February 3rd, 2010
Hershey Kiss
Welcome!
When we rescued our first dog back in 1996, a black and brown miniature Dacshund named Hershey, I don’t think I had heard the word “rescue” associated with pets. We didn’t consider it a “rescue,” we simply were taking a dog no one seemed to want, including her former owners.
Hershey had a bad attitude toward children and other dogs. I knew if she ended up at the municipal shelter, as her former owner threatened, she probably wouldn’t be adopted.
Hershey came to us shortly after we lost our three Maltese, two of which I had purchased in the early 1980s from a backyard breeder.
Hershey soon became not just our pet, but our “only” very spoiled child.
We didn’t go anyplace without her, including vacations and our weekend boating trips. She became known as the dog in the pink lifejacket among other regulars at our local fishing lake. When a series of daytime home invasions threatened our neighborhood, we had an alarm system installed just to protect Hershey, who was at home waiting for us to return from work each day.
Hershey was the first dog to teach us that good dogs can be the ones no one else wants.
As a journalist, I covered cops and courts for a local paper in Kansas City and in the process, covered a horrendous dog torture case. That coverage led me to learn about the problem of puppy mills in Kansas and Missouri, as well as to the shocking numbers of homeless pets that are euthanized in shelters each year because there simply aren’t enough homes to fulfill the supply.
In 2000, I wrote an investigative piece called “Disposable Pets” about the puppy mill problem.
I’m sorry to say a decade later that although awareness is higher about the overpopulation problem and “rescue” is a term commonly recognized among animal lovers, the overpopulation problem still persists and puppy mills and backyard breeders continue to churn out pets onto the flooded market.
However, the good news is that there are literally thousands of rescues across the country helping unwanted and abandoned animals. Some are large and have a high profile, such as Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Utah, which took many of the Michael Vick fighting dogs thought hopeless. Those dogs are now referred to as “Victory Dogs,” as they are some of the first fighting dogs in the country to be rehabilitated from their horrible abuse to their natural state as loving companions.
But many rescue organizations don’t have high profiles that secure large donations. Most rescues are local grass roots initiatives founded and ran by a few, or even one, good-hearted person. Some have put their entire life savings into the animals.
They believe, as we came to believe when we got Hershey, that every dog deserves a second chance at a forever home.
These are some of the rescues, along with their dogs that I hope to profile on this blog. Bookmark this address and end your week every Friday with an uplifting story of dogs who have found their forever homes and those who helped them get there!
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Tags: animal rescues, dog rescues, Hershey
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4 Responses to “What is a Rescue?”
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Kerri Fivecoat-Campbell has had dogs all of her life. Her first rescue was Hershey, a miniature black and brown Dacshund. She ruled the Campbell household until 2005 when she passed away at age 16. The case of Scruffy, a Yorkshire terrier whose torture death was videotaped in 1997, horrified the nation when the tape appeared on national news shows. Kerri began covering the trial for the local daily newspaper in Kansas City, Kansas where the crime occurred. Her investigation into animal cruelty cases led to her awareness of the puppy mill problem in that state.
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Hi Kerri,
I look forward to reading your blog. You’re with a great group of gals here, I see. I have a rescue dog as well. Sort of. Someone put Clooney, a grey and white miniature schnauzer, in my backyard 10 years ago. When we couldn’t find her owner, we adopted her. She’s not the most well-behaved dog (She’s bitten people and growls at other dogs) and she’s a barker, too, but she’s a very loyal friend. I’m glad I have her.
Enjoy your new job!
Jackie
Thank you so much for your support, Jackie! Yes, you do have a rescue, your Clooney just didn’t make it into a shelter or rescue, as mine didn’t.
You’re right, there’s a great group of writers here. I feel I’m in great company!
I enjoyed your blog–I am a part-time volunteer at The Pet Connection in Mission, KS, which takes dogs and cats from rescue groups and shelters and re-homes them. They also have a low-cost spay/neuter clinic, where I sometimes help out in the “recovery room”, trimming the kitties’ claws while they’re asleep.
Thanks, Susan. Yes, I know The Pet Connection. I’ve interviewed the founders a few times for stories, as well as called them to see if we could get a couple of rescues in their program!