Jackson at the shelter (left) and at the Alachua County Humane Society (above). He was heartworm positive, but he had such a great disposition that shelter staff advocated for him. He has finished heartworm treatment and been adopted.
My college students like to start their essays with dictionary definitions of key words, like this:
Rescue (vt): to free or save from danger, imprisonment, evil, etc. (n) The act or instance of rescuing; deliverance.
We hear the term “rescue” used a lot in regards to dogs and cats, sometimes in a very general way. People who adopted an animal sometimes say that they rescued her or him, or (which is not quite the same thing) that their pet is a rescue. I am interested here mainly in the more specific use of the word, as the direct act of “freeing or saving” a dog (or cat, but we'll stick to dogs here) who is in imminent danger.
This type of rescue starts with the identification of a dog in danger. This can happen in many ways. Sometimes the dog is in direct danger due to abuse, neglect, or abandonment. Rescue, in these cases, starts when a person who sees a dog in need does not simply hope that “someone” will help but decides to be the someone that dog needs.
When the dog appears to have been abandoned, the first thing to do is try to find the owner, if there is one. If there is no owner to be found, or they do not want the dog back, the dog needs a safe place to stay (and receive necessary veterinary care) while she is being rehomed. We have lots of advice here.
It’s often more complicated when the dog is owned but abused or neglected. If you see a dog whose life appears to be in immediate danger, e.g. due to starvation or physical abuse, don’t wait for someone else to help – call your Animal Services department right away. In Alachua County, that number is 352-264-6870. If the dog is not in immediate danger but clearly needs better care, e.g., because she is living on the end of a chain or in a pen, you may not need to involve Animal Services, at least right away. Ideally you can help make things better for the dog at that home. Because there are so many dogs already in shelters, it’s always better to keep a dog out of a shelter and with their owner, if possible. Sometimes people don’t realize what dogs need in the way of company, socialization, and care. If you’d like to help, contact a local animal rescue group or a national group, such as Dogs Deserve Better, which helps chained and penned dogs. In such cases, rescuers will first try to improve the situation at the dog’s current home, often by offering training and help with fence-building. If that doesn’t work, they request that the owner surrender the dog so they can rehome him. And if that doesn’t work, they bring in Animal Services cruelty investigators when necessary.
Perhaps the most common way dogs end up in need of rescue is because they are at risk of being killed in a public shelter, either because of health or behavior issues that make them “unadoptable” or because the shelter is full. Lots of very nice dogs end up on the euthanasia or PTS (“put to sleep”) list at public shelters. There is an ongoing debate among animal advocates about whether or not public shelters must (or should) kill animals in order to relieve overcrowding. Some people believe that there is no alternative, until the supply of dogs and cats is reduced, which will happen primarily because more animals are spayed or neutered. On the other side, “no kill” advocates believe that shelters can decrease or end euthanasia by implementing a set of practices, which include low-cost spay/neuter to reduce the supply of homeless pets, as well as increasing “demand” for adoptable pets.
Merlin came to the shelter with demodex mange.
Shelter staff loved his sweet personality and reached out to rescue groups.
Regardless of where you stand on these issues, the fact remains that millions of dogs are put on “the list” every year and can be rescued only when a lot of different pieces fit together. This is often a very confusing process and it works out slightly differently every time, but here are the main things the dog needs.
First, people need to find out that the dog is at risk. Good shelters – like the one we have in Alachua County – do their best to connect these animals with private rescue/adoption organizations. They send out information about the animals who are on “the list” and work with rescue groups who want to take in (“pull”) them. Often shelter staff will give an animal a “hold” for 24 hours or even more, so that the rescue group can make arrangements. Some of the dogs at risk have been available for adoption for a while and have simply “run out of time.” Some adoptable dogs are put on the list because they develop a health or behavior problem that makes them no longer adoptable. And some never make it to “adoptables,” because they have a health or behavior problem that is treatable or manageable but that requires care that cannot be given at the shelter. In our area, this happens most often with underage animals (especially kittens, who come in by the dozens every week in spring and summer), animals with health problems such as heartworm disease or demodex mange, and animals who are too shy or anxious to do well in a kennel. These animals often cannot be adopted out directly to “the public” and can be removed (“pulled”) only by a rescue organization.
