In addition to taking animals out of precarious situations, we strive to educate people on the plight of animals that end up in shelters, through no fault of their own.  Before applying for adoption, please consider....
"Do I have the time, patience, resources and love to bring this living creature into my life?"   and please read below:

  
Most people go into pet "ownership" or guardianship as we prefer to call it, with good intentions. They visualize the family pet they had growing up, or they feel a cuddly puppy will ease their loneliness, or teach their children responsibility. The reality is usually different.
We ask adopters, "Have you had a dog/cat before?" They often answer "Yes, I had them "growing up."

Reality check # 1:
The family pet of their childhood was cared for by the adults in the household. It is not the same when "you" the adult, have to stand out in the rain first thing in the morning with a puppy that hasn't grasped the concept of the grass as its toilet. It's now "you" cleaning up the inevitable "pet messes," paying for expensive veterinary care, squeezing more work into an all ready busy schedule. When it gets to be too much....a rescue is called or the pet is dropped off at a shelter.

Reality check # 2:
Cuddly puppies need humans that are home, a lot, to train them. Many people think a puppy can sit in a cage for 8-10 hours and be there for the cuddling at the end of the day when they get home from work. Instead, they come home to a frantic puppy, covered in its own mess. The puppy has no concept of how or why it became imprisoned in solitary confinement after being surrounded by the warmth and comfort of its mother and littermates. No other creature beside a human being would impose this cruel sentence. Sadder, a puppy is instinctively a pack animal, most agreeable and secure when surrounded by other living creatures....
Call Rescue or off to the shelter, usually after the pup is past the cute and cuddly stage. It is now a young adult, untrained, unsocialzed, unadoptable, and finding itself in a big jam if dumped at a shelter.

Reality check # 3:
Kids aren't responsible for pets. They aren't responsible for themselves! Don't get a pet unless you want it. Guess what? It will be yours when...the kids are late to school and don't have time, when the novelty wears off and the promises of "I'll take care of it" forgotten, when the kid has a million other things that are more important to do. Because kids are ...kids. Call Rescue and complain that your kids didn't uphold their end of the deal. Its their fault. Or easier yet, just dump it at the nearest shelter.

Teach your kids a lesson they will never forget. Living things are dispensable and disposable.

As a rescue, we get these calls, week in and out. My kids don't take care. I didn't realize how much work. I didn't realize the puppy would get big. My new boyfriend is allergic. I'm moving, can't take. Not housebroken. Not friendly. Not the perfect pet I envisioned.
All these problems are of course the fault of the pet. Its easier to blame the pet than admit you screwed up, you failed.

When these things happen these pets become the responsibility of the "rescue". Or they are P.T.S., rescue term for "put to sleep." Why? There aren't enough rescues to save all the discarded pets. Most "pets" dropped off in county shelters are P.T.S. Not because there are "heartless" employees there that hate animals. Because there aren't homes for them. Because you left it there. Because there are people in the dark ages that think it's okay to let their pets reproduce when millions are P.T.S. in every shelter in every county in this country.
Before you let your pet have that "litter", please spend an afternoon in the euthanasia (P.T.S.) room at your local shelter.

We try to prevent the above situations by carefully screening prospective homes for our pets. Often people have blinders on. They believe it will all work out just because they want the pet they saw on the internet.

The cute one in the picture that doesn't bark, chew, or pee on carpet. They cannot understand that cute picture has nothing to do with the reality of that pet in their home.
Or, they get angry with the volunteer that has patiently spent time explaining why that pet is unsuitable for that person's lifestyle. Or why we can't adopt a pet into their home because they refuse to fix the animals they have.

Why do we bother?
How does our day go?
A call may come in from a local animal service.  A dog has been hit by a car, it has a broken leg or hip. The owners were located, but don't want the pet back. After all, its broken. Easier to get a new pet. Less expensive too.

A volunteer goes and gets the pet. They change their day around, knowing some poor creature is probably in agony and will be put to sleep if a rescue doesn't step in. They give up their time to drive to the shelter, wait for the paperwork, load an injured, usually filthy and parasite
ridden creature into their vehicle, and take it to a vet hospital. (The kind folks that refuse to claim their injured pets usually don't bother bathing them and protecting them from parasites). Once at the vet, the poor animal is examined, sedated, x-rayed, and its prognosis and future decided. Is it "fixable"? If the answer is yes, the process of rehabilitation begins. Recuperation can take weeks or months. The animal may have orthopaedic surgery. A lengthy stay at the vet hospital, followed by time in a foster home before it can even be put up for adoption. The time and resources of the volunteer(s) is freely given. Trips to the vet, training, everything needed to ensure this pet will have a second chance. And the hope that there is a home worthy of the suffering this creature has endured.

Multiply these scenarios over and over again and grasp what rescue means and the sacrifices our volunteers make.
The sacrifices these "pets" make.
In a perfect or even a more enlightened, "humane" world there would be no need for our services.

Please consider....do I have the time, patience, resources and love to bring this living creature into my life?