[lilfyre]

Are there any others here that do any sort of animal rescue? If so what kind and where? I was just wondering because I read every one profile and I seem to be the only one that is involved in this. I currently am volunteering for an equine rescue and of course my piggies.

[labman]

Good for you. I have another area where I serve. Over the years, I have managed to divert 3 dogs headed for the shelter to the dog guide school, one of which graduated, about the usual rate for dogs they accept from outside their breeding program.

Back on the original AskMe.com, many of the good people I enjoyed sharing the dog board with were doing rescue. I hadn't heard of rescue except Greyhounds before then. I greatly admire the people that love a breed enough to do it. From Labman's stock of dog advice, '' One of the best sources for dogs with a predictable personality is the rescue dogs. These are dogs that lost their home, but were taken into a foster home to be retrained as necessary and placed in the right home for them. You may find a rescue near you starting at http://www.akc.org/breeds/rescue.cfm The rescues charge a fee to help cover their expenses, but is much less than the price of a puppy plus all its medical expenses the first year.''

Go back in the threads here, and you will see I have posted that time after time when somebody is looking for a dog. Petfinders is good too. Never buy a puppy from a pet store.

Sadly all the good rescue people disappeared from AskMe. They were too busy with their rescue work to put up with the aggravations of the net. I despise the would be ''experts'' that give their fine answers bad ratings.

Many people commend me for the work I do with service dogs. I feel the true heroes are those doing rescue. Anybody can be trained to take a well bred puppy and make a great dog out of it. It takes somebody very special to take a poorly bred, mistreated, or both dog and retrain it to where it can be successfully placed, and then give it up and start on the next basket case.

Are guinea pigs good pets for people that can't give a dog the time it needs? Also, see https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/showthread.php?t=16676
I promised more answers from Pit Bull owners.

[fredg]

Hi, lilfyre,
Here in the Great Smokey Mountains of SouthWest VA, it's a rather secluded area, away from large cities... just small towns.
I am not an "official" volunteer, but do love animals... especially dogs, all kinds.
We have a county animal shelter, and I do help sometimes find homes for dogs and cats.
Sometimes driving up or down these mountains, one sees a stray, stops and picks it up. The animal shelter is usually the place to take them, until a home can be found.
Many families here "adopt" a stray, adding them to their family. Many have large fenced in front and back yards, where they have a good home.

[nymphetamine]

Well I don't belong to any pet rescue organization but the black lab that my parents have now comes from an abusive and neglectfull home. My dad says that he almost hit her with his car when he first saw her and she was nothing but skin and bone. They found out that the man who owned her just left her behind after he moved which for us and her was a good thing. My parents have nursed her back to health and now she is a very healthy, big, spoiled puppy dog with a chiuaua(spelling?) boy friend.

[orange]

Although I'm not very active with it right now, I belong to a siamese cat rescue. As our local animal shelter is overrun with animals of all kinds, our organization also "rescues" the cats from the pound and helps to find them good homes. For a while too I was with another organization that would go to the pound to look for small animals such as rabbits, guinea pigs and hamsters (which the pound has in surprising numbers!), and then trying to match them with disabled children who needed a friend and someone to look after. Actually I inherited my biological mother's love for guinea pigs, and once my fiancé and I buy our new house and there's more room, I would like to get a couple of guinea pigs from the shelter. Btw I just learned how to use attachments... and I'm an artist, so here's a quick sketch I did of a friend's pig.. feel free to save it if you like. :)

[labman]

Hi, lilfyre,
Here in the Great Smokey Mountains of SouthWest VA, it's a rather secluded area, away from large cities.....just small towns.
I am not an "official" volunteer, but do love animals...especially dogs, all kinds.
We have a county animal shelter, and I do help sometimes find homes for dogs and cats.
Sometimes driving up or down these mountains, one sees a stray, stops and picks it up. The animal shelter is usually the place to take them, until a home can be found.
Many families here "adopt" a stray, adding them to their family. Many have large fenced in front and back yards, where they have a good home.

As much as I am against letting dogs run loose, it is fairly common in rural areas, and almost acceptable in some places. Before carrying off a ''stray'', what do you do to make sure it really doesn't have a home?