Ruff Dog Rescue 2017 | A Look Back
Well, another year has come to a close and another year knee-deep in dog rescue. 2017 was all things - demanding and rewarding, with some pretty significant highs and lows. We have seen some volunteers move on to other endeavors and we’ve welcomed some new folks on board. We’ve definitely made a lot of new friends, especially our new alumni adopters. Since finding good homes for our dogs is why we are all here, we love the fact that so many of our adopters keep in touch throughout the year with updates and new pictures. Watching some of our pups grow into beautiful family dogs and some of our older dogs settle in and thrive with their ‘second chance’ homes is everything we could hope for.
The Stats
We have successfully found homes for over 160 dogs and puppies this year alone. And that could not be accomplished without all the hard work of the applications processing team, our fosters, webmaster and coordinators, our ‘Jill of all Trades’ (we have a few of those) and, of course, RDRNE President Tere, who holds down the fort in the rolling hills of rural north east Pennsylvania. The Lows
It’s always a sad day in rescue when you lose a pup. It’s especially sad, when you lose a pup to a preventable disease or condition. We’ve seen more than our share of puppies riddled with intestinal parasites, and we’ve seen far too much of the deadly Parvo. We sadly said goodbye to Blaze, Heaven, Henri, Jake, Jess and Zooey – all who left this world too soon.
The Highs Every ‘happy tail’ picture we post, tells the story of one dog's journey to adoption. But some of those adoptions are extra special. Often it’s the harder-to-place adult dogs, sometimes it’s that sick or starved puppy that we weren’t sure we could save. There were so many stories, but here are just a few highlights:
Roxy was an owner surrender who spent almost two years with us in the kennel. She began to suffer with a thyroid condition and gained a significant amount of weight that was impacting her joints and health. Just in the nick of time we found an amazing foster home, that could give her the attention she deserved. She got on track with her health, lost weight and then met the family that would give her the forever home of her dreams.
Vanna was another long-timer who arrived to rescue with puppies in tow and watched them all get adopted, while patiently waiting for her turn. Vanna was a gorgeous young dog, but she kept getting overlooked. One of our alumni adopters agreed to take Vanna in as a foster. However, it didn't take long for everyone to recognize that Vanna fit in very well with this household, and with that, after waiting so long, Vanna had her forever home.
Ranger was an adult Coonhound that we brought up from Georgia. He was adopted and then returned and then caught the eye of a family in Colorado. We don’t normally do long distance adoptions like that, but this was such an extraordinary case and adoptive family, we realized that we could make it work. When the family flew in from Colorado to meet Ranger we knew it was the right home.
Bruno was another adult dog that was adopted and returned and then adopted again by a family that actually came looking for a new puppy. I don’t think even they were expecting to fall in love with a 3 year old block head, but he proved to be an amazing fit for their family.
Ninja was part of a litter we rescued that was so sick with a parasitic infection that he required two emergency operations to fix a prolapsed rectum brought on by this preventable condition. He survived and then thrived and found a wonderful family to love.
Thoughts on the New Year
As a new year arrives and we think about all of the dogs that have passed through here, we also have to wonder about those we couldn’t help, those we didn’t know about or those that didn't make it out of the shelter. We consider how we can improve on what we did the year before (more adopter and foster homes, please!) and wish for that day we won’t be needed as we are now. We hope for a future where people spay and neuter their companion animals and honor the commitment to provide a good and safe home for life. We Couldn't Do It Without You
We are so thankful for our friends and family, our online community of supporters, our local community in Pennsylvania that has embraced us as we have them and, of course, all of the adopters that choose to adopt and give a chance to a homeless animal. Adopt Don’t Shop. Peace.
