Some of what you will see in this blog post is highly controversial in the rescue community. Some of what you’ll see will be difficult to unsee. But I want you to know that it was ALL done in the best interests of the dogs.

After I posted the photos of the shepherds on Sunday, there wasn’t a group that could commit that quickly to doing the rescue and sponsorship. I kept thinking about them out there on the streets. I know there are so many like them..but I met these dogs..and I wanted to DO SOMETHING.

So I enlisted the help of some rescue friends (Liz, Mary, and her family). We planned it out as best we could. But you know what they say..the best laid plans..

We had successes.

We had help from the community.

We had failures. The dark brown guy appeared today and we were unable to secure him. But not for a lack of trying..

We did outreach. Shared information about distemper, spay, neuter, etc.

We gave a kid a chance to show beautiful compassion to an animal who has likely never seen or felt it before.

The 2nd female shepherd was not in the area today unfortunately. We decided to bring the 2 shepherd dogs to BARC, Houston’s animal control facility.

When I first started working with BARC in 2009, the shelter’s kill rate was over 90%. That meant that over 90% of the animals who entered the shelter never left. They were euthanized due to medical issues, old age, but more to a lack of space.

It’s been many years of hard work on the City’s part and dedicated rescue groups to now bring that (approximately) 90% to a save rate. That means most of the animals entering the shelter are leaving into the arms of their new adoptive families or rescue groups where they will later be adopted. (One of the dogs kept chewing the leashes quickly so we needed to do a soft muzzle at the shelter door to keep him safe.)

So, yes..for the average person bringing a stray dog to a shelter, there is a risk. But I have faith that one of our rescue partners will be stepping in during the 3-day hold period to “tag” the dogs for rescue then make plans to transport them outside of Houston. I will follow up to tell the rest of the story when that happens.

It’s sad looking and the dogs are scared and concerned for each other and confused..and believe me it’s not a happy thing to stand in line at the shelter to give them a dog. I hated it. But, it’s temporary. And all the people involved in today’s rescue mission believe that a dog is safer in a shelter than on the streets. That’s where they can go to get help. That is the beginning for them. If Addy wasn’t brought to the shelter, he would have died a horrible death on the streets.

To Be Continued...