Times are ruff for specialty-breed rescue groups
By Melissa Bell
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Rosemary and John Yun were looking to adopt.
For months, the Ellicott City couple waited. They filled out applications asking about their neighborhood, their jobs and their daily routines; prepped their home before an agency checked in on
them; asked friends to provide references; and visited with foster families where they were told they were not the only couple in contention. They hoped they wouldn't be disappointed yet again.
Finally, one day last fall, the phone call came: Benji, a mix terrier, could join the Yun family.
The Yuns, who are now adopting a child from Korea, would joke that looking for Benji "was just as hard as finding a human baby," said Rosemary, 38. But the dog was worth the trouble. "He's so smart;
he's super cute; he's just a great dog," said the biotech company manager.
The Yuns needed to find a small dog that had short hair and was nonallergenic and house-trained, but Rosemary worried she would not be able to find one at a local shelter. She didn't want to buy a dog, fearful that the animals are bred in awful conditions before being sold online or to pet stores.
Tails of Hope, a dog rescue group in Mount Airy, Md., provided a solution. Though the search was time-consuming, the Yuns adopted a dog that matched their criteria.
While animal rescue programs have been around since the 1950s, it has only been in the past decade that organizations have cropped up for nearly every breed and those breeds' mixes. The groups foster
dogs to ease crowding at local shelters and offer would-be pet owners more options to adopt.
This month may be the best time to find the right pet. Each spring, after the joy of getting a dog as a Christmas gift shifts to the reality of taking care of it, new owners drop their dogs off at
shelters in droves. Worse, the current economic downturn has forced many families to turn their dogs over to rescue groups. And even the record snowfall led some pet owners to decide they could not
provide for their dogs during the difficult weather, instead surrendering them to shelters, rescue volunteers said.
"The influx of dogs is just tremendous so far this year," said Joanne Hale, the director of MidAtlantic Bulldog Rescue. By the end of February, the group had taken in 27 dogs, and Hale expects that
number to hit 150 by the end of the year. Last year, the rescue group took in 60 dogs.
The rescue groups are usually a loose network of volunteer pet owners who have fallen in love with a certain type of dog. They foster dogs found in the shelter system, rescued from puppy mills or dropped off by owners who can no longer care for them. And they look for the perfect permanent home for the animals.
"We're eHarmony for dogs," said Sarah Ruckelshaus, director of Mid- Atlantic Border Collie Rescue, whose group has a 98 percent success rate at finding a happy "forever" home. "We're really looking to
match up the dog's personality, temperament and energy needs with the family."
The adoption process is strict to ensure the match will stick. Jenny Eisen grew up with the Danes her mother adopted through the Mid-Atlantic Great Dane Rescue League, and she volunteered for the
group. But even she had to submit to a two- to three-month adoption process when she decided she was ready for her own dog. Eisen, a nurse who lives in Arlington, said a volunteer brought over a Dane
to see how it would interact with her two roommates and in her townhouse.
Eisen said some people are reticent to adopt a rescue dog because of the stigma that something must be wrong with the dog for its owners to give it up. "Most people are worried that if they get a dog from a rescue league the dog will have all these issues," said Eisen. "But in actuality they have a pretty rigorous screening process for the people and the dog, so you know what you're getting into."
Though puppies do pass through the rescue organizations, it is much more likely to find a dog that's 1 year old or older. Kimberly Pollard, a lobbyist in Richmond, wanted a pug after falling in love with her neighbor's dog, but she worked full time and could not rush home every few hours to potty-train a puppy. She found Levi, a 3-year-old pug, through Mid-Atlantic Pug Rescue. "A puppy is great," Pollard said, "but if you get a dog a year or two older, they're already trained. And older dogs need homes. That's two benefits right there."
The past 10 years have seen a sharp increase in demand for purebred dogs due to popular culture: Pug sales spiked after one played a role in the movie "Men in Black" and its sequel; Chihuahua fever can be credited to the film "Legally Blonde" and Taco Bell commercials. But purebred dogs often require specific care and can have particular health issues, said Joan Schramm, public relations coordinator for Mid-Atlantic Great Dane Rescue League in the District and Maryland. Great Danes, for example, can suffer from joint problems and heart ailments. Rescue organizers cite a lack of knowledge as the single biggest contributor to the rise in specialty breeds up for adoption.
"They look so cute on the screen," she said, but when owners cannot provide the necessary care, the dogs are sent packing. Schramm is not looking forward to the release of "Marmaduke," a movie about a Great Dane that is scheduled to open this summer. "Six months later," she said, "we'll be inundated with dogs."
The high demand has driven many disreputable sellers into the business, said Hale, the bulldog breeder. Foreign importers, puppy mill owners or backyard breeders pay "$1,000 for a litter of puppies, and sell them for a $3,500 a pop."
While plenty of the volunteers have more than a few choice words for dog breeders, the organizations do not discourage people who want to buy a puppy or a show dog. The American Kennel Club's Web
site offers a checklist on what to look for in a good breeder: someone who would be willing to take the dog back if the purchase does not work out, someone who does not have plenty of available
dogs and someone from whom the dogs do not seem to shy away.
"Just do your research," Schramm said. "Buying a dog off Craigslist is not such a good idea."
