All of our dogs come from low-income, low-resource animal control facilities (aka “dog pounds”) in Ontario.  These facilities do not have the funding for fancy adoption wings with teams of volunteers and staff.  These facilities are minimally staffed with over-worked employees.  The dogs have a kennel to stay in that is usually dark and loud and chaotic.  These facilities are holding kennels for all of the strays and owner surrendered dogs of their counties and townships.  They don’t get to pick and choose the dogs they take in.  By law, these pounds must take in any dog that is stray or abandoned.  Because of this, kennel space fills up quickly and space runs out.  Sadly, without rescue, many of the unclaimed or surrendered dogs will be put down to free up kennel space for the next dogs arriving. This is why we at Pound Dog Rescue will only take in dogs from these facilities.  These dogs have very few options, the lucky minority gets adopted, and the others face certain death without rescue.  It’s these dogs that we focus on and are dedicated to saving. Click here to change this text

Rescue is needed because sadly, not all dogs live long, happy lives in loving forever homes.  Many dogs end up in homes of irresponsible owners who don’t provide them with the training, socialization and care needed to live a happy life.  For no fault of their own many of these dogs end up in a pound situation, all because they had the misfortune to be owned by irresponsible people.  Sadly, many people still don’t spay or neuter their pets and breed them without any thought to providing quality homes for the puppies or proper care for the mothers. This adds to the already over saturated dog population and takes homes away from dogs already in a pound situation.  Because dogs don’t get to choose their owners, rescue is needed.  Once in rescue, we choose their next home for them. We strive to make certain that none of our rescue dogs end up back where they came from.  We do this by having potential adopters fill out applications and we conduct home visits and interviews and do background checks. We take the extra steps needed to make sure we are sending our dogs off to loving, forever homes.

We have established a long standing and trusting relationship with a rural Ontario animal control facility.  We select most of our dogs from this facility but we are open to helping any low resource pound.  We take pictures and do write up’s of all of the dogs available to go to rescue organizations and we forward this information in an email to various different trusted rescues across Ontario.  We work hand in hand with a large number of rescues to save as many dogs as possible. We at Pound Dog Rescue not only rescue dogs for our own organization, but assist and facilitate the rescue of dogs to a number of other trusted rescue organizations. We evaluate the dogs in need of rescue and we select dogs based on temperament and the criteria our available foster is looking for.  We look to match dogs with fosters.  We will never force a foster to take on a dog that they are uncomfortable with or ill equipped to handle.  Once selected we have the dog vet checked, vaccinated, heartworm tested, microchipped, and spayed or neutered if required. The dog will then be placed in a preselected foster home to live on a temporary basis where it will be loved and cared for.  While in foster care the dog will receive training, socialization, and handling all the while being observed and assessed for behaviour.  This way we really get to know the dogs in our care and can confidently determine what will be the best forever home for each individual dog.  A successful adoption applicant for a specific dog will have a meet and greet with the dog and it’s foster in the foster’s home.  This way the applicant can talk directly with the foster who has been caring for the dog to learn first hand about the dog’s routines, quirks and mannerisms in a home environment.  We fully believe that the foster parent knows the dog best and they are an integral part of our adoption procedure.

Why are they there in the first place? For the most part the dogs that end up in pounds are there for no fault of their own.  A lot of them were owned by people who were irresponsible and let them run loose and when apprehended, did not bother to claim them from the pound. Many come in because the person that owned them either selected a breed of dog that did not suit their lifestyle, or they expected a dog to come fully trained and didn’t want to, or know how to, put the time and effort required into training their dog. And unfortunately, many end up in a pound because they became inconvenient for their owners and the pound is the quickest, easiest and cheapest way to dispose of their dog. Some end up there because their owner passed away or had a crisis and were no longer able to care for their dog.  We have seen almost every breed of dog in the pound in need of rescue…from the smallest of toy breeds to the largest of giant breeds and everything in between.  We have seen many purebreds and just as many mixed breeds. There is no breed of dog that is exempt from being abandoned, lost or unclaimed.  We have rescued and fostered countless dogs in our years of volunteering and we have never yet encountered a “bad” dog, or one who had an issue we couldn’t work through. Again, these dogs can’t help who they are owned by. We at Pound Dog Rescue work to educate the public on responsible dog ownership and fully encourage and insist on applicants researching and being educated on the breed of dog they are applying for. There is nothing more frustrating than seeing a beautiful Border Collie in the pound having been turned in because he was “too active” or a gorgeous Newfoundland Dog having been turned in because he grew “too big”. Unfortunately these are true stories and real excuses people have used to abandon their former “best friends” at the pound. How about the black Lab who was turned in because the owner redecorated her house and he no longer matched the decor? We aren’t kidding. It happened. So, the answer is no, not all dogs in a pound have something “wrong” with them. Most are there because of things they have no control over, like their breed, their colour or who the person was that happened to pick them out of their respective litters at 8 weeks old. We thank you for caring enough to consider rescue. We hope you will choose to adopt a rescue dog.  Rescue saves dog’s lives and gives dogs a second chance at finding a loving home.  And if you want to save a dog and adopt through rescue, as we like to say around here.