By Sarah Bradham | Executive Director
The last few months have been full of activity, with a kennel FULL of POOCH pups, boarded dogs, and daycare dogs. We are incredibly proud of the accomplishments of our youth so far this year!
Each day we get to see progress in the youth and dog participants in our program. Youth are gaining valuable life skills as they work to train and care for the pups. Recently, we heard from on of our youth about their experience at Project POOCH. “It took about three years to get the opportunity to join POOCH, but I took it as the first chance. It was the best decision of my life! I received so much more than better pay and animal companionship. I found a place of freedom inside the fences of MacLaren. I got education about dogs, cats, shelters, even life in general. Finally, I found a family tied together by something stronger than just blood—passion.”
It brings us great joy to provide life-changing opportunities for youth and dogs, and it motivates us to show up every day.
However, like many other shelters/rescues, we are also experiencing significant challenges, and our youth participants are getting a crash course in the current crisis of rescue.
Shelters are overflowing. Rescues are at capacity. Owners are surrendering and dumping their dogs in record numbers. Breeders are attempting to surrender entire litters of puppies, along with the parents, to shelters because they can't sell the puppies. The entire system is stressed. I get calls every single day from individuals who wants to surrender their dog. Yesterday, I received a call from a woman who was trying to rehome her mother's dog because she couldn't care for the pup anymore. I told her we were full and asked her who else she had tried so far. She told me I was the 27th rescue/shelter on her list. There are myriad reasons why—COVID puppies that were unsocialized, the rising cost of dog food and vet care, the lack of low-cost spay/neuter clinics, the lack of access to spay/neuter services. Regardless of the reason, the outcome is that shelters and rescues are struggling to meet the needs of the community, and it breaks our hearts daily to be unable to heed the calls we receive pleading for help.
We are currently running well above our normal capacity. A dog was abandoned at our office in late July. Clifford, an 11-month-old male Kelpie Mix, has experienced life on the streets, a shelter in California, a rescue in California, a prison program in California, a brief adoption, and now life at Project POOCH in his 11 short months of life. I'm thankful he landed with us—many of our youth know what it is like to be bounced around from place to place, to feel unwanted, and they have stepped up to support him and love him until we find his family.
Bo was adopted from Project POOCH 11 years ago, and just came back to us last week. His mom got sick and wasn't able to care for him anymore. It was her wish that we would take him back so we could find him his forever home. Of course we obliged.
We have 8 GREAT dogs in our care right now, and we haven't had an adoption since May. We love our dogs and provide all of them with love, training, medical care, and high-quality food, but our goal for all of them is to find their forever home.
For our update today, we ask for your help!
Thank you, as always, for your belief in what we do at Project POOCH. The youth, the dogs, and the community thank you!
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