boxer rescues

[adeinert]

ok, i really didnt expect to have such negative feedback here, and i am not saying that boxer rescues are not a good program, but in reply to some who say about all the medical care thats involved.....#1 do you think that there is no medical cost involved with human societies, which, who by the way is also a non profit organization,rely solely on donations, and are also involved with saving animals for the same reasons as a boxer rescue. #2 in my opinion, breed rescues portray themselves as an elite organization only available to those that can afford it, and meet their criterias(by the way, the people that came to interview me had boxers for 2 yrs, i owned boxers for 15) what makes them more knowledgeable than me in how i am going to take care of my animals?? if the breed rescues were so concerned in finding good homes for their dogs, they would make it more available to all people...the humane society does not discriminate any animal,they take all kinds...pure bred or heinz 57 and their goals are the same. to give a safe and loving home to a dog that is no longer wanted by their previous owners.

please do not try to argue with me, my feelings will remain the same...there is no justification in the fees they charge, and although i love boxers more than any dog i have ever owned...there are plenty of lonely dogs of all kinds who can be just as loving, who just want a good home, walking along the streets for the taking if need be. that will be my first choice....jody

No arguement here. Actually, I thought people were just trying to share the facts with you. If you want to adopt from humane societies, then by all means, just do that.
Most people I know that have loved the breed for any period of time, give back by joining boxer rescues so you have very knowledgeable vols. We also provide very detailed paperwork for them to follow on the criteria that has worked well in thousands of adoptions. We have this criteria which helps us operate as a reputable organization.
My local humane society calls me to place boxers through our rescue because they admit that many of their adoptions come back and often multiple returns on a breed like a boxer. They say they don't have the time or volunteer power to do the wonderful home visits and follow up like we do. They are also very clear that we place boxers better because we have a specialization. They placed one boxer four times at the local humane society before they found us. Their workers had no clue on how to work a boxer through separation anxiety, a common skill for our foster homes.

I'm glad you will support your local shelter. Good for you for adopting rather than buying. I just had to reply to the other posters why our dogs often find better homes than those at shelters. We take a lot of time and do a lot of prep work to find good homes. You don't need money to be a good home but you do have to plan to care for the dog properly and be ready to meet that boxer's needs for life. Shelters are unable to do the background checks that we require. That is why many shelters prefer to send their boxers to us.

In regards to medical care, all I know is the amount of our vet bills which greatly exceed our adoption fees. I also am aware of our donations which would never, ever amount to the vet bills alone but certainly make up a bulk of the difference. Humane societies in my state do not treat HW pos dogs, orthopedic dogs, or other serious ailments. They only do basic vaccs and spay/neuter if the dog is adopted. They don't even aggressively treat kennel cough. They do not have the funds and call on breed rescues to take all of the sick or unadoptable (by their standards.) They put $70 into a dog, we pay that fee and then put another $200 to $2000 into dogs we get from humane societies. Also Humane societies operate on a completely different budget. Just pointed out the differences in my state for those interested. My humane society adopts out a dog with limited vaccs and a neuter for $70. I have heard in some states it is near $200, so it must depend on the organization and what financial support they have. To me, it's pennies in the bucket. I spend hundreds of dollars each month buying quality food for each of my boxers so for me, a donation to rescue for extensive vet care is worth it. It's nice their are choices for those who want to adopt elsewhere. Some may need the behavior analysis of a foster home and complete vetting. Other, experienced owners like yourself, that could handle any situation that may arise would feel more comfortable adopting from a shelter.

Good luck in finding a boxer.

Ashlie

 

[ssleighter]

Apparently you have no clue what's involved in rescue.

I skimmed through most of the replies, so forgive me if this was already addressed.

In regards to the Humane Society. The biggest difference between HSUS/SPCA is in cash flow. They are a corporation, and a HUGE one at that. They receive financial aid and HUGE donations from various entities and people. They use these funds to build shelters, feed animals and pay salaries. In most cases they do minimal vetting and often times have a vet in their employ to do it.

You cannot even compare the two entities, Rescue vs. HSUS or SPCA.

Rescues have no cash cows. For the most part, Rescue is a labor of love. We foster the dogs in our homes and I assure you there's no salary coming from it. We juggle our REAL jobs, our families and our own pets to make sure an injured dog gets out of the shelter and to the vet. It is my love of the breed that drives me forward, not the hours and good pay. :cool:

We have to beg for vets to work with us and offer a discount. A heartworm positive dog costs our organization $180-$250 and that is not including vaccines, spay/neuter, food, collars, leashes, toys, boarding if needed and any other care the dog might need while with us. Nor does it cover the cost of gas that we use to transport these dogs all over the place to get to a vet that will work with us. Keep in mind a HW+ dog is also usually in our care for 6-8 weeks. Approx 3 out of 5 boxers come into our program HW+.

