Breed Rescue protocol
From my experience the different rescues have much different protocol, ranging from taking any dog sight unseen to only taking adoptable purebreds. I'm especially interested in the protocol for the rescues surrounding Illinois. Does anyone know what the bylaws or general intake protocols say for their area rescue? |
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We don't have any criteria etched in stone. We've taken mixes when it's been an exceptional case (like Rudie  ) or when a girl going into the military needed to rehome her "OES". Turned out the dog was mostly Irish Wolfhound but we'd already committed and had a foster home available.
We recently were contacted about taking a dog with a known bite history who had also been banned by two different groomers. Sadly, we had to pass on him because we had no one to work with him and no available fosters. I believe he was surrendered to the local humane society. Foster homes are so incredibly hard to come by and can be the difference between life and death for healthy dogs with great temperaments. We try to take as many purebred OES that we can handle and mixed breeds when we can and hope the rest can be adopted through shelters. Age, health, temperament and ability to place the dog are all factors on which dogs we can handle. Nita Midwest OES Rescue |
| Thank you Nita. I had a feeling most policies would be contingent on whether there was a foster home able to work with the particular dog... that's pretty much how we work too!
Any input from other rescues would be appreciated too! |
| I keep meaning to ask - who is "we"? Are you part of an OESCA rescue group? |
| Sorry, should have made that clear. I run an all breed rescue in Chicago. www.onetail.org |
Nice website - only thing I didn't see was the legal stuff - like 501c3 status, I assume its a site still under construction.  |
| Nope, not under construction.. we just don't have our legal stuff up there, we send out the necessary 501c3 stuff when we receive donations or if someone asks. |
| oh how odd - it doesn't show up on any of the charity checking websites I can find. You may want to look into that. |
| You might want to put a line in there about being 501c3. I know many will keep on moving if they don't know the group is so designated. |
kerry wrote: oh how odd - it doesn't show up on any of the charity checking websites I can find. You may want to look into that.
what websites are you using? We have "default" 501c3 status at the moment because we did not take in the necessary amount of donations our first year to file. Perhaps that is not taken into account on those websites, which is a shame for the little guys. |
| well guidestar requires a fee now (I used to use them alot) so I didn't check, just did a google and tried the first few that showed up |
| If you need the info for a donation, just let me know I'd be happy to forward it to you |
Am I missing something? The initial question said nothing about the non-profit status of a group, only the protocol for taking a dog into their rescue. 
As an attorney, Heather is well aware of the legalities involved. |
| Heather
I do pretty much the same as Nita said! I like to see pics to see if it resmebles an oes at all but, that isn't always an option ( most times I have gone without I was surprised BUT, they were still placeable!) Marty is going Sunday to pick up a dog in GA all we know is shaggy and doesn't have a tail. 
The owner passed away and he is living outside with the son going once a day to take care of him (I will take my chances) Forgot to mention they said he was hard of hearing! 
I am guessing deaf from the description! I guess since we do not have our 501(c)3, with very few donations and we pay for all the care that we can pick up whoever we feel we can handle |
Maggie McGee IV wrote: Am I missing something? The initial question said nothing about the non-profit status of a group, only the protocol for taking a dog into their rescue.
As an attorney, Heather is well aware of the legalities involved. I wasn't questioning whether or not the rescue was not for profit - just pointed out it was a nice informative site, but I didn't notice the 501c 3 status, which I always look for before I donate, and I couldn't find them on charity checker sites, which i also always do. just trying to be helpful ANd I am sure she does - never heard of a defacto 501 c 3 status myself - see you learn something new everyday  |
| This too is way off topic but I guess most of this tread now is anyway...
I really hope people will also donate to rescues who don't yet have their 501c3 status. The lack of a 501c3 does NOT mean that a rescue isn't legitimate. I get so tired of good people being snubbed for not having a 501c3. These are often the rescue people who are quietly working outside the limelight. I know for a fact that money comes out of the rescuers' pockets and just one sick dog can quickly put them in the hole. We won't even talk about when multiples come in and they're all sick. There are so many times when the adoption fee never comes close to covering the medical bills on a dog. 