In some areas, pit bulls are among the animals who can be pulled by rescue groups but not adopted. This is true of Miami/Dade County, Denver, and, until recently, the entire state of Ohio. Breed discriminatory laws in these areas create a huge burden for rescue groups in surrounding areas and lead to the deaths of thousands of even-tempered, affectionate dogs every year.
Francesca was pulled from Animal Services in Miami, where she would
otherwise have been automatically killed as a "pit bull" type dog.
While many public shelters have staff who actively seek the help of rescue groups, some either do not have staff who can do this or actively discourage collaboration with rescue groups. This is true of several shelters in north central Florida. (The Florida Animal Rescue Act would require greater cooperation.) In such cases, the animals’ fate depends on volunteers. This is a heavy burden and often the work is heartbreaking. Often the best solution is to move the dogs out of the area, to foster homes and rescue groups in another county or even another state. Oddly enough, there are areas, mostly in the Northeast, where the shelters are not overflowing and rescue groups can take in dogs from out of state. And even within a generally overpopulated region -- like the South -- communities like Gainesville have many more resources and opportunities than many other towns and counties. Sometimes we take in dogs from other areas, and perhaps even more often, we send our adoptable dogs to other communities. It's not a zero-sum game but rather a complex, zigzagging process in which the right dog finds the right spot at the right time -- sometimes.
Hazel came to a foster home in Gainesville from Clewiston Animal Control in south Florida
After you (we are talking about you, right?) have identified a dog who is at risk and whom you want to help, the dog needs two more things: a safe place to stay and a process for finding a new home. Sometimes, the same organization can provide both, when the rescue/adoption group has its own facility for housing animals. In Gainesville, the only organization that has a facility like this is the Alachua County Humane Society, which takes the largest number of dogs and cats who are at risk at our local shelter. Some counties have no private no kill adoption facility, while some large cities have a number of them. Such facilities sometimes have extensive programs for education and advocacy, in addition to adoption services. The San Francisco SPCA is a model in this respect.
Most rescue/adoption groups in Gainesville and many other places are run by volunteers and rely on foster homes to house the majority of their animals. The number of animals they can take from euthanasia lists is limited, first, by the number of committed foster homes available. By “committed,” we mean people who agree to keep the animal until adoption and to work through behavior issues and take care of health problems in the meantime. When a rescue group pulls a dog to place in a particular foster home, there is no back-up. Usually a short-term relief foster home can be found when a foster family travels, but a foster who backs out permanently before their dog (or cat) is adopted creates a crisis for the rescue group and the animal, who may face being returned to the shelter in such cases.
Bandit came to Alachua County Animal Services as a stray.
He was heartworm positive and could not go to adoptables.
Shelter staff and volunteers fell in love and advocated for him,
and a rescue group in Orlando took him in.
Assuming the foster home is a good one, committed to keeping the animal until he or she is adopted, the dog needs a process for getting adopted. Sometimes this process can start immediately, when the animal has no serious health or behavior issues. Other times, the dog may need to undergo treatment for a medical condition (in our area, the most common ones are heartworm disease or skin problems). In such cases, rescue groups need donations to pay for treatment. They also rely on the generosity of many veterinarians, who often offer services at reduced costs for rescued animals.
Some homeless dogs have behavior issues that need addressing. Sometimes, just getting into a safe and loving foster home is all it takes, e.g. for dogs who are anxious or timid at the shelter. Foster homes make dogs more adoptable by teaching them how to live in a family, including everything from house-training to trusting new people to basic manners and obedience. Foster homes also provide information about energy level, temperament, and likes/dislikes that can help match the dog with the right permanent home.
The rescue, we like to say, does not end with the pull. Once a dog is safely in a no-kill adoption facility or foster home, she needs to be marketed. Most rescue/adoption groups advertise the dog on Petfinder.com or similar sites and those that do not have their own facility hold regular adoption events at places like Petsmart, where potential adopters can find the right dog. This process can take a couple of weeks or many months, depending on many factors.
Viggo was abandoned after being shot during a police raid.
This is already too long, but there is still much more to say. Every rescue is a little different. There are more failures than successes. Maybe the most important thing to say is our same old refrain: rescue takes a village. Many different people with many different skills and resources are necessary, including staff and volunteers who identify at-risk dogs at public shelters; private rescue groups (mostly run by volunteers) who rehabilitate and rehome dogs; foster families; and individual good Samaritans who do not wait for someone else to help an animal in need.
Viggo in his foster home.
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