The Puppy Rescue Conundrum

I personally am not a huge fan of rescuing puppies. They are always the first to get adopted from the shelters because everyone wants a pup. And while I understand they are more susceptible to the diseases that are common in shelters, I still would prefer to pull a one year old dog who's never been taught any manners or house skills to an 8-12 week old puppy. Because the spazzy one year old fearfully barking his head off, isn't going to make it out of the shelter. The spazzy 12 week old yipping his head off probably will.

As the rescue coordinator for the Pacific Northwest foster homes, I try to rescue dogs who urgently need out of shelters or the situations they are in but also dogs who the foster parents that I work with are skilled enough to work with, and who are truly adoptable dogs (or can become adoptable with a little work.) Some of the foster parents need young dogs, some need older, some prefer toy and minis and some prefer standards, some can work with special physical and behavioral needs, other haven't built up that skill set yet. So it's a bit of a dance trying to decide which dogs are going to fit where and then rate which of those dogs need out the most. Because trust me there are always 5 or 10 or 20 more that need rescue but that I don't have room for. I look at them all and then have to choose one or two. It sucks.

But occasionally we get a chance to make a big difference and that difference can be made by taking a litter of young pups into rescue. I try to only pull young pups if they are listed to be euthanized, but there is this one situation where I joyfully will jump in and take a litter of puppies off an owner's hands.

You see, Lynn, my partner in crime down in Fresno and I have a "pull rule" for people who approach us asking us to take an accidental litter of pups off their hands: "yep, we will take them but first you have to spay their mom."  Often these female dogs are having litter after litter of pups, many who end up in shelters later, undersocialized and needing basic training. I used to get so angry at people who let this happen, but now I get over myself and instead choose to help educate people to make a change. Having a tantrum feels good but it sure doesn't do anything to help the dogs.

The puppies' mama; happily her mama days are now over and she can just be a goofy terrier

This current litter of pups the team is taking in is one of those situations. The family had 2 females and 2 males, all unaltered in the house. Each time a female went into heat, accidents would happen, dogs would figure out how to get around enclosures, and another litter of pups would arrive a couple months later. It's a common story. Family members had taken puppies, friends had taken puppies, and now everyone was done with taking puppies. I think this was litter number 4. Someone told the family about potential rescue groups to contact and that's how they got in touch with New Rattitude's Lynn.

Lynn talked with them on the phone and let them know that sure, we would take their 6 puppies into foster care, but only if they spayed both of their adult females. She offered to find them a low cost option for these spays, and even offered to take them into the clinic with the dogs to help them with the paperwork. But the puppies couldn't leave the situation unless that happened. The family thanked her profusely and took her up on the deal. Their adult girls are now spayed and we are following up on our end of the deal by taking the puppies.

The puppies' dad

The happy ending of this story is that in one fail swoop Lynn saved not just 6 puppies, but quite likely hundreds of dogs. You see, those two adults would keep giving birth to litters. And in the Central Valley of CA, it isn't super common for people to alter their pets, so many of the puppies the females had would also give birth to more puppies who would give birth to.... well, you get the picture.

Mama's last litter

On top of stopping that downward spiral, the six current puppies, four females and two males, will be properly vetted, spayed or neutered, and will go to responsible adopters who have what it takes to raise a puppy. And they won't end up in a shelter since once a New Rattitude dog, always a New Rattitude dog. If their placement doesn't work out they can come back to us and we'll find another home for them that does.

So there's the reason I would take in a beautiful litter of purebred puppies who weren't knocking on deaths door. We did it for their mama and for all the future pups their mama and auntie would have had.

A huge thank you to Lynn Bonham since she does all the really tough rescue work for me and then sends our team wonderful dogs who just need a little polish before they head to their final homes.