If there are any OES loving lawyers that would like to donate their services to a few OES rescues wanting to be 501c3 tax exempt, please let me know. Also, if there's anyone looking to donate the funds required to file for a tax exempt status, that would be really cool too! There are so many OESs entering rescues right now that have not received proper care due to the failing economy on top of the standard owner/breeder neglect. Some of these smaller rescues without their 501c3 status could soon be forced to turn some of these dogs away. |
| well, some rescues have very large bank accounts (this is clearly available on the web), perhaps they should either handle the extra dogs, or help other rescues get started. |
| I've had an account with GuideStar since last year... you can look at the 990s without paying. I know of only one OES rescue group that has a decent bank account. There are others?
There are some excellent rescues already in place and they get bypassed for donations at the end of the year because the donations aren't tax deductible. It's that circle of paying for the influx of dogs and their care so they don't have the money to hire an attorney and pay the filing fees so they don't get all the donations they could. We really cannot expect the one rescue with a "very large bank account" to take on the burden of an entire country. I know for a fact they help when and where they can. But they built up their base and their first obligation is to the dogs and people in their own territory. Another thing to consider is they may be working off the annual interest on this account so that they'll ALWAYS have available funds. It's easy to understand what needs to be done... it's quite another thing to help actually get that job done. Anyone out there with a solution? It would be nice if there was one 501c3 that these smaller OES rescues could work under. That organization could collect all the donations and adoption fees for the states represented and fund the rescue work now going on in those states. Maybe see if there are any grants they could apply for. Is that even do-able? Sigh... Sorry, Heather. This is way off topic. |
| I don't have much in the way of "disposable income" right now, but I am always willing to donate a certificate for a portrait or a piece of existing OES artwork for a rescue auction. I don't care if I can write it off or not. I am just putting this out so that any rescue group for our breed knows they can always contact me for an art donation. |
kerry wrote: well, some rescues have very large bank accounts (this is clearly available on the web), perhaps they should either handle the extra dogs, or help other rescues get started.
Actually - and you must be talking New England, because no one else has anything even remotely like their funding - they have offered to help defray the costs of becoming a 501(c) etc for any number of rescue groups around the country. Part of the the non-profit status appeal is that you are more likely to attract donors. However, disreputable rescue groups (not talking OES here) have been sharply on the rise over the last few years and these days a number of shelters use non-profit status as a measure of credibility and some will only release dogs to such an organizations. As I recall that was Annie's reasoning behind pushing for OES rescue groups around the country to go that route. It's not inexpensive. And it's time-consuming etc. I know firsthand WI OES rescue is simply part of the OES Club of SE Wisconsin. We could, and we've discussed, organize rescue as a separate entity, not for legitimacy reasons - we have that based on the club's longevity and the fact that club's been doing rescue for about 30 years now - or for fundraising purposes, which we, how to put this politely? - suck at  But for liability purposes.
Our entire fundraising efforts consist of the following: every year at our Christmas party we have a rescue raffle, which means every year we donate our "crap" (I'm quoting a club member here) and every year we all buy each other's crap. It's a running joke. It would be easier if we just each wrote a check and skipped the recycling of each other's stuff, but we've become rather fond of the tradition.
The rest is donated by club members. As in, when you foster, you pick up the costs of the dog (food, mainly) except for medical, and we all do our own grooming of our own dogs anyway. That kind of thing. Even with that, we'd be deep, deep in the hole if one of our club members wasn't not only an OES breeder, but also a vet. And an extraordinary kind one at that. She does so much at cost (and sometimes not even that), not just for us but for other local breed rescues as well, that she should probably have 501 something status. But I don't think her business manager wants to hear that Actually, he's also a club member and his mom is a Great Dane breeder, so he donates his time and energy to both breeds as well.
