GRACE STE.CROIX: With the recent media attention to puppy mills, society is becoming more aware about rescuing animals. As success stories come from saving a poor pet in a tough situation, many families are taking the plunge to rescue an animal.
Volunteer organizations take in animals (some who need medical attention) from all avenues, including other shelters, puppy mills and from people who have surrendered their pet. These organizations foster these pups, giving individual attention that is needed. When the time is right they are put up for adoption, where volunteers screen families to make sure that they are an ideal fit for the pet. But how does a successful rescue agency work? Who are these nameless selfless people who spend endless hours rescuing these pets and rehabilitating them? I interview Loyal Rescue in Peterborough Ontario, to learn how a rescue organization works and how from a phone call to a pet adoption, these volunteers are there every step of the way.
Loyal Rescue has a number of foster homes across Southern Ontario. On average, a foster family at Loyal houses between one to two dogs. The rescue agency wants to give each pet a home life so they can learn to adapt, so many pets live in foster homes so that they can adjust to a family life. Many dogs have not seen a house before and often times do not understand the concept of stairs or doors. Other pets have had their owners' die, so being transferred into a home environment is a lot less stressful then being placed in a cage in an animal shelter.
The foundation of any successful rescue organization is the strength of its volunteers. From the person who screens the initial phone calls of interest for pets to the foster parents who rear these timid abused creatures into loveable pets, Rescuers give animals a chance to have a safe loving family. Places like Loyal Rescue are completely non-profit. So why get involved when there is so much to do? These ladies at Loyal can all agree the perks are simple: saving, rehabilitating and finding homes for animals that deserve a better life.
But how does a successful rescue organization run? How is this different from a shelter? A shelter is a building that houses animals in masses that are available for adoption. A rescue organization is more intimate. Volunteers actually take rescue animals into their homes and families and rehabilitate them with a home like setting. With sixty foster families at Loyal Rescue, each dog receives the individual attention required.
Loyal not only is a Rescue Organization, but a community of people bound by one objective, rescuing pets. Volunteer trainer and phone screener Tania D'Alessandro is no stranger to letting rehabilitating pets into her home. It is easier to explain to potential applicants the temperament of a dog when it actually lives with you. Loyal Rescue gives detailed explanations of each dog: whether it can live with children or other pets, its temperament, its story arriving to Loyal Rescue, approximate age and breed and the inside scoop of the pet's likes and dislikes. Tania stresses that the ideal volunteer for an organization must be creative and passionate about helping animals. There are many ways to help, from marketing strategies, phone screenings to transporting dogs from one home to another! Volunteers must not be afraid to approach Loyal if they believe a person is not an ideal candidate for a pet when screening a potential family.
Phone screening is important to volunteers to decide the ideal candidate for their dogs in waiting. Volunteer phone screeners ask about past pets, up to date vaccines and vet visits. Volunteers such as Tania try to get an understanding from the applicant if they know what the dog will require care wise and if a dog is a proper fit into their family. Families must provide references. Loyal Rescue wants to make sure that the potential family will not give up a pet as it is highly stressful to be accepted into a family and then rejected by one. Dogs suffer greatly when an owner has given them up. Some extreme cases include self-starvation. Tania assures that a dog's placement in a home does not save one life but two. A rescued dog begins its new life with a loving family and Loyal has another space to bring in yet another needy animal rescued from a kill shelter or a puppy mill. A family with a loving safe home who gives a dog proper care, compassion for its situation and loves its personality is an ideal family.
Grace Rock handles the social media marketing strategies at Loyal Rescue. To receive aid in anyway is so integral; Grace always is coming up with innovative ways to keep a connection with the public. Since Loyal is a foster-based rescue, Grace realizes that since they are operating out of more than one location, communication is key. By using social media technology such as Facebook, blogging and twitter, Grace can connect with the public, put pictures of dogs up for adoption and organize local events. Adopt-a-thons and rescue related events such as Woofstock are just a few of many local festivals to keep people up to date about the newest pets that need rescuing and a great way for Loyal to see their previously adopted pets and their new families.
Grace stresses that these animals in need are accepted regardless of their place of origin. Owner surrenders, strays and puppy mill surrenders generally come from shelters across the province of Ontario, Canada and the states of Kentucky and Ohio USA. However, Loyal has adopted dogs from Mexico and Belize. This organization may be based out of Ontario, but truly has no borders.
Ann Jaanus was inspired to volunteer by LOYAL's founder and Chairperson, Brenda Bunn. Brenda's commitment to animals in need, her 'make it so' mantra and 'can do' attitude is what has led to the growth of LOYAL's volunteer base and contributed to its' memberships ability to actively participate in the ongoing development of LOYAL. Ann and the rest of the LOYAL team welcome both new ideas and the manpower to implement these, as it will make work more efficient for all volunteers and most importantly, to more effectively rescue the animals in need, and find them loving families.
What is a milestone for Ann, Brenda, Grace, Tania or any foster parent? It's not when your dog learns to roll over or when he does a well-trained trick to impress your guest. A true milestone is any sign that your dog feels like he or she is loved, when they can go to bed at night without night terrors or when they have healed from their injuries. Success for these ladies is a dog running up the stairs victoriously or trusting people enough to play with his family. Success is also having a strong team like Loyal Rescue to take a dog, with joint efforts, to a forever home in a loving family where this dog can blossom to its full potential. That is a milestone. It is the simple things but it is the most important things. Yet, it is just another day of a rescuer at Loyal Rescue. One day at a time, one dog at a time, truly 'making it so'.
Facebook: Loyal Rescue
Photo courtesy of: DigbyandSassy.net
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