First off, I'm not saying Joce or anyone here relates poorly to people. I do know some animal-lovers who can't stand most people. But they fill the bill as diligent, devoted fosterers any dog would be lucky to stay with. Plus there are people who have autism or Aspergers who literally relate much better to animals than to humans, and of course do some great work for animal rescue. And anyone who deals with a very mixed bag of people needs to be able to trade war stories with their colleagues. I would think this forum should be a safe place for rescuers to vent. I just don't think the embittered ones -- or the okay ones while they're in a bitter mood -- should be writing copy the public will see. If you deal with people who might be getting a dog for foolish or evil reasons, yeah, scrutinize everyone. But let them know it's not personal, that it's just what you have to do, like when they pull you aside and wand you in Security at the airport. The big mistake in this article was the message that We're not here for you, we're here for the dogs. The effective message there would be "We're here to solve one another's problem. You might have a home for a dog, we might have a dog for your home, and we need to do this smart so it will work out. If we can get to Yes, everybody wins."

***Edited By: JoanEK on 3/29/2008 11:05:12 AM***
Reason: added sentence

I have just recently became involved with rescue, as a foster mom. I foster for the Bulldog rescue. So far, i have only had two fosters. Both with conditions caused from neglect on the part of the previous owners. Jean Luc, my foster Frenchie, was covered in staff infection when he first came to me in november. Poor liitle guy could not even take more than a few steps before going into an itching frenzy. And any loud noise he would drop to the floor and curl into a ball, he was so frightened. Took me months of treatments and alot of love to turn him around. Two weeks ago i placed him into his new home. A happy, outgoing , loving healthy little boy. You would not recognize him from the dog he was when he first came here.

Daisy was a foster that we were planning on adopting. My husband had always wanted an English Bulldog and he fell in love with her. He passed away new years day and money became very tight for me. I do not have the money to pay for the massive medical bills it will require to get her well. She will need surgery for both cataracts and cherry eye, in both eyes. The rescue is scheduling an appointment with an eye specialist to get the ball rolling to get it done. This is going to very costly , but this is what the rescues do for the dogs in their care. They just spent thousands on a mill dog that had severe issues. She came from the same place that our foster frenchie came from. She was covered head to toe with mange, when she recovered from that, they did soft palate surgery and removed a tumor from her neck the size of a baseball. Despite all their effort, she lost the battle. This beautiful white Bully girl was only 2 years old.
I can tell you that the shelters do not do anything even remotely close to what rescues do for the animals in their care. Any dogs that have issues are put down. period. After seeing what i have seen in just my short time being involved with rescue, i am amazed at just how much they do for these animals, and glad to be able to do what i can to help.

On the front page of our rescue, is the story of peanut. She came from the same mill that our foster frenchie Jean Luc came from. Read her story. The white Bully, princess was the one that just passed away. These are just a few of the messes coming from one so-called breeder. And then people wonder why some of us get so irritated with bad breeders. ugh.......

http://www.cascadebulldogrescue.org/