RESCUING DOGS & CATS from georgia kill shelters--approved by leon

[Leon]

Originally Posted by steve B

Another group to talk to would be saveadog. http://www.saveadog.org/

One of our dogs came from them and was originally a foster dog we had. One that would constantly climb on my lap when it was football time. We already had one dog, so it took me a month or so to cave and ask if we could keep her.

A couple things I picked up from them, or from a newsletter by someone else.

A general rather than breed specific rescue is easier. For a few reasons, like the shelter staff not being good at identifying breeds.
Many kill shelters won't deal with rescue. Seems odd, but as it was put, the sheer numbers make the job pretty much suck. Adding some usually fanatical person who gets on them for working for a kill shelter and railing on about how every dog should be saved makes the job just that much worse.

I think saveadogs approach was setting things up in advance, arriving with space in the truck for "about x dogs" and asking the shelter staff to give them the most adoptable among the ones with little time left. They then drive to their area, and distribute the rescued to foster homes. That works well since there's less required in facilities, and the foster homes can give them an idea what the dog is like.

Either way, be open to there being a few that simply can't/shouldn't be rescued. Like large dogs that have a serious dislike of kids. That usually doesn't lead anywhere good.

Concerning your last comments, I couldn't (politely) disagree more except for dogs that are completely sick with no hope of recovery. To me this is like saying, well, some people don't deserve to be cared for. I think that is pathetic.