# Help! What do I do?!



## bookjunky4life (Sep 11, 2008)

This is completely new for me. I saw a purebred red heeler in my local kill AC. I contacted a rescue listed on petfinder. She is a division off of the main rescue and keeps all rescues from our area at her farm. She is interested if its at least dog friendly and prefers cat friendly, so basically I need to temp test it right? She said to walk the dog past a cat in a carrier to see if he had a reaction. He's definitely friendly to me when I'm outside the run. 
AC is closed today and I'm guessing I need to get him out of the run for this. I obedience train my two dogs and am decent at reading dogs. I've been wanting to get into rescuing dogs (at least locally) but can't spend much money doing it. The AC does not know who I am. What do I say to them to find out if they are rescue friendly and if I can test the dog? 

I've emailed a rescue about a purebred beautiful Aussie but have not heard back from that rescue. 

Kayla


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## JeanKBBMMMAAN (May 11, 2005)

I would see if the rescue person can call AC directly and let them know you will be coming. That way you also find out if AC is willing to work with them, without you being the middle person.


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## bookjunky4life (Sep 11, 2008)

I originally just wanted to let her know it was there. I didn't necessarily want to do all this. She comes across to me as a little, how do I say this, grouchy. Not how I thought a rescue would interact with someone just trying to give them information on a dog in a kill facility. But like I said, I'm new to this  Maybe that is the norm.


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## Jazy's mom (Jan 5, 2004)

Please try and look at this from the rescue person's point of view. She probably gets calls all the time from people telling her about this great dog or that great dog that is sitting in a shelter and since she is involved in rescue, then she needs to go and save it.

It would be great if it truely was that simple, but coming from someone that is also involved in rescue IT IS NOT. It gets really old spending half the day on the phone with people that think they are helping, but don't want to really do anything to help. Sorry, I don't mean anything against you, but I am just trying to put things in perspective for you.

If you really want to help, call her or even better email her and ask her if there are specific things she does when evaluating a dog. Hopefully, she will give you some ideas about what she looks for when evaluating a dog for her rescue. Then go to the shelter and evaluate the dog and let her know what you find out.


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## middleofnowhere (Dec 20, 2000)

Also, if you have ever worked in a "public" sort of job or a volunteer organization, you can relate to everyone wanting you to solve a problem they have seen. So few people call up and ask "What can I do to help you?"


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## RebelGSD (Mar 20, 2008)

I agree with the previous two posters. To somebody actually "doing" it, this may be one of the hundreds of phone calls or e-mails she gets about dogs that are to die and for whom she does not have the space or resources. It is hard to be happy and cheerful while being directly involved into making decisions about life and death. 

It never happens that someone calls and says that they want to help by fostering that dog or paying for the vet bills, etc.


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## bookjunky4life (Sep 11, 2008)

I guess the answer then is that I cannot be involved in rescue. I cannot foster and cannot give money. I'll just tell her to forget about it.


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## middleofnowhere (Dec 20, 2000)

> Originally Posted By: bookjunky4lifeI guess the answer then is that I cannot be involved in rescue. I cannot foster and cannot give money. I'll just tell her to forget about it.


another option would be to ASK the person what she could use some help with besides money & fostering. ... Your choice.


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## Lauri & The Gang (Jun 28, 2001)

> Originally Posted By: bookjunky4lifeI cannot foster and cannot give money. I'll just tell her to forget about it.


There's a heck of alot more to helping a rescue than just $$ or fostering.

Are you web handy? Maybe they need help with their website.
Are you outgoing and good with people? Maybe they need help at an adoption event.
Do you have internet access? Maybe they need someone to help them go through emails.

There are many IL people on this board and, if any of them are close, I'm sure they would be willing to help you do an eval.


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## Lauri & The Gang (Jun 28, 2001)

> Originally Posted By: bookjunky4lifeI've been wanting to get into rescuing dogs (at least locally) but can't spend much money doing it. The AC does not know who I am. What do I say to them to find out if they are rescue friendly and if I can test the dog?


Call the Ac (or better yet go in there) and ask them if they work with rescue groups. Tell them that you volunteered to do an evaluation on the dog for a local group.

Some ACs are all for getting help. Some are not. But you won't know till you ask.


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