Other than that, we have the same limitations that all rescues do: foster homes. As breeders, we usually have more dogs than the average person to begin with, so we easily bump up against limit laws, worsened by the fact that they are steadily being squeezed downward in many communitiesas part of the recent anti-pet legislative onslaught. We have two regular foster homes in this area - me and our sainted vet - plus another breeder in Central Wisconsin who fosters and handles a number of placements up that way. Of the two foster homes in the greater Milwaukee area, we've both had up to three dogs at times. Money is great, but there is probably nothing rescue, any rescue, needs more than foster homes (gee, I believe that's already been mentioned a few times? )
The Midwest doesn't seem to have the big, organized groups like they have on the East Coast, and certainly not the fundraising infrastructure. The only fundraising I can think of is the generous St Louis Club's at Sheepiepalooza, which each year designates a different Midwest rescue as beneficiary, and of course Deb (Debcram's) Sheepiefest auction. The Wisconsin club doesn't have hard and fast protocols in terms of acceptance of dogs. As a breed club our first priority is OES. Like Nita, we've taken mixed breeds here and there on occasion for a variety of reasons, but it's not something we do on a regular basis. Most of our dogs are owner-surrendered. Shelters typically don't have a problem placing purebreds since they're pretty scarce here, so usually only call us with about the not so easy to place ones due to age, behavioral or health issues. We don't normally turn down dogs for health or age reasons, but have based on temperament. Most if not all of the dogs we get are sight unseen and un(der) vetted. We try to only accept dogs from within Wisconsin and to ideally only place them here as well. When we have good homes and no dogs, or no appropriate dogs, we refer them to other breed rescues in the Midwest and will happily help them place dogs here if it works out that way - we're not territorial. We just have our limits and can't cover more than the state, if that. Nancy of MN rescue has covered parts of Northern Wisconsin on and off. I keep reminding our gung-ho only non-breeder member of the rescue committee of this. If she sees a rescue dog five states away she feels compelled to bring the dog to our attention. Just recently she tried to convince us we should expand into PONs. Never mind that there is a perfectly good PON rescue in WI that probably only sees a purebred PON every three years! Some of us would like to spend some time with our own dogs now and then.
Heather, you need to ask Sally Carr (Midsomer) how Chicagoland is organized. If I'm not mistaken, they've been doing rescue longer than we have. Kristine |
| It's ok Jaci, your points are actually fairly on topic.
My point in inquiring, is that I don't think all breed rescues are servicing all the dogs that need it and I was trying to dig to see if that was a policy decision or a resources thing, which I think it is probably both columns with those columns merging. As a sidenote, I would be willing to assist any OES rescue with any legal issue- but merely as a layperson as I have no professional legal experience with non-profits or tax issues. Just send me an email: HeatherOTAT@gmail.com |
| Thank you Kristine, that was helpful! |
| Several years ago and a few times since then, Joan and I recommended to NEOESR that they give the legal documents and funding necessary to make application and complete 501(c)(3) status to as many legit OES rescues as possible, and make available training (if they want such advice) on how to develop a membership and on fundraising. Needless to say, the proposals (formal and informal) failed each time.
One of the objections was that a rescue might not be legit and might run away with any money; I thought that was a remote possibility (although now I'd say it is a real possibility) but one that should not prevent the concept from moving forward. At one time, a program was voted on and put into place in NEOESR that rescues could make application for funds for worthwhile projects up to a certain dollar amount, but that program was allowed to die. I know there was discussion as to whether the rescue needed to be 501(c)(3) to receive funds, but I do not recall if that limitation was included. I always thought that spreading the successful aspects of NEOESR around the OES Rescue world would be a good thing; trying to spread the good word on how to develop an organization that could become self-sufficient in terms of volunteers and finance. |
wendy58 wrote: I don't have much in the way of "disposable income" right now, but I am always willing to donate a certificate for a portrait or a piece of existing OES artwork for a rescue auction. I don't care if I can write it off or not. I am just putting this out so that any rescue group for our breed knows they can always contact me for an art donation. T
Thank you Wendy... That is very nice!!! This is honestly a sore subject for me...as far as the 501! 
