Live Release Rate: 0%

Live Release Rate: 0%

by Cara Sue Achterberg ♥ 12 Comments

Yesterday I called an ACO (Animal Control Officer) at a county pound in Tennessee. I was inquiring as to whether we might be able to visit on our next trip in March. I’d left a message and figured I had about a 50/50 chance of him calling me back.

You see, when a writer leaves a message about visiting a pound where dogs are routinely killed, ACO’s can be a bit shy about speaking with me. I get that—most of the ACO’s I’ve met do everything they can to avoid killing dogs but ‘everything they can’ is not much when they have an unsupportive leadership system, zero budget, sub-par facilities, little or no veterinary access, a constant stream of homeless dogs, and a mandate to destroy any dog that is still there past its five-day legal stray hold.

So, when I received a call back in less than an hour, I Read more ›

Puppies Saved in the Nick of Time

Puppies Saved in the Nick of Time

by Cara Sue Achterberg ♥ 5 Comments

So much of our rescue efforts are focused on the rural south, as well they should be. That’s where the majority of dogs are suffering and dying, where shelters are overwhelmed, and money runs short, but recently I participated in a rescue that wasn’t in the south. It was actually four hours north of my home in Pennsylvania.

Another Good Dog coverIt happened because of a connection I made through my book, Another Good Dog: One Family and Fifty Foster Dogs. Katie, a reader from Seneca, PA contacted me through Facebook after finishing my book, and we struck up a conversation, as kindred spirits do when it comes to dogs.

Six months later, she contacted me regