We wanted to kick off this week of being most thankful with a bang by announcing the OFFICIAL launch of the Million Dog Memorial!  The Million Dog Memorial was created to honor our lost companions while raising awareness for shelter and rescue animals. A percentage of the profits from this memorial will be donated to animal [More...]]]>

We wanted to kick off this week of being most thankful with a bang by announcing the OFFICIAL launch of the Million Dog Memorial!  The Million Dog Memorial was created to honor our lost companions while raising awareness for shelter and rescue animals. A percentage of the profits from this memorial will be donated to animal welfare groups to assist in the care and placement of the animals in their programs while the rest will be used to support our education and advocacy programs.

The memorial is limited to the first one million dogs placed on the grid – after that the grid will be locked and unchangeable as a fixed tribute to these beloved pets.

We will support local animal welfare programs through donations made possible by this program based on the distribution of memorials by area. The more memorials from a given area means more donations to your local organizations!

The Million Dog Memorial will be closed when have memorialized one million cherished best friends.  Please create a dog memorial now and be a part of something uncommon that not only celebrates your best friends but also helps to find homes for the thousands of animals currently without the love of a family and place to call home.

Be sure to share the news with your friends and families so your local organizations can receive a portion of the donations!

Hi! My name is Jan. On May 5, 2010, I adopted a two-year-old poodle/terrier mix from our local shelter, Animal Allies. I named her Angel. She came from another shelter as a stray, had been abused, was very skinny, and she was extremely shy and afraid of everyone. I fell in love with her immediately. Within [More...]]]>

Hi! My name is Jan. On May 5, 2010, I adopted a two-year-old poodle/terrier mix from our local shelter, Animal Allies. I named her Angel. She came from another shelter as a stray, had been abused, was very skinny, and she was extremely shy and afraid of everyone. I fell in love with her immediately. Within weeks, with lots of love, patience, and socializing with other tenants and pets, she was a totally different dog. I live alone and have MS, and she was perfect for me. We would take care of each other. We live in a high-rise building on Lake Superior with other seniors and/or disabled tenants. Fatigue and pain are my worst symptoms and, on my bad days if I’m up trying to do things around the apartment, she’ll go on my bed and whine until I go and lay down. She then lies down right beside me.

Ever since I got her, she’s been an absolutely wonderful dog. She seems to be grateful for everything and anything I do for her, even bringing me her favorite toy or treat when I’m feeling bad. She is now the happiest and most popular dog in the building, she’s my little soul mate, and she loves everybody!! She’s such a good dog, never misbehaves, never snaps or barks at anyone, and she has to go and give kisses to everyone she sees in the building. We go for a run every day when the weather permits, and I love her more than anyone could imagine. We especially love playing in the snow, which we get lots of here in Minnesota!

I want to share a small miracle. At 1:30 a.m. on the night of September 21, 2011, Angel became restless and woke me up. I rarely go out late at night, as Angel will also go potty on a puppy pad in addition to going outside. On this night, because of her behavior, I decided to go ahead and take her out since she was whining and seemed anxious. I got dressed and took her out. I have to take her around to the parking lot side of our building back by our garage. Since she stays by me either on or off the leash and, since she was pulling me as hard as she could and whining, I figured she had to really go, so I just unhooked her leash. Instead of going back to the grass, she ran into the parking lot and went between two vehicles. When I got there, I found Angel sitting next to one of our tenants who was on the ground lying in a fetal position, his walker nearby. When I got down to ask what happened, he could only say he fell and wasn’t fully conscious. He only had on shorts and a light jacket although it was 38 degrees! He couldn’t move and said he recently had surgery on both knees and was in a lot of pain. I feared he may also have broken something. After calling 911, I asked him how long he had been lying on the cold pavement, and he said “about an hour, I think.”

I got my knees under his head to get it off the ground and tried to cover him with my body to keep him warm, he was freezing!! We stayed like that with Angel right by him until the police and ambulance got there. He was quickly transferred to the gurney, bundled in warm blankets, and was on the way to the hospital. When I told them Angel’s name, they said it was definitely the perfect name for her. I have no idea how she knew; we’re on the 11th floor facing the lake, windows closed, and with a small fan running. I had taken my coat off and had it on the man’s legs, so I was really cold and went back inside as soon as they had him safely in the ambulance. When we got back inside, I realized Angel never went potty outside and then realized she had urinated on her puppy pad already, prior to us going out! The police and paramedics all said she certainly deserved a treat, and she got her favorite Puperoni and lots of hugs, kisses, and praise from me! The next day, I called the hospital and talked to the tenant whose name is Wayne. He told me he had suffered a severe heart attack and had no idea why he had been outside by his van at that hour! I went to see him at the hospital since another tenant found his glasses the next day, and I also took him a picture of Angel. He kept thanking me, and I told him it was God and Angel he should thank.