(I tried to look away and bite my tongue) We picked up a dog that was emaciated and dehydrated, unaltered, scared male. (mind you one dog) One week at the vet 1000 dollars...the lady that found him helped with that. We couldn't have done it out of pocket. One week here he needed entropian surgery...okay another 700 dollars. Then heartworm treatment 500 dollars! This is all one boy! So, outside of every day care that man was 2200 dollars that could have paid for that blessed 501(c) 3 BUT, we opted to save a dog with that money! Just want to remind that is ONE dog in one rescue! Midwest is getting flooded with dogs too.... Hope they don't mind me pointing out
Minnesota, Wisconsin, Indianna are getting floored!!!!! Tarheel OES Rescue has had quite a number coming in too! ((we have one more coming in) SORRY.I am way off topic! |
| I have one rescue/breeder rehome on proin, 2 allergy meds, and has just been diagnosed with a chronic dry eye problem now. Her perscriptions alone are killing us, not to mention vet visits. I feel your pain...not everyone can do this. You rescue groups are angels for our breed. |
Lil Walty wrote: My point in inquiring, is that I don't think all breed rescues are servicing all the dogs that need it and I was trying to dig to see if that was a policy decision or a resources thing, which I think it is probably both columns with those columns merging.
That's interesting. I'm not seeing policy. I see capacity limitations based on available resources to varying degrees. Most rescues I know of won't place known biters both for public safety and liability reasons. Beyond that, most rescues in the Midwest are pretty darn flexible within the parameters of their resources, so...? I shouldn't speak for Chicagoland, I know, but I think I can safely say they need foster homes perhaps more than any of us right now. As co-foster coordinator for the allbreed rescue group you're involved in, perhaps you're in a position to help them with that? Kristine |
Donner's Mom wrote: wendy58 wrote: I don't have much in the way of "disposable income" right now, but I am always willing to donate a certificate for a portrait or a piece of existing OES artwork for a rescue auction. I don't care if I can write it off or not. I am just putting this out so that any rescue group for our breed knows they can always contact me for an art donation. TThank you Wendy... That is very nice!!! Yes, it truly is 
Kristine |
Donner's Mom wrote: wendy58 wrote: I don't have much in the way of "disposable income" right now, but I am always willing to donate a certificate for a portrait or a piece of existing OES artwork for a rescue auction. I don't care if I can write it off or not. I am just putting this out so that any rescue group for our breed knows they can always contact me for an art donation. TThank you Wendy... That is very nice!!! Definitely! Thanks so much, Wendy.
It's a very generous offer. |
| I wish we could help out with foster homes, but we literally use every foster home we can find, and often pay for dogs to be boarded until we can come up with a foster. I promise I'll share if we ever have extra!
Have you guys ever thought of teaming up with breeders to ask those who buy puppies to consider fostering once their pup is socialized? Maybe something as simple as a sheet you slip in with their puppies paperwork describing the need, or even better getting permission to add their email to the rescue mailing list. If you guys don't do an e-newsletter highlighting dogs that need foster, I highly recommend it! As far as 501c3 goes, you really do not need an attorney to do it. The person who does the finances in my group has a business degree, but no experience with tax stuff. Are you all registered non-profits and rescues in your state? If not, I can help you with that first step. |
Lil Walty wrote: I wish we could help out with foster homes, but we literally use every foster home we can find, and often pay for dogs to be boarded until we can come up with a foster. I promise I'll share if we ever have extra!
Believe me, I fully understand! Have you guys ever thought of teaming up with breeders to ask those who buy puppies to consider fostering once their pup is socialized? Maybe something as simple as a sheet you slip in with their puppies paperwork describing the need, or even better getting permission to add their email to the rescue mailing list. If you guys don't do an e-newsletter highlighting dogs that need foster, I highly recommend it! Work with a lot of breeders, do you? I can't speak for the other Midwestern rescues, but, of course, we are breeders and work quite well with ourselves Some of our puppy people do foster (hi, Dawn!  Oh, wait - she was already on the board of Basset rescue when I met her ) The bigger issue is even collectively we don't sell very many puppies, and they tend to go to the same people over and over, over the decades, so that's not reaching the kind of audience you appear to think it will reach. But we do ask them to join the club and expose them to a variety of different aspects of sheepdogdom, including rescue, and the fact is that most pet people aren't all that active, period. And many faint at the mere thought of having more than one or two dogs. Our most hard core rescue person on the committee has one (rescue) dog herself, and will not foster because she is afraid it will take away from her own dog. I don't think you regularly foster yourself? And that's pretty typical of the pet owning community regardless of where they got their dogs unless they're hardcore rescue people like Nita or Nancy or Kathy or Cindy or...<fill in the blanks> Foster homes are just really difficult to cultivate as I'm sure you know first hand in your position of foster coordinator. Nice thought though. Kristine |
| I don't have much to offer about protocol, but just wanted to mention that if you do have a 501c3, you may be eligible for heavily discounted software through:
http://www.techsoup.com/ |
| Hm, didn't think about the fact that you don't sell many puppies and they are going to the same people. Maybe you could reach out to byb breeders? I know that may sound outrageous, but it couldn't hurt to ask them to include a flyer on fostering when they sell a pup.
