Intake Information

What we would like most of all would be a community that didn't abandon dogs.  We understand that in some cases, it is a necessity, but in others, time and patience can help most problems.  We are always here to offer basic information and pass along contact information for an animal behaviorist, who can work with you and  your dog in your home.  First and foremost, we would like anyone considering turning in their dog to take steps to try to rectify whatever situation exists.  Here are some common problems and some solutions:

Problem: My male dog is marking the house and I'm sick of cleaning up after him.
Solution: If he isn't neutered, get him neutered.  Neutering takes care of a lot of dominance problems, as well as significantly lowering his chances for cancer in the future.  Neutering also helps a dog focus more on you and not mating.  If your dog is neutered, and he's still marking, get him a belly band.  This is a cheap version of a diaper that wraps around his waist and covers his penis.  Whenever he leg lifts, he'll end up wetting himself, and feel uncomfortable.  After doing it a few times, he'll stop marking.  However, in those very few cases that it does persist, it could be a dominance problem, in which you would have to find an animal behaviorist to help you work through it.

Problem: My dog is too rambunctious, and I can't control him/her.
Solution: Your dog probably needs structure and some training.  Dogs crave a constant schedule, as it calms them, knowing that things happen at a certain time.  Schedule some play time or walks to get in some exercise, and enroll in a basic dog training class.  They'll be able to teach you some skills to help focus your dog's mind when it needs to be focused.  That coupled with the aforementioned exercise will make most dogs happy and well-balanced.

Problem: My dog is attacking my child.
Solution: This is always a tricky situation.  On one hand, a dog should never attack a child.  But in 99.9% of the cases we've seen, it's the child that instigates.  Make sure your child isn't pulling the dog's tail, pulling the dog's ears, jumping on the sleeping dog, or just general annoyance.  Young children are not capable of feeling empathy, and the thought that the dog may not like the behavior hardly crosses their minds.  The dog realizes that you're not doing anything about the child's persistent actions, and is trying to correct the child.  Teach your children to treat the dog like they'd like to be treated.  Chances are your children don't want their ears pulled on or jumped on while sleeping.  At the same time, firmly correct the dog to show that that is not acceptable behavior.  You're top dog, and you're responsible for correcting both your dog and your child.

If you've made every effort possible to help your dog keep your home, please contact us, and we'll do the best we can.  Presently we are a foster home based organization. Until our no kill shelter is built, we can not take in every pet needing rescue because of the lack of available foster homes. BUT we are still willing to help YOU. If we are unable to take a pet in, we will cross post to other rescues and individuals for you. We also have a transport program, shipping animals to other rescues in the north.
However in order to help you, we need your help. We will need you to provide pictures of the pet needing rescue and information about that pet. Give all details known such as any vetting that has been done, health concerns, temperament, age, breed, sex, and include contact information for us or another organization to contact you by.
We are not a division of county government and receive NO government funding, but rely solely on donations from the public.
Therefore a turn in donation is required for pets coming into our organization.

Michelle Doneza