DYI Dog Rescue | The Bark – The Bark (blog)

It often begins with a whispered, Wouldnt it be great if we had our own rescue? At least, thats how it began for us.

We were a handful of volunteers at a high-kill shelter. Like so many volunteers at so many shelters across the country, we rejoiced when dogs got adopted and were flattened when they were euthanized for no apparent reason. We knew there had to be a better way. But could we figure out what it was? One day, we decided it was worth a try, and took the plunge.

That was in 2014. It began with a few people with a shared idea who sat around a table and talked about it for more than four hours. It wasnt especially glamorous, but it was exciting and empowering and, at times, contentious. Get a group of people in a room discussing a topic as passionate and based on what my friends and I learned by establishing and running DogsHome rescue three years ago, here are our six Golden Rules for starting your own rescue.

Golden Rule #1: Decide how you want to be different.

You want to save dogs. The good news: so do the shelters and rescues in your area. The bad news: so do the shelters and rescues in your area. Of course, its not really bad news, but it does make it harder for the new kid on the block (thats you) to stand out. So you have to ask yourself what youre going to do thats different.

For example, you might decide to focus on rescuing senior dogs, dogs with medical issues or a particular breed. At our rescue, we knew that above all, we wanted to make sure every decision we made answered one question: Is this in the dogs best interest? If it is, we do it. If it isnt, we dont. In many ways, thats made our lives both simple (we always know what course of action to take) and difficult (the best course of action often requires much more time and energy). But we stand by it. However, this isnt just about you.

Golden Rule #2: Ask your community how they want you to be different.

Youre going to need support, both helping hands and dollars, so make sure that when you decide the ways in which youre going to be different, there will be something that resonates with your potential supporters.

In our case (and I cant recommend this enough), we debuted our plan at a gathering at the home of one of our board members. We told everyone we invited to come with their ideas because we wanted to hear what they wanted from a rescue. To a person, everyone wanted better customer service. When they call or email, they want someone to get back to them. When they adopt or foster a dog, they dont want to feel as though theyve fallen into a black hole. They said they needed a place to turn with questions, problems and concerns.

We put this directly into our mission statement: we provide our dogs with lifetime support. In other words, were always there for our fosters and adopters. And while it means we sometimes get phone calls at 6 am or midnight, weve lived up to that!

Golden Rule #3: Think with your head, not your heart.

This is a tough one. How do you put logic ahead of compassion when it comes to saving lives? I can only tell you that its important to keep your heart in check or youll quickly find yourselves overwhelmed, both functionally and financially.

You cant help a dog if you dont have the resources to help him. And I know (oh, I know!) there is nothing more heartbreaking and frustrating than realizing you cant take a dog because you just cant. You dont have a foster home available for him, you dont have the money to provide for his expensive vet care or you simply wont be able to give the dog quality of life. Set up yourself and the dogs for success. Get your proverbial ducks in a row before going forward.

Golden Rule #4: Be prepared.

Getting your ducks in a row means taking care of the boring stuff, like liability insurance and nonprofit certification, should you go that route. It means finding good, committed fosters (assuming you dont have a shelter facility available) so that when you want to rescue a dog, theres a place ready and waiting for him. It also means having funds available for dogs who come to you with urgent medical needs.

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DYI Dog Rescue | The Bark - The Bark (blog)