There are many, many wonderful people in this world who dedicate their hearts, souls, time and lives to helping animals in need. These are not just the workers at local animal shelters but rather those who take in pets who have become “problem” animals or simply could no longer be housed by their current families. These rescue organizations are usually breed specific and I think at least one Newfie rescue organization exists for each state in the US. I also know there are many others around the world but few (aside from in Canada perhaps) seem to have the organized level of those in the US.
This list came around the Newf-L email this morning and I wanted to pass it along to those who may be interested to help with rescue in a small (or big) way in their area. You may not be able to take in a dog in need into your home, but there are many other things you can do instead…
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- Transport a dog?
- Donate a dog bed or towels or other *bedding* type items?
- Donate MONEY?
- Donate a Kong? A nylabone? A hercules?
- Donate a crate?
- Donate an x-pen or baby gates?
- Donate a food dish or a stainless bucket for a crate?
- Donate a leash?
- Donate a collar?
- Donate some treats or a bag of food?
- Donate a halti or promise collar?
- Walk a dog?
- Groom a dog?
- Donate some grooming supplies (shampoos, combs, brushes, etc.)?
- Go to the local shelter and see if that Big Black dog is a Newf or go with rescue to be a second opinion on the dog?
- Make a few phone calls?
- Mail out applications to people who’ve requested them?
- Provide local vet clinics with contact information for educational materials on Newfs?
- Drive a dog to and from vet appointments?
- Donate long distance calling cards?
- Donate gas cards …even a $ 10 card is greatly appreciated.
- Donate the use of your scanner or digital camera?
- Donate the use of a photocopier?
- Attend public education days and try to educate people on responsible pet ownership?
- Donate a gift certificate to a pet store?
- Donate a raffle item if your club is holding a fund raiser?
- Donate flea stuff (Advantage, etc.)?
- Donate heartworm pills?
- Donate a first aid kit?
- Provide a shoulder to cry on when the rescue person is overwhelmed?
- Pay the boarding fees to board a dog for a week? Two weeks?
- Be a Santi-paws foster to give the foster a break for a few hours or days.
- Clip coupons for dog food or treats.
- Bake some homemade doggie biscuits.
- Make book purchases through Amazon via the Newf-L Website (You can purchase the above books via links to Amazon.com; the commissions earned on these purchases are split between rescue and health challenge) or the Newfoundland Club of Seattle Bookshop.
- Host rescue photos or contact information with an information link on your website?
- Donate time to take good photos of foster newfs for adoption flyers, etc?
- Conduct a home visit or accompany a rescue person on the home visit?
- Go with rescue person to the vet to help if there is more than one dog?
- Have a yard sale and donate the money to rescue?
- Be a volunteer to do rescue in your area? These United States and Canada are vast and all the state in the US and provinces in Canada are not covered by a rescue, contact Mary Price on how you can start a rescue in your state or the Newfoundland Dog Club of Canada.
- Take advantage of a promotion on the web or store offering a free ID tag and instead of getting it for your own dog, have the tag inscribed with your Club’s name and phone # to contact? This makes a reusable ID tag for dogs while in foster care?
- Talk to all your friends about adopting and fostering rescue dogs?
- Donate a spay or neuter or vaccinations for one rescued dog?
- Interview vets to encourage them to offer discounts to rescues?
- Write a column for your local newspaper or club newsletter on dogs on dogs currently looking for homes or ways to help rescue?
- Take photos of dogs available for adoption for use by the Club?
- Maintain a web sites listing/showing dogs available or rescue contacts?
- Help organize and run fundraising events?
- Help maintain the paperwork files associated with each dog or enter the information into a database?
- Tattoo a rescued dog or microchip a rescued dog.
- Loan your carpet steamcleaner to someone who has fostered a dog that was sick or marked in the house?
- Donate a bottle of bleach or other cleaning products?
- Donate or loan a portable dog run to someone who doesn’t have a quarantine area for quarantining a dog that has an unknown vaccination history and has been in a shelter?
- Drive the fosters’ children to an activity so that the foster can take the dog to obedience class?
- Use your video camera to film a rescue dog in action?
- Pay the cost of taking a dog to obedience class?
- Be the one to take the dog to its obedience class?
- Go to the foster home once a week with your children and dogs to help socialize the dog?
- Help the foster clean up the yard (yes, we also have to scoop what those foster dogs poop)
- Offer to test the foster dog with cats?
- Pay for the dog to be groomed or take the dog to a *Do It Yourself* Grooming Place?
- Bring the foster take out so the foster doesn’t have to cook dinner?
- Pay a house-cleaning service to do the spring cleaning for someone who fosters dogs all the time?
- Lend your artistic talents to your club’s newsletter, fundraising ideas, t-shirt designs?
- Donate printer paper, envelopes and stamps to your club?
- Go with a rescue person to the vet if a foster dog needs to be euthanized?
- Go to local shelters and meet with shelter staff about how to identify your breed or provide photos and breed information showing the different types of that breed may come in and the different colour combinations?
- Go to local businesses and solicit donations for a club’s fundraising event?70. Offer to try and help owners be better pet owners by holding a grooming seminar?
- Help pet owners be better pet owners by being available to answer training questions?
- Loan a crate if a dog needs to travel by air?
- Put together an *Owner’s Manual* for those who adopt rescued dogs of your breed?
- Provide post-adoption follow up or support?
- Donate a coupon for a free car wash or gas or inside cleaning of a vehicle?
- Pay for an ad in your local/metropolitan paper to help place rescue dogs?
- Volunteer to screen calls for that ad?
- Get some friends together to build/repair pens for a foster home?
- Microchip your own pups if you are a breeder, and register the chips, so if your dogs ever come into rescue, you can be contacted to take responsibility for your pup?
- Donate a small percentage of the sale of each pup to rescue if you are a breeder?
- Buy two of those really neat dog-items you “have to have” and donate one to Rescue?
- Make financial arrangements in your will to cover the cost of caring for your dogs after you are gone – so Rescue won’t have to?
- Make a bequest in your will to your local or national Rescue?
- Donate your professional services as an accountant or lawyer?
- Donate other services if you run your own business?
- Donate the use of a vehicle if you own a car dealership?
- Loan your cell phone (and cover costs for any calls) to s/one driving a rescued dog?
- Donate your *used* dog dryer when you get a new one?
- Let rescue know when you’ll be flying and that you’d be willing to be a rescued dog’s escort?
- Donate a doggy seatbelt?
- Donate a grid for a van or other vehicle?
- Organize a rescued dog picnic or other event to reunite the rescued dogs that have been placed?
- Donate other types of doggy toys that might be safe for rescued dogs?
- Donate a roll-a-treat or Buster cube?
- Donate clickers or a video on clicker training?
- Donate materials for a quarantine area at a foster’s home?
- Donate sheets of linoleum or other flooring materials to put under crates to protect the foster’s floor?
- Donate an engraving tool to make ID tags for each of the rescued dogs?
- Remember that rescuing a dog involves the effort and time of many people and make yourself available on an emergency basis to do *whatever* is needed?
- Send in your weight circles. If you feed a food that rescue could use to get a discount based on weight circles, send them! For example, we use Eukanuba…folks that use it and don’t belong to the breeders club, send in the weight circles. It helps get a discount from time to time as the wgt circles add up. Euk, Proplan, a bunch of them have these types of programs.
- Buy a gift certificate from PetsMart or another pet store to give to the rescue organization. Yes, as little as $10 can make a difference.
- Call a rescue organization and ask if they can use your unused pet medications?
- Do something not listed above to help rescue?
**gently-used dog equipment is always welcomed.
