People are always asking…”How can I help?”

FEBRUARY 2012 UPDATE….

 If the first two months of 2012 are an example of what the year will bring, we will be inundated. Two of the dogs who came in had undisclosed heart murmurs. Extra trips to a canine cardiologist added countless hours and expense to the organization. Our feelings are and will remain that every item that surfaces during our veterinary checks be followed through upon to ensure that transparency is always at the forefront of our adoption process.

 First, let me say it appears the scope of our rescue is morphing. Whereas the pattern was bring a dog in, vet the dog, provide opportunities to meet adopters, do home checks, and place the dog…horizons have broadened. 

Some economic hardships have led to owners needing one-time assistance because, for them, keeping their pet is paramount. In these cases, it has been the veterinarian who calls us and wants to work with us. We are happy to contribute to keep the dog in its home…rescue prevention is the term we use for this. In many of these cases the owners are dealing with a plethora of issues … issues that would make the dog difficult if not impossible to place. The cost of these issues could be cost prohibitive for us as a rescue, thereby making our contribution to the veterinary expense a winning situation for all.

 Phone calls come in constantly…not necessarily from people looking to place their dogs but seeking advice. Questions are related to feeding, skin issues, allergies, rehabilitating various surgeries, training, choice of veterinarian, and choice of groomer. We spend countless hours talking to people every week…and we don’t mind a bit! We are so happy to help the people and their dogs!

 Change in family structure, not necessarily economic hardship, has recently forced some re-homing of dogs. Our volunteers kindly go meet the dog…if the evaluation is positive and all vetting is current, we may make a placement where our volunteer deals with the home giving up the dog, working to make the experience as comfortable as possible for them. The volunteer then picks up the dog, brings the dog to the new home, not only working with the new owner to get the dog acclimated and comfortable but offering moral support around the clock until both the new owner and the dog are settled. This commitment takes an extraordinary amount of time.

 Our Newfoundland Kids Program is in rough draft format. However, the local schools are now contacting us and giving out our information as a nonprofit to take part in classes requiring community service. This will be an amazing first step to getting children involved…an idea that is one of the pillars of the creation of our organization. We are dealing with middle school and high school age children currently and hope to develop our complete program soon. Keeping children involved is so key! They are the rescuers of tomorrow! Whereas our target was a spring 2012 roll out, because of the number of dogs coming in to our rescue and the amount of time spent on transport, trips to the vet, rehabilitating, etc., and being that we are all volunteers, we will have to extend the time frame for the Kids program. Dogs come first…that’s what we do!

 So the bottom line…we know how important all of this work is. We see it in the eyes of the animals that we save…and we see it in the eyes of the people we help. We always thought that we were JUST helping the animals…we now know differently…the face of rescue is changing! People care about their pets…their four-legged family members.

 Your donations are the most important part of this process…our vet bills and medication costs are the biggest challenge that we face…every dollar helps…every volunteer helps…every donated item helps…we thank you for your consideration when deciding which charity to sponsor!

 Our search for a used mini van for next summer to drive our oldies to the pond has ended. We have actually received not one but two mini vans! Whereas our intention is not to register the Pond Van, we have decided to register one of the two to use for tranporting dogs to the vet, helping with transport, etc. The Pond Van will be used only to drive to the pond and back, on our own property, with our senior and medically challenged citizens.

Our thanks to Sid Sarantis for donating his van and to Rich and Annette Tarascio for locating a van for us and to Rich for going through BOTH vans to ensure that they are mechanically sound!

Before you toss out your old dog beds…if they are in relatively good condition, we will take them! We always need dog beds. Dog beds for these big dogs are expensive and we are grateful for the hand-me-downs! Our thanks to those who have donated for dog beds! If you could see these dogs snuggled on these beds...it would bring tears to your eyes as it did to mine.

Kenneling and food are NOT an issue…Ed and I have always donated the kenneling and the food even for the other group for which we volunteered…so That Newfoundland Place will not need to pay for kenneling or food…we’d rather keep the funds for dogs in need of vet care….HOWEVER…healthy treats will always be a welcomed donation! We've had wonderful donations of healthy biscuits and marrow bones to help keep teeth clean and to keep the dogs occupied...thank you so much! 

Finally, you can make a secure donation using the button on the right of this page via credit card or PayPal.

Thanking you all in advance for your help and support!