Original Message:
Sent: 09-09-2023 03:22 PM
From: Maggie Thomas
Subject: Big Dog Adoptions
Another idea:
Message the SoCal Schutzhund people through their FB and ask them to help you network her online, or even send someone to evaluate her for working jobs https://www.facebook.com/schutzhundclub/ -- you might get lucky and have someone offer to foster her to get her out. She's young with lots of potential.
Sky is right at the age where dogs hit senior status -- so you might try marketing her as a "super senior." Lots of GSD people love older dogs -- these dogs tend to age like fine wine until arthritis hits. Seven is usually when we start calling them "seniors" in the breed -- I've placed lots and lots of dogs in this age group with older, retired folks who want an "easy" dog.
(If you look on Germanshepherds.com at the rescue forum listing for Roscoe, he was marketed as a senior, and that got him TONS of attention because of how protective lots of folks are of senior dogs.)
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Maggie Thomas
President
Red Stick German Shepherd Rescue
Original Message:
Sent: 09-09-2023 10:01 AM
From: Amelia Pham
Subject: Big Dog Adoptions
Gweneth is the first one in the picture. She's a 2 years old working German shepherd. We tested her for search and rescue but because she's not dog friendly, they had denied her. She did great with everything else though
Sky is the last picture. She was an owner surrender and she has been depressed. She hasn't had anyone interested in her due to her being shy with New people and she's about 7 to 8 years old.
Thank you Maggie. I will reach out to them on Monday.
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Amelia Pham
Assistant Manager
WAGS PET ADOPTION
Westminster CA
Original Message:
Sent: 09-08-2023 03:54 PM
From: Maggie Thomas
Subject: Big Dog Adoptions
In addition to breed groups -- the working line folks will LOVE her -- get her description in front of the San Diego border patrol k9 people (a lot of their border sniffer dogs are shelter rescues) and ask them to help you circulate her to people who work dogs for a living. Also do research on programs training dogs for veterans (often it's the veterans adopting the dog to train themselves) -- like Companions for Heroes (but there are a ton of these veteran-support orgs now).
You can even contact your local VFW posts and ask them to help get the word out to vets who might need support dogs. If you get set up with Companions for Heroes, you can let them know that you're a partner org for placing dogs with veterans.
Once you get hooked up with Companions for Heroes, they pay 100% of the adoption fee for your approved veteran adopter (and sometimes provide training and other support, after the adoption). The way it works is you first approve the veteran's adoption app, then the veteran applies separately through C4H (documenting eligibility and talking with them), and once they say "yes," they'll send you the check for the adoption full adoption fee, on behalf of the veteran. I have LOVED our C4H placements. Here's the story of one of those dogs and her adopter: https://www.companionsforheroes.org/success-stories/army-ssgt-clewell-rye
Sometimes it's hard to convince shelter people that kind of "working placement" is superior to a "family home" but there's nothing that gives a GSD life as much meaning as having a job and being with its handler working every day, all day. It also makes for great PR if you can place a dog to become a support dog for a veteran.
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Maggie Thomas
President
Red Stick German Shepherd Rescue
Original Message:
Sent: 09-08-2023 12:29 PM
From: Amelia Pham
Subject: Big Dog Adoptions
Thank you!
That's Gweneth. She's a working dog. She loves to work and doesn't really care about human interaction much but wants to work for you.
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Amelia Pham
Assistant Manager
WAGS PET ADOPTION
Westminster CA
Original Message:
Sent: 09-08-2023 12:23 PM
From: Maggie Thomas
Subject: Big Dog Adoptions
Try posting them to the non-urgent rescue forum on this site and ask for help networking them: https://www.germanshepherds.com/forums/
Post their FB links there too, as sometimes people share them that way. That site got a very old GSD out of a shelter against all odds last month, so stuff really does happen, esp. if you stay active answering questions there.
That first one you posted is stunning, by the way. He has a look that breed enthusiasts absolutely LOVE.
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Maggie Thomas
President
Red Stick German Shepherd Rescue
Original Message:
Sent: 09-08-2023 12:18 PM
From: Amelia Pham
Subject: Big Dog Adoptions
We do have a couple of pure bread shepherd that we have been trying to find homes for or rescue to pull. We have been reaching out to the local rescues. Most haven't responded or when they did, they're full. I will have our team to reach out out of state ones.
These are the main 3 German shepherd we have been trying to get pull.
Thank you so much!
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Amelia Pham
Assistant Manager
WAGS PET ADOPTION
Westminster CA
Original Message:
Sent: 09-08-2023 10:09 AM
From: Maggie Thomas
Subject: Big Dog Adoptions
If any of them are purebred-looking (and be real -- don't say a high-mix is a purebred), they need to be networked out as fast as possible to breed rescues -- local ones in SoCal may be full, so reach out to Oregon, Washington, etc. as there are established volunteer transport networks to move them North out of SoCal. In fact, 3 dogs in high-kill SoCal shelters got networked out to the NW through Germanshepherds.com just because someone posted them to their rescue board. You have to develop the contacts breed-by-breed -- a lot of breed rescue happens via FB. BUT once you get good at it, you can move those large-breed dogs out fast and open up kennels for other dogs that need them. Don't "hoard" your "fancy" dogs to show-off online that you have "those dogs too" -- move 'em on out to open a cage up for a non-fancy plain brown dog with a great personality that needs to stay alive.
We've been supporting a lot of these breed transports, where we can. NOLA-area shelters moved 22 dogs last month a couple of dogs at a time using these breed networks -- almost all were big dogs. I call them "micro transports" because it might mean loading just one Great Dane into the back seat of someone's Honda Civic to drive them to the next hand-off point, but they work -- transports don't have to be large-scale. Just do them often.
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Maggie Thomas
President
Red Stick German Shepherd Rescue
Original Message:
Sent: 09-08-2023 07:19 AM
From: Amelia Pham
Subject: Big Dog Adoptions
Hello Everyone,
In the last few months we have had a high number of intakes (lost/found) and owner surrender dogs. Most of the dogs are big dogs. (40 pounds and over). We have had to get creative to housed them in our facility by crating them all over the shelter and using our emptied cat rooms to housed them as well. We currently have 60 dogs and 36 of them are big dogs.
We do have a small handful of them in fostering but most of them are on property.
We're promoting them . Offering foster to adopt. Just fostering. We've done adoption specials and usually our small dogs get adopted. Then we tried doing a special for just big dogs and only a small handful are being adopted.
My question is What are other shelters/rescues doing to help the big dogs get adopted ?
Thank you for your help! Greatly appreciated.
#AdoptionsandAdoptionPrograms
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Amelia Pham
Assistant Manager
WAGS PET ADOPTION
Westminster CA
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