For whatever reason, Angel knew this man was in trouble and was determined to get me up and outside. I’ve always felt that shelter animals are special animals, and I’m blessed to have found my Angel.

A few weeks ago we received an exciting call into the rescue from an associate. Our associate works as a trainer at one of the large pet supply stores and regularly interacts with our rescue group. She had received a frantic call that morning from a woman looking to find a rescue group to take her [More...]]]>

A few weeks ago we received an exciting call into the rescue from an associate. Our associate works as a trainer at one of the large pet supply stores and regularly interacts with our rescue group. She had received a frantic call that morning from a woman looking to find a rescue group to take her dog – a 10 week old puppy.

Apparently this family had purchased two puppies from a local breeder and after two weeks had determined that two puppies at once were too difficult to handle. They had tried to return the puppy to the breeder with no avail and were desperate to find a safe place for this puppy. Here is the kicker, the puppy being surrendered was the purebred, white/yellow, English Labrador Retriever pictured in this article.

According the National Council on Pet Population and Study (NCPPSP), 25% of all shelter and rescue dogs are purebred. So adoption is definitely a viable option for families who have convinced themselves that the most appropriate dog for their family is a purebred dog. Most breeds have dedicated rescue groups that take in purebred and mixed versions of a particular breed, but you will also find purebred animals in shelters and non-breed specific rescues.

Purebred animals are surrendered for all of the same reasons as mixed breed dogs: chewing, barking, destruction, too much work, can no longer afford, don’t have the time to exercise appropriately – which almost always boils down to lack of exercise, training and responsible ownership on the part of the human. Clearly – at 10 weeks old – a puppy wouldn’t have even had much of a chance to develop bad behavior – so this puts the onus of a puppy surrender back on the humans who apparently bit off more than they could chew – so to speak.

Not only is rescuing a purebred more palatable to most people’s wallets ($400-$3000) for most puppies from a breeder vs. $75-$300 for adoption fees, but rescuing also reduces the demand for puppy mill puppies purchased in pet stores which have been raised in deplorable conditions and typically have been bred with little concern about propagating health issues down a line.

Many of the breed rescues will have waiting lists for puppies and young dogs as they are typically more requested than older dogs – but assuming you can wait a while for your new family member, you can find the perfect purebred animal to suit your tastes.

Bailey, the surrendered puppy,  now happily resides in our home with her big sister Guinness, a black lab rescued at four months old.  I guess that is one of the perks of volunteering for a rescue – you get the pick of the “rescue” litter. Now go out and volunteer… we need your help!

It’s amazing how, in the wake of a natural disaster, people have the knack of imposing their personal agenda on everyone else with the intention of appearing let’s call it more “humanitarian”. When in reality the actions of a true humanitarian would in truth call for kindness, benevolence and impartiality for all humans. Let’s take [More...]]]>

It’s amazing how, in the wake of a natural disaster, people have the knack of imposing their personal agenda on everyone else with the intention of appearing let’s call it more “humanitarian”. When in reality the actions of a true humanitarian would in truth call for kindness, benevolence and impartiality for all humans. Let’s take an example.

A local politician, who is very much an animal welfare advocate, shared a story about Sophie, an injured chocolate Labrador Retriever, on his personal Facebook page. While the story itself told of the heroism, concern, and selflessness of a group of people working together to nurse Sophie back to health, a comment on Facebook from a supporter of this politician took an ugly turn in the name of “humanitarianism”.

This man’s comments questioned if the money that had been spent on the dog’s recovery wouldn’t have been better spent on homelessness or even the tragedy in Japan. His comments implied that according to his priorities, the care of people and their underprivileged situation should always come before the needs of any animal. He also questioned what part of the rescue of this dog was heroic commenting that only those who help people are heroic.

From his perspective, anybody not supporting his viewpoint of “humans first” was in the wrong with no chance of convincing him otherwise. What this short-sighted commenter wouldn’t concede to was a number of well thought out comments made by another poster that “good is good, and helping is helping, and this dog deserved help, too. ” She goes on to comment that “We all have our ’causes’ and obviously, yours is not animal welfare, and that’s your choice, but it is my cause, and I don’t think it makes me wrong, and it certainly doesn’t mean I don’t support other causes as well. ” Her final comment of “Some people always want to see the negative and criticize, but I prefer to think of this as just one of many good things happening in this world” should have cinched her rebuttal but clearly feel upon deaf ears.

