There is a special breed of humans. They look just like other humans, but they are priceless in the world of homeless animals. These are the humans of rescue work.
On a very hot and humid summer afternoon, Mom visited Paige O’Neill of Mostly Mutts dog rescue. Paige is the founder and President of Mostly Mutts. She is very dedicated to the group. Each weekend, she loads up the animals and drives them to local pet stores in hopes of finding a forever home. That statement may not impress some people, but this action alone should earn someone a six figure salary! But there are no paid positions in rescue work. In fact, money’s tough to come by in general.
No doubt, the economy causes many of us a lot of headaches. Unfortunately, pet rescue suffers from the trickle-down effects of a bad economy. They depend a lot on donations and materials given by every day people, just like you and mom.
A few common items needed in shelters are: treats, bowls, towels, shampoo, toys, collars, flea control and rubber gloves. Office supplies and gift cards are also helpful items.
Ask Paige what is the most important thing to rescue groups and her reply might surprise some. While the donations are nice and very important, Paige is quick to point out that absolutely none of this would be possible without the volunteers.
These people often sacrifice their weekends to shuttle animals from the shelter to places where they can hopefully find a forever family. Some volunteers stay all day walking, watering and caring for the animals as they await that magic moment when someone makes an adoption.
The volunteers work in all kinds of weather conditions as well. Mom remembers a particular Saturday morning a few years back. The volunteers rolled up in front of one pet store, bundled in coats, hats and gloves and began to set up crates for the animals. Cozy blankets were placed in each crate and a kerosene heater lit to fight off the biting cold. The high temperature predicted for Atlanta that day was a 28 degrees Fahrenheit. All that cold and not one flake of snow. Bummer.
By the way, that 28 degrees was definitely below normal for Atlanta.
The cold is only half of the story. The volunteers work just as hard when the thermometer reads 100 degrees!
Some volunteers take their work home with them. They are the ones that foster the animals every day until that special person is found. They open their homes, their hearts and their pocketbooks. These are the voices for the animals that they save.
Paige is an experienced veterinarian technician as well as a certified dog trainer. However, teaching tennis and all the other work of running a very successful rescue, that leaves little to no time to practice either!
The Mostly Mutts compound is quite a nice place. There are yards for the dogs to play and run. The facility is very clean and organized. It is an awesome place to be while waiting on a new home!
Mom has a couple of things that she says whenever she is teaching or lecturing about dogs.
“It is not your right or freedom to continue to contribute to the over-population of domesticated animals by burdening society with litters born every six months, whether the mating is by accident or intentional.”
And
“Most people feel that if they allow their dog to have one litter, that’s okay. After all, not everyone allows their dogs to breed. But what if we had that same thought about littering the highways? It is alright for me to throw my empty cup out of the window I assume no one else will? Who will step up to clean up either mess?”
If you can’t give, perhaps you can volunteer. If you can’t do either, then tell Paige and all rescue workers, THANKS!
A reader from Canada sent me an e-mail asking for help with his two Yorkshire Terriers, who have begun fighting recently. Both dogs are intact males, and the reader figured out the first step to addressing the problem on his own. Even with one intact male dog, there is a lot of testosterone in the room, but TWO?!