My rescue is actually full of lunatics so we all foster fairly often! I used to take one every few months, but we have pretty fast turnarounds so sometimes I would only have them for a week or two. However, with Rudie we are at capacity at our apartment :/ Things that have worked for us: -sending out specific emails for each dog that needs foster, and marking them urgent. We also post them on craigslist, facebook, flickr and our website. We try to get them out there for as many people as possible to see, and we ask everyone to repost. -teaming up! we have teamed up with vets, boarding facilities, dog walking places, schools and other rescues. We have met so many new people through this avenue and gained some foster homes. -bothering our previous foster homes and adoptive homes with phone calls. it is much easier to avoid us on the internet than it is on the phone I'm going to rack my brain for more ideas! |
Lil Walty wrote: Hm, didn't think about the fact that you don't sell many puppies and they are going to the same people. Maybe you could reach out to byb breeders? I know that may sound outrageous, but it couldn't hurt to ask them to include a flyer on fostering when they sell a pup.
Interesting thought. There are a couple of non-show breeders in other parts of the country who are involved in rescue themselves already. I imagine a breeder is a breeder is a breeder, which means they aren't THAT different from us if they are also involved in rescue and so probably already hijack their puppy buyers into doing whatever they tell them to do (it SUCKS to get involved with a breeder who insists you report in on how you're doing with their dogs You get roped into all kinds of things like chairing events at specialties and lord only knows what else. We are pushy people to put it politely  )Plus, we're already solidly imbedded in the dog community, so already have boarding, grooming, veterinary and training contacts. In fact, several OES breeders in WI and IL own boarding/grooming facilities and will help out when they can, though we prefer not to board dogs if we can help it since it's hard to evaluate/work with them that way. But we will if we have to and that's an excellent idea for groups & individuals that are just starting up. It's actually much easier for us to rely on breeders to foster. We know how to deal with dogs, we're used to dealing with multiple dogs, we know the health and other peculiarities of the breed, we're used to socializing and training dogs, especially our own breed, which is why there are breed rescues in the first place. We have had excellent pet homes foster, but they are usually very short term as in they usually fail foster and then that's the end of that I don't sweat it. Means the dog got a great home. Given that you're an allbreed rescue, which breeders do you focus on partnering with? I'm going to rack my brain for more ideas! Cool! Kristine |
Quote: I don't have much to offer about protocol, but just wanted to mention that if you do have a 501c3, you may be eligible for heavily discounted software through:
http://www.techsoup.com/ That's very cool, too. Makes me wish I ran a rescue |
6Girls wrote: Quote: I don't have much to offer about protocol, but just wanted to mention that if you do have a 501c3, you may be eligible for heavily discounted software through: http://www.techsoup.com/ That's very cool, too. Makes me wish I ran a rescue Is that an offer?? |
Donner's Mom wrote: 6Girls wrote: Quote: I don't have much to offer about protocol, but just wanted to mention that if you do have a 501c3, you may be eligible for heavily discounted software through: http://www.techsoup.com/ That's very cool, too. Makes me wish I ran a rescue Is that an offer??
I was going to ask what's stopping her, but I like your approach much better
Always room for more, Jaci. Or offer to run the software for...Michigan rescue? Kristine  |
Ron wrote: Several years ago and a few times since then, Joan and I recommended to NEOESR that they give the legal documents and funding necessary to make application and complete 501(c)(3) status to as many legit OES rescues as possible, and make available training (if they want such advice) on how to develop a membership and on fundraising. Needless to say, the proposals (formal and informal) failed each time.