While we all understand and sympathize with the massive devastation caused by the recent earthquake and tsunami in Japan and its impact on life there, the charitable causes that were here prior to this disaster still exist here after the disaster. Nobody is asking the Humane Society of the United States or the ASPCA to drop everything they are doing locally and funnel all of their funds and their efforts into helping another cause – even during a natural disaster. The people who helped Sophie chose to focus their energy into a cause that is important to them and no one should make them feel as if they should have done something else with their money.

We applaud the McLaughlin’s and the other organizations rallying for Sophie’s recovery. We hope the “un-humanitarian” comments from this one unenlightened person are never read by you – Sophie’s angels. And to Joe-negative commenter, do yourself a favor and educate yourself on why anyone with a real humanitarian focus would never make another human that is doing something good feel bad about it.

Join Recycled Dog and internet rescue animal search engine Petfinder on March 15th for Petfinder’s Help Petfinder Adopt the Internet Day. Simply feature an adoptable pet on your website, blog, Facebook page, Twitter account or email with the adoptable pet’s information from Petfinder.

Recycled Dog supports Petfinder’s effort to spread the word about the thousands of homeless [More...]]]>

Join Recycled Dog and internet rescue animal search engine Petfinder on March 15th for Petfinder’s Help Petfinder Adopt the Internet Day. Simply feature an adoptable pet on your website, blog, Facebook page, Twitter account or email with the adoptable pet’s information from Petfinder.

Recycled Dog supports Petfinder’s effort to spread the word about the thousands of homeless pets awaiting homes at shelters and rescues.

Help a pet find a home on March 15th!

These sites are also blogging about Adopt the Internet Day:

We just received a call on the Colorado Animal Welfare League number from a student doing research for a project in her Government class. She was asking to speak to one of our volunteers who was in charge of euthanizing the animals. At first I was a bit taken aback by the request. Why would anyone [More...]]]>

We just received a call on the Colorado Animal Welfare League number from a student doing research for a project in her Government class. She was asking to speak to one of our volunteers who was in charge of euthanizing the animals. At first I was a bit taken aback by the request. Why would anyone assume a rescue group would have anyone in charge of euthanization? After pondering it further, I came to the realization that this student either didn’t: a) read our website to see that we are a foster-based rescue group and don’t operate a shelter – thus no one would be in charge of euthanization; or b) maybe she just didn’t really understand the difference between a rescue group and a shelter.

Convinced that it had to be option b, it struck a chord that maybe many other people don’t really know the difference between shelters and rescue either and so I’m setting out to clarify this topic.

Shelters

Shelters are typically buildings that contain multiple kennels or dog runs as well as catteries that can house many unhomed animals at a time. Some municipalities operate their own shelters but many shelters operate as 501c3 non-profit organizations and are subsidized by contracts with local municipalities. These contracts provide for incoming animals picked up by local municipal animal control officers to be housed and managed by the shelter. Shelters typically offer pet lost and found services, adoption services, low cost veterinary care services, and animal surrender intake services for the communities in which they are located.

Subsidized shelters and municipal shelters are able to support a payed staff for animal care, operations and management which they also supplement with volunteers. The subsidized shelters typically have huge marketing budgets and receive large donations from wealthy benefactors and large businesses due to their visibility within the community. Municipal shelters typically operate within a very limited budget.

Unless a shelter is specifically marketed as “no-kill”, many of these large shelters will euthanize animals that remain at their shelter too long or that are deemed as unadoptable by the staff.

Adoption fees at shelters are typically low as the shelter itself operates primarily from subsidized government contracts (or the local government itself in the case of municipal shelters) rather than the fees themselves. Adoptions done through shelters appear to the adoptive family as easier because the shelter staff is less concerned with placing the animal in the appropriate home based on the needs of the family and the personality of the animal.

Shelters will typically receive animals from animal control officers, seizures in animal welfare cases, and surrenders from local owners.

While filling a crucial need due to the perception that domesticated animals are somewhat disposable in our society, shelter life can have an adverse impact on the personality of a dog or cat. Many animals will forget any house training they have after spending weeks in a kennel in addition to losing basic social skills from lack of interaction with people.

Rescues

Rescue groups were created by necessity with the intention of pulling animals targeted for euthanization from shelters in order to give them substantially more time to find a new home. Rescue groups typically operate as 501c3 non-profit organizations staffed primarily by volunteers.

Many rescue organizations operate by providing foster homes for the animals in their program until they can find the animal their new forever home. Foster care prior to rehoming a shelter dog is imperative to re-introduce the animals to living in a house, re-setting expectations for their behavior, and re-socializing them with people. Without this reintroduction to appropriate behavior, many animals that have been sheltered or have been living stray would be considered unacceptable by their new families and  be returned to the rescue.

Rescue adoption fees are typically higher than those found in shelter adoptions because rescues rely on adoption fees and donations to cover their expenses which may include: transportation, veterinary care, food, vaccinations, and spay/neuter. The adoption process varies per rescue, but many rescues will have extensive interviews with the prospective adopter and some may require home visits prior to adoption to ensure the animal is placed in an appropriate home and won’t be returned into the system.