Compared to the costs of a new puppy, $250 adoption fees are a drop in the bucket. And in most cases, we've done the crate training and potty training FOR YOU!

I'm sorry if this makes little or no sense, but it really is maddening to those of us that do rescue to be accused of "price gouging" and charging too much for adoptions. Breaking even seldom happens, heck I'd be happy just getting out of the "red" for ONE day.

 

[TazzysMom]

Ozz:
It sounds to me like anyone, you have your own personal experiences with Rescues in your area but you can not let that form your opinion in general. Example Human Society big deal. I know I sweet dear older Boxer who was tied to a tree last week and left for dead at their facility here by where I live did they attempt to save her? NO they did not have the time to dedicate to one sick dog. A chruch group saved her nursed her back to health as much as they could and called Boxer Rescue in our area. Now still skin and bones,deaf, been through hell and back this little old girl used as a breeding machine and thrown away is in a warm cozy bed in my home recuperating so she can be adopted. She is alive because of the local chruch and The Boxer Rescue in my area. They try to save every dog that comes in no matter the expense or their condtion. I am Fostering her medical recovery but Boxer Rescue pays any and all medical bills and she was so bad there have been some. The Human Society made a decision. If you ask anyone in my family who gets kissed to death any chance she can get close enough to you they would say that was a wrong decision. When you work in animal rescue someone has to make decisions. Whether unpopular, misunderstood by the person who has no clue or chooses not to learn. Spend one full day at Boxer Rescue anywhere and see how often you come back and help. It is endless you adopt 10, 15 more arrive from deathrow and other places. Do the volunteers stop trying or caring no.

It is not fair to pick and choose who can and cannot make a adoption donation. If you can find the money for a puppy why wouldn't it be more rewarding to spend that money on a dog and give it a second chance on being happy, it is also an honor to thank the volunteers who sacrifice spare time to take care of any orphan animals with a small donation in comparision . It involves much more than I think you know. I encourage you to volunteer for even one month if you can stand it. See if you can sleep at night. I lay awake trying to figure out more ways to bring more money in so we don't have to worry all the time about the sick ones, the stressed ones, all of them!! When you visit the Boxer Rescue I support the first thing you see is a high quality cardboard sign that says Boxer Rescue. So you can plainly see donations are spent on the dogs not the decor to attract or impress you. And they take mixed breeds not just purebreds.
I wouldn't judge or compare any animal organization the people must love and care for animals to choose that line of work, I hope you find a Grateful rescue baby of any kind.

Respectfully Leilani and
Tazzy Waiting at the bridge 8/21/04-09/26/04
Foster Girl Rita my Granny Goose

 

[saveaboxer]

I am a volunteer with BlueGrass Boxer Rescue and do the vetting for a large quantity of our dogs. I know the Humane Society where I live only gives a spay/neuter certificate for the $75.00 adoption fee. This does not include any shots, worming, flea & tick control, or heartworm test never mind the treatment. The dogs are not vetted by the human society, if they come in sick they are destroyed. They don't do home checks, or require an application, anyone with the money can adopt on the spot. I am glad to hear that some human societies are much better at vetting their pets and trying to find good homes. Their dogs are kept outside in kennels with dog houses, they get large amounts of grant money that we cannot get, they get large donations because they have people to work it and that is all they do. We as a rescue don't have the time nor the volunteers to scout out donations and apply for grants. We have dogs in our homes with our families and pets, daily. We have foster homes that may be having problems and need to work with them, we have applicants to check out, home visits to make, dogs to get vetted, dogs to be transported, dogs to pull from the shelters. Want to know what my average phone bill is? How about spending over $100.00 per week on gas? This does not come out of rescue funds, this comes from the love we have for this breed and of course our pay from full time jobs.

We do not have vets that will work with us on price reductions, we pay full price for spay/neuters, heartworm treatment, deworming, meds, shots, surgeries, tumor removals, gum trims, hip replacements, anything the dog needs or what the vet finds is treated. Do you have any idea what it costs to treat distemper or parvo? It certainly is much, much more than the standard $200-250 adoption fee. In the last 10 months we have treated 12 heartworm treatments at $250-300 each, 2-Parvo cases at about $500.00 each, distemper $437.00, demodex averages $200-250.00 per dog, spays are $95.00-118.00, neuters are $55-90.00, then there is still all the vaccines, kennel cough, meds, etc., and we are looking at a total hip replacement for Andy who just finished his heartworm treatment, all for an adoption donation of $200.00. All of our vet bills have to be paid up-front for treatment, vets in our area will not set up charge accounts. Are we flat broke from treating so many long term care dogs and paying up front, YES, YES, we are more than broke. My partner and I have been paying out of our pockets for some time now and using our credit cards to pay the vet expenses. We hope that at some point we may, and I say MAY, be able to get a few dogs in that will not exceed what their adoption fees are and we can get a little of our money returned or be able to get the new dogs treated with the rescue funds. So far luck has not been good. Did I mention that we have to have full time jobs to insure the dogs can get vetted and cared for. Seems my pay check goes to pay vet bills, every pay check I know there will be a HW treatment, 1-3 spay and neuters, shots, worming, etc coming out of it, and hope that I have enough left after paying my personal bills to accomplish getting one dog ready to go to their new home. Compared to what it takes to ensure one dog is healthy and ready to go to their forever home, $200-300 is only pennies compared to what has been spent in getting the dog ready.

 

[Claudia807]

I am actually the one who pays the bill for the rescue for which I volunteer, so I will tell you straight out that our adoption fee is a BARGAIN. Our fee is $200 and we give a discount to adopters who are coming back for second, third, etc. dogs. We charge the same fee for all the dogs. Several times we have gotten in young dogs, each with a broken leg. By the time such a dog is ready to be adopted, we have invested WELL OVER $1,000.00 in the dog. Would you like us to charge exactly what we put into each dog?

- Brand new leash
- Brand new collar
- Rescue ID tag
- Microchip (we pay for the microchip, the injection of the chip, and the registration of the chip)
- Heartworm test
- Heartworm preventative, given monthly for as long as the dog is in rescue)
- Fecal test
- Any needed medications
- Spay/neuter
- Physical exam
- Vaccinations including Rabies, Distemper, and Bordetella

Furthermore, our foster homes feed the dogs out of their own pockets. They buy them treats, toys, etc.

Each dog, on average, costs us hundreds of dollars . . . far more than the adoption fee. The list above does not even include the long term treatment of various medical issues. We've treated several dogs for heartworm (yes, even up north!) and that costs a pretty penny. We have several dogs in rescue right now that require daily medication.

Also, this should not be looked at as a rescues vs. shelter sort of thing. In rescue we work WITH shelters. Shelters know that their funds are limited and that they generally can't provide the same level of service that we can provide in rescue. I have yet to run into a shelter that is able to provide all of the things I listed above.

In the end, it doesn't matter from which source you get a dog. Dogs are expensive, and you have to be prepared for that. In my experience, people who squawk about the fee up front are going to skimp on the dog later. If they can't afford the fee, can they afford to have a mast cell tumor removed later on (and you guys know it is not out of the realm of possibility to have to do this!)

 

[magoo's_mama]

Most of the replies so far have really summed up what I would have said after reading the first post. But I just wanted to mention that the Humane Society does a great service and definitly has it's place in the community for saving dogs however because they don't have rigerous criteria for adoption many of thier dogs are returned. I live in a military community so people here are constantly on the move I have seen countless (seriously to many to count) families come here get a dog from the humane society, leave it tied up in the yard with next to no socilaization, and then a year later when they move on take the dog back to the humane society. The dog is actually worse off then it was before becasue it has learned all kinds of negative behaviors from being left on it's own outodoors. So now it goes back to the humane society in the hopes of being adopted again but now is agressive, or territorial, un-trusting etc.. I'm not saying this is always the case but it certinly happens alot.
Also my Magoo was orginally in a shelter, he was 6 months old and had a large cyst/fatty tumor on his leg. Because of his tumor he wasn't likely to be adopted. The shelter would have had to put him to sleep. Boxer rescue picked him up. They removed his tumor, gave me $80.00 antibiotics. Had him nuetred, gave him his first years complete vaccinations, colar, tags, and even crate trained him and socialized him with other dogs. And for all this I paid $300.00 And it was tax deductible. Seems like a bargain to me. People often say to me Bless you for adopting a boxer. But the people who are really to be admired are the rescue workers who put in all thier time and MONEY to save our boxers.
I hope you find your perfect boxer, where ever he may be.
~ Sunny & Magoo

 

[ozz321]

