggressive, and they usually snap out of it fairly quickly when removed from the shelter. I don't pull fear aggressive dogs, or dog aggressive dogs, or "escape artist" dogs. They have to be able to live in a pack at Mary Ann's house successfully. The undersocialized dogs often learn from the well adjusted dogs they are brought to live with in foster care. They also may have to stay at my home for a short period of time if Mary Ann is out of town, or full. I think most rescuers will tell you that as you gain experience, you will feel more confident in your decisions.

 

I also have noticed that the dogs who break down in the shelter environment are often those dogs who have a high degree of sensitivity to people. Some of those have actually turned out to be amazing working Border Collies. These dogs will respond to your attention and you can tell by that response that they have something going for them. You can see that they badly want to bond. Border Collies have an intensity of focus on you that other breeds lack. You will see this even in the dogs that are breaking down.

 

We pull mixes IF there is room and they look mostly like and act like Border Collies. Some do, some don't. You have to know your adopter base and what you can actually place. You have to make your own judgements about what IS and is not a Border Collie, for one thing. Shelter breed ID's can sometimes be amusing, if not outrageous. Of my three personal rescue BC's, they were all id'd as mixes, one, I don't know why; one because she is red and white, so she must have Aussie in her, right? and the newest one because she is a smooth coat, and everyone knows that BC's have rough coats!

 

 

 

Kathy Robbins

[BayouBC]

So to those of you who run rescues, how do you keep up with the constant stream of BCs into the shelters?

 

You don't. Or at least we don't. There's always another BC or BC mix somewhere in the LA shelter system. Learning to say "no, I can't take them" was the hardest lesson I've had to learn, but also the most crucial. The first time I had to say no...I felt like I was killing the dog myself. And that was AFTER I'd already taken in more than I considered an acceptable number. Even now, while I can say no most of the time, there are times when space is going to be made for one more. Sometimes not even a BC.

 

Last week another rescuer/foster and I went to a shelter about an hour away. There was a hoarding situation recently, and a number of the dogs were supposedly BC's. After meeting them, the dogs are at the most BC mixes, and most of them are to some degree undersocialized and very shy, to the point where much of the behavior I was seeing made me immediately think "fear aggressive when push comes to shove". Unfortunately, as it stands right now, I have too many mixes, both BC and heelers, that are already going to be hard to place. I just can't take on anymore right now, especially when I KNOW there are other very adoptable BC's and BC mixes in the area.

 

While we were there, though, we also ended up right in the middle of "tagging" time. After we'd walked through the main area of the shelter, the workers had come through and tagged kennels for euthanasia. When we came back in, surprisingly a kennel with two ADORABLE puppies was tagged. Both puppies were about 10-11 weeks old, cute and friendly as can be, and they were the only other puppies in the ENTIRE shelter outside of one litter of four. So instead of leaving with a BC, I ended up offering to foster the Aussie mix that the other rescuer was going to take so that she could pull the two puppies and send them to the Aussie's foster home instead. NOT surprisingly, both puppies already have applications in on them.

 

Sometimes you just have to go with your gut on what you can save and what you can't. And when there's one you can't, you just have to think about all the ones you HAVE saved.

[RaisingRiver]

I personally disagree with choosing the "one hiding in the corner" if that dog is fear aggressive and not just shy. I used to choose only the messed up dogs for fostering, reasoning that if I didn't take them, who would? After doing this for a few years, I've changed my views. There are dozens of dogs to choose from - why would I choose a dog with human or dog aggression issues to rehab and attempt to find an owner willing and capable of dealing with those issues, when I could take in an untrained but generally "good" dog instead?

 

The reason I said 'the one hiding in the corner' is because I feel the happy, greet you at the bars dogs are more likely to be adopted by Joe Public at the shelter. Just like the black dogs are picked last, the hiding dogs often are too. I meant the hiding one to be shy or shut down, not fearful or aggressive - sorry that wasn't clear. I myself wouldn't want to foster a highly fearful or aggressive dog - it's not my thing.

 

But when I fostered the BC mix I had earlier this year who was relinquished to rescue with her brother, I felt that this was a dog who would adopt just lovely in a shelter and that by spending the 3 weeks at my house she missed out on being adopted sooner. My house is a LOT less exposure then the shelter with tons of people coming through every day (at least in my neck of the woods - ie. Portland area).

 

That was my logic. The happy to greet you dogs probably have a better chance of quick adoption - is it to the right person? someone knowledgeable in the breed? maybe not - either way, the dog in the corner may never get that chance.

[Guest TheRuffMuttGang]

For me, it's luck of the draw. Basically, if you get here first, you get in and when I am full I have to say no. I generally take mixes too if they are in need, hence my current bunch of fosters. When I become full (now), I reference people to Border Collie Rescue TX (full) and any other no-kill rescue group around here (all full right now). Normally someone can manage to fit the dog in somewhere but it almost always requires a foster home taking on another dog they didn't want, etc. Everything around here is just...full...always. You have to learn that you're never going to save ALL of them no matter how hard you try. Personally, I do what I can and try not to lose sleep over the ones I cannot help.

[sea4th]

I try not to torture myself by going to shelters, unless I'm going there specifically for a dog, but I'd been called in on dogs who other rescues have passed up. Two were the cowering in the corner of their cage. One in particular I remember was an older PB BC, absolutely terrified, shaking, refusing to look at me. She made no attempt to bite, just to make herself invisible. I took this terrified little dog, washed her up at the vets and brought her home. I kept a leash on her and for about 4 weeks, she stayed under the bed, only coming out when I dragged her out to take her outside to potty and spend some time in the dog run. The entire time, I think she was totally terrified -- not much change in behavior, which, when I came home one day, I was totally surprised. Hannah -- what I named her - was waiting for me on the landing, huge gap-toothed grin, and plume of a tail waving. From then on, it was up hill. I placed her with an woman who was probably the same age in human years as Hannah was. Hannah became her constant companion and actually an ambassador for border collie rescue. They're both at the bridge now, but nevertheless, one of the best success stories I've had.

 

Would I suggest the average person looking for a pet choose on who is cowering in the shelter -- no -- but I also think that a lot of dogs who find themselves in a shelter situation, don't display their best side.

 

It would have to be on a case by case basis that I would determine which dog comes home with me, which doesn't.