Rescue groups will typically pull animals from local shelters or may assist other local and non-local rescue groups by taking their animals into the organization. Some rescue groups are breed-specific and will only accept pure-bred or mixed animals of a single breed, some will only accept puppies, some will only accept pure-bred animals and some will help any breeds. Many rescue organizations will not accept surrendered animals direct from owners as they feel it is the owner’s responsibility to rehome any animal they are essentially disposing into the system.

Every Monday Ambato, Ecuador hosts the largest open-air market in Ecuador. At the end of every Monday’s market, 120-170 puppies and kittens that didn’t sell at the market are discarded like trash.

This is the reality of selling puppies in third world countries, these animals have no value to the merchant if they don’t bring in any [More...]]]>

Every Monday Ambato, Ecuador hosts the largest open-air market in Ecuador. At the end of every Monday’s market, 120-170 puppies and kittens that didn’t sell at the market are discarded like trash.

This is the reality of selling puppies in third world countries, these animals have no value to the merchant if they don’t bring in any profit, they are simply a discardable commodity – but what about puppies for sale in a country like the United States? Do large scale breeders and puppy selling pet stores actually care about the welfare of the lives they are selling or are these puppies simply used as a means to a dollar?

According to the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), puppy mills and puppy selling pet stores have been around for decades.  HSUS believes that they “continue to thrive because they prey on unwitting consumers who are smitten by too-cute-for-words puppies in pet store windows and on legitimate-seeming websites.” They reality is that puppy mills dogs are housed in shockingly poor conditions and many puppy selling pet stores offer similarly poor living conditions with very little veterinary care.

While you may find a few stand-out puppy selling pet stores with more concern about the welfare of the dogs they are selling, the bottom line is that they are selling these dogs as a commodity to make money. If you aren’t being asked about the home you are taking the puppy to, how you intend to care for this puppy, and how much time you have available for this puppy – you can be certain the seller has no interest in the welfare of the dog once it leaves the premises.

What the consumer also doesn’t understand is that their purchase of this seemingly adorable puppy from the pet store window propagates the problem.  If the ability to make money off of the sale of domesticated animals was no longer palpable, these breeders and stores would be looking for a more lucrative business.

Every puppy purchased from a mill breeder or a pet store takes a home away from an existing dog in a shelter or rescue. Hundreds of thousands of quality dogs (pure-bred and mixed breed, puppies and adults) are euthanized yearly simply because someone would no longer care for them.

If you are only looking for a pure-bred dog, or a specific breed – please visit a local breed specific rescue first – they do take in puppies fairly regularly. If you can not find what you are looking for in shelters or rescue, then visit a reputable breeder for your breed. A quality, reputable breeder is concerned about the constant improvement of their breed, the typical temperament and good health of their puppies, and will be there to help and guide you with your new dog. They will always let you visit their premises upon request and will ask you about your home situation to ensure their puppy will be acceptably cared for – for life.

Please consider a Recycled Dog first – and to stop this cycle of essentially accepting the inhumane treatment of mill dogs, please never buy from a breeding mill or pet store. Thanks for recycling!

Mango adopted us – to put things in perspective.

Mango was found climbing a tree in central Nebraska trying to follow a squirrel. He made his way to Colorado through various rescuers and transports. At one point, he was adopted to another family but they returned him for behavioral reasons.

I found Mango at an adoption event where [More...]]]>

Mango adopted us – to put things in perspective.

Mango was found climbing a tree in central Nebraska trying to follow a squirrel. He made his way to Colorado through various rescuers and transports. At one point, he was adopted to another family but they returned him for behavioral reasons.

I found Mango at an adoption event where I was volunteering. He had a makeshift roof on his kennel because his kennel card said he was a fence jumper. With his striking golden eyes, many comments were also made that he looked a bit scary – even a bit feral.

With only a few dogs left at the three-day event, Mango and I became fast friends. Feeling very bad for such a sweet dog, I offered him a temporary foster home until the next adoption event a week later.

He found a home for a few days but was returned a second time for wandering off with the family’s rescued pitbull. We picked him up again and brought him home for good.

Mango and our rescued lab Guinness are the best of friends now and either would be heartbroken with another separation. Mango no longer jumps fences and apparently just needed a steady home with people that offered him attention and love. Although he wrangled his way into our home, we now love our sad-sack, shepherd mix, reformed jumper. Welcome home Mango.

To answer a question that we are asked fairly often: “How can I help rescue dogs and shelters?”; we have put together a list of eight New Year’s Resolutions to spark some ideas for this upcoming new year.