rescues

ok, obviously i've angered a few people. my intentions were not to do that and i apologize to anyone who was offended by my posts. i never meant that breed rescues are not a good program, i actually think they are great and i know alot of people put their time and money into it, the only point i was trying to make is that it is ashame that not all people will have the opportunity to adopt a boxer because of the cost. alot of people are not aware of the fact of overbreeding, and in their minds, if they are looking to get a boxer and can afford 300 they probably are going to think..why not pay 1 or 2 hundred more and have a puppy, instead of taking on a rescue dog (who in their minds feel they are just taking on someone elses problem, otherwise why were they given up,or, that they were abused and probably have some temperament problems) i personally know that the programs are good, but there are alot of people out there that dont. there are so many people out there that are truly caring people and would love to and could give a boxer a wonderful home but just cant afford the money. maybe 300 is not alot to some people but to other people it is alot to put out at one time and thats where i feel alot of good homes are being passed by because of this. i am not against what rescues charge, i was only saying that it limits the amount of homes available to these dogs. i personally know about rescues. i used to own a horse farm and had a horse come to my barn from right off the racetrack, he was severly injured(from too much racing) and all three vets told the owner to put him down. i realized this horse had a heart of gold and offered to take him and give him his best shot. to make a long story short, i literally had to eventually reteach this horse how to walk because he went so long without walking because of his injuries(he even went to the bathroom laying down)i fed him, vetted him and eventually found a good home for him at no charge to the new owners.my main concern was to let him live his life out happy.horse rescues in my area charge around 300 to adopt a horse, now if you think the expense for dogs is alot try treating a injured horse and supplying them with food, shelter and pasture. alot more expense involved, but i was not looking to make any money on this horse, just to see him out in a pasture enjoying his life. i just wonder if someone would come to a rescue wanting a dog, knowing the dog was going to a wonderful home, would they be willing to waive the fee?? i've seen this done with some of the horse rescues.
i must also make a comment on humane societies. please dont degrade this organization. there are alot of no kill shelters out there and they sometimes have animals their whole lives at the shelter. they also take in alot more animals than a rescue does from people dropping them off to the dog wardens and officers bringing stray or neglected/abused animals. the amount of animals in some cities that come in to shelters is astronomical. if rescues had that amount of dogs coming in i believe they would not be able to sustain them all either. there might be big money coming in to some HS, but most small town HS rely on donations and have a hard time trying to get the money they need, often times holding fund raisers, and most of them rely on volunteers as well. the humane society is a wonderful program and not any less admirable than breed rescues. we all do what we can with what we have, and i can only hope and pray that everyones true intentions are only for the welfare of the animal

 

[magoo's_mama]

Seriously if you can't pay $300.00 for your boxer, how are you going to afford to take care of him/her when they're sick and need to go to the vet? The first time I took Magoo to the vet for a bladder infection it cost me about $300.00 for the visit, the lab fees, the antibiotics, etc.. I'm not saying only rich people deserve to have pets, I'm not even close to being wealthy. But if you can afford to take care of the dog, you should be able to afford the adoption fee.
~ Sunny & Magoo

 

[Vela]

I "rescued" my 4 year old girl for 600.00. The first month I owned her she nearly died and cost me another 800.00 to keep her alive. She needed me and I knew if I didn't help her she wouldn't make it. SHe still limps. She still has a nasty scar on her neck from the cancer. She still has a saggy belly and boobs from the mastitis but she also have a heart of gold and loves life and everyone in it. I would pay twice as much as I did for that. That gave me just a small inkling of what a rescue must have to put out daily for the care of the sick and injured dogs they help. I would gladly pay 300.00 for a rescue dog because if I can't afford that, then I can't afford to properly care for my dog if something should happen and they needed the vet. I have one philosophy about owning or being owned by pets and animals. If you cannot afford to care for them properly, don't have them. I have put off other things or juggled things to pay for somehthing one of my dogs needs. I would pay thousands for an operation if I had to. The unfortuantely reality of it is, if you can't or don't want to pay 300.00 to adopt a dog that has been temperament tested, vetted, spayed or neutered and most often potty trained, crate trained and on the way to being obedience trained, then that's too bad. If rescues gave away the dogs, how would they pay the vet bills?

This is not true of all people but it is of many, they will only care as much about what they have as what they put into it. MANY MANY people get "free" dogs and they end up in back yards when they aren't "cute" anymore. They end up starved and tied to trees. They end up in shelters because, heck, they didn't cost anything so who cares.

This is a generalized statement and is directed at no one in particular at all but it's a sad fact. Not everyone treats a "free" animal that way but MANY do. By asking a fee the rescues can help pay vet bills and can try to weed out those looking for thne next "freebie". Some people can't pass up something free, even if they don't really need or want it. Happens every day.

I also know the humane society does not treat the diseases or the surgical issues or emotional issues of the animals they take in. There are too many and they do the best they can but they cannot and do not do as much with the animals as rescues do. They are necessary and do a great service but it is beacuse of those things they can offer them so much cheaper. They didn't pay to have the HW treated. They didn't pay to have the broken bone set. They didn't pay to hav the parvo pup saved. They didn't pay to have the cancer removed. They didn't pay for the medications. They called on the rescues to do it. How are the rescues to make ends meet without donations?

 

[momstaxi]

just my 2cents.... Both rescue and humane societies are wonderful organizations, just in different ways. Humane societies do their best to see that a MASSIVE number of animals get basic, necessary care and affection. Rescues can do more for the individual animal and do their best to fill ALL its needs but can not obviously handle the volume that humane societies do.
Both groups working together for the common goal of caring for animals that need it.
Not all people care badly for free animals however. I have a free mutt that is cared for and spoiled just as much as my boxer is and they are best friends.