Forming a Pedigreedatabase Rescue Volunteer Force: PLEASE READ! - Page 9

I highly doubt that Oli would get involved in a rescue. He has his hands full doing his own thing and just might be nice enough to give you guys a place to network but beyond that I would not get excited. I know I will not approach him with this idea. Again to be clear Oli is a very busy person who is in the middle of some very large projects and I don't see him wanting to get involved in this, sorry. You are free to write him but I personally would not do it in the short term.

Please, all members need to be extremely careful donating money and asking for donations as PDB will not be held liable for members who solicit or donate funds. We may offer a rescue forum but beyond that I don't see Oli getting involved or putting PDBs name on a rescue.

IMHO, a bona fide rescue would be too complictated.  As far as donations go, or  sponsors, people who want to help facilitate in that manner could send directly to the shelter for pull fees (spay neuter/vaccinations). Most take credit cards. Many GSD rescues have closed due to the economy, as they are expensive to run. The ones that are left are finding it difficult to raise the money they need to take in as many dogs as they are capable of holding, again, as the economy is bad and donations just arent coming in the way they used to come in. Volunteer transport is not always available  gas is expensive and people are out of work). 

For example, look at what happened with Cranberry..She was at a  shelter in Ga and she needed to be held somewhere for transport.. The cost to board would have been prohibitive until the transport, as a transport wasnt leaving for 3 weeks! ! I put out a call for a volunteer transport, with people I knew well for many years to help get Cranberry to Alabama, but no one stepped up. My only option would have been a paid transport costing $145 to get her to Alabama where I have a holding pen , in a rescue.  The transport was leaving from Ga so the money would have to have been paid again for the trip back to Ga! The transport up the coast would have been  another $120, on top of the pull fee spay/neuter cost. The transport didnt go all the way up to Joni, so there would have been an additional cost to get her near Joni,  unless the weather cooperated and a pilot friend of mine could have flown her the rest of the way. Had we had a network in place, it would have been one hell of a lot easier. That is what I was trying to accomplish. I was aiming to facilitate a rescue by having volunteer transporters, a holding place until transport could be arranged and set up, as sadly, euthanization notices are not always sent out in advance- many times they are only sent the night before, which doesnt leave time for long term planning :(  If the rescue couldnt take a dog because of a lack of a spay/neuter money, if that was taken care of, it would be easier for the dog to find a rescue. My thoughts were if we took some of the burden off the rescues, it would be easier for rescues to take more in. We all know not all can be saved, but even if a few are saved because of our efforts, thats better than none.

Opinions?

-- > Marjorie, we need to know what the people are, rescue, or what???

I know, Steph, which is why I asked if rescues could be in the signatures of those in rescue.. 

Okay, then we need to know the names of the GOOD Rescues to work with...who can pull in what name etc. Okay we have something like this in Idaho, namet H.A.R.T. can't remember what it stands for, but they have their own facebook page and try to find homes or rescues for the dogs in the Idaho Falls shelter, which is a high kill facility. I get MANY dogs from there. Will try to find it and post it. Steph

I'm not sure what I can do to help, I work so much & am usually skating a fine line financially, & I am max'd on dogs dogs in my tiny little house; but if there's anything you need in my area, feel free to ask, I know other folks who could help as well, I'll do my best for a very noble cause! jackie harris

Thanks, Jackie :)

I think its absolutely awesome that everyone has come together to do this. I hate to be the bump in the road but after running a rescue for so long here is the downside to rescue that really needs to be considered and how you all will handle it. It will happen so while your planning this out, make sure you have a plan for these things too:

1. What will be your plan if you take out an extremely aggressive dog? Will there be a place for that dog to go? What if the dog needs to be euthanized?
2. Who will pay for dogs that are very sick, illnesses that are not easily id'd until the dog is out? Heartworms for example
3. If your not going to 501c3 and the dog bites someone, how are you going to cover the liability?
4. How will adopters return their dogs if they don't want them anymore?

I've been through all of these situations and more. Luckily the dog that bit the person didn't sue me thank god, only returned the dog and said she didn't want him anymore.

In area's with high kill and not enough rescues coming forward before the dogs ticket is up, I suggest that volunteers visit their shelters and see if there are any dogs that may need to get out, then advise the shelter they will take them. Don't wait for someone to step up at the last minute. The shelter I live near has a good shepherd rescue group (2 actually) that takes in dogs. They tier price which is idiotic imo.

I would strongly suggest that the dog be evaluated BEFORE you commit to taking it. IMO some dogs should never leave the shelter. They have the potential to be very dangerous and one must always ask themselves, can I turn my back on the dog and trust them with an average non educated dog person? If the answer is no.....leave the dog at the shelter. Ive evaluated many dogs for other groups and when the group said "he can be saved" ended up biting someone and still got the needle in the end. Now the rescue is facing a lawsuit to boot.

Just some things to consider when having a back up plan. You always need a plan B with rescue. Things rarely go as planned.

Barb

In regards to a national non-profit for GSD rescue and the liability insurance....

Would it not be possible to set up a non-profit just for the purpose of networking/coordination and collecting donations that can be given out as "grants" to rescuers for pull fees-spay/neuter-medical/care/boarding and to transporters...etc.   Thus a non-profit that is not actually responsible for any actual dogs.   Wouldn't this bypass the need for liability insurance?   The non-profit would not be responsible for adoptions, but could provide guidelines, advice...  

Barb you bring up some very good points. A couple of things I have been advised to think about by someone else. I guess one of my main concerns would be with people agressive dogs. I know we all want to save dogs but I strongly agree that some dogs should not be placed and should be put down. Case in point; I got a dog from someone and according to them her only problem was she had never been socialized properly and "was just a typical kennel dog". I kept the dog a year. I started socializing her etc etc and things were going pretty good. One day a couple of friends came over and she went for him. Not long after a repeat performance. So I contacted the people and told them that if they did not take her back I was going to have her put down because I couldn't have that. And I believe what she was exhibiting was fear biting behavior which IMO would never change. They came to get her and while they were here a guy who does mechanic work for me came to the door and wanted my truck keys. He came in and she bit him in the crotch, barely missing his jewels but leaving broken skin and he said the next day a big bruise. And I absolutely cannot have that. I am trying to promote my dogs and the breed in a positive light etc. If someone comes here and gets bitten then it doesn't matter if it's a rescue or came from the moon. The fact is it would be on my watch and I am afraid going against me.

I am at state fair. Can someone got to cooldogprod.com and give them the info on what we are doing? I told the dog trainer about what we are trying to do and he said he might could help. He uses rescue dogs in his show.