One of the objections was that a rescue might not be legit and might run away with any money; I thought that was a remote possibility (although now I'd say it is a real possibility) but one that should not prevent the concept from moving forward. At one time, a program was voted on and put into place in NEOESR that rescues could make application for funds for worthwhile projects up to a certain dollar amount, but that program was allowed to die. I know there was discussion as to whether the rescue needed to be 501(c)(3) to receive funds, but I do not recall if that limitation was included. I always thought that spreading the successful aspects of NEOESR around the OES Rescue world would be a good thing; trying to spread the good word on how to develop an organization that could become self-sufficient in terms of volunteers and finance. NEOESR gives $1000 to any OES rescue that has recieved its 501(c)(3) status to help them with the cost. NEOESR has help start and mentors a number of rescues, some of them are members of this forum. |
| Sometimes it is the up front cost that
is the problem! |
Donner's Mom wrote: Sometimes it is the up front cost that
is the problem! Can you loosely attach yourself to anouther 501(c)(3) orginization for oversight? I would rather not pay the IRS any more than the extort out of me. |
Donner's Mom wrote: Sometimes it is the up front cost that
is the problem! Are you talking about filing fees or paying someone to file for you? If it's the latter, I would suggest trying it yourself or calling every accountant in your town and asking if they were interested in doing it for a discounted rate. |
Donner's Mom wrote: Is that an offer?? I've thought about it... briefly I can't bring in URIs because of Kaytee... and it looks like I can no longer use flea products here. My 10 year old Schip-mix appears to have had a very bad reaction, ALT 1,231, about 1 1/2 weeks after application. I guess I'll be ripping out any remaining carpet the next time I see a flea. So I try to help out different ways. Quote: Or offer to run the software for...Michigan rescue?
Sandy's great and I'm thrilled with what she's doing for OESs in Michigan! I offered my help last year... also did a home visit a couple of months ago. She knows I'll help her out if I can. |
guest wrote: NEOESR gives $1000 to any OES rescue that has recieved its 501(c)(3) status to help them with the cost. NEOESR has help start and mentors a number of rescues, some of them are members of this forum. That's wonderful to know! I'm all for it!!!
Can you please elaborate as to which ones were helped, or at least when? To my knowledge, I don't think it ever happened while I was a member of NEOESR's Board or while Joan was a member of the Board which total at least 6 out of the last 8 years (give or take). Unless it was done without the knowledge of the Board, but I thought that expenditures were limited to well under $1,000 without board approval. Groovy! |
| Geesh Jaci and Jim you all do more for rescue than...
I have no comparison! (Please don't blush) That is how we met 
The groom you donated to the shelter for Bevyn!
501(c)(3) will come in time but, I don't worry too much about it! Our reward comes from each sheeper I see smiling in their new home!  |
6Girls wrote: Donner's Mom wrote: Is that an offer?? I've thought about it... briefly I can't bring in URIs because of Kaytee... and it looks like I can no longer use flea products here. My 10 year old Schip-mix appears to have had a very bad reaction, ALT 1,231, about 1 1/2 weeks after application. I guess I'll be ripping out any remaining carpet the next time I see a flea. So I try to help out different ways. Quote: Or offer to run the software for...Michigan rescue? Sandy's great and I'm thrilled with what she's doing for OESs in Michigan! I offered my help last year... also did a home visit a couple of months ago. She knows I'll help her out if I can. I've only "spoken" a little electronically with Sandy but my immediate impression was what a great person. I understand about having to be careful about bringing dogs in. Anytime someone has a litter on the ground here, they are exempt from fostering. When our club prez stepped in to foster this spring because we were so swamped, she and her co-breeder picked up three dogs whom we were warned had a flea (among other) problem. Our vet gave them something they could put on the dogs when they picked them up that took care of the flea problem almost instantly. She didn't have to fumigate her van and though they first went to our vet to be groomed there and vet checked and spay/neutered, there was no flea problem. I'll see my vet at a show this weekend and try to remember to ask her what it was. Not for your guys, obviously, but for rescues who may run into a similar problem to what we did. Kristine |
| Ron, NEOESR donated $1000 to Tarheel OES Rescue when we received our 501c3 status. It was a huge help for our fledgling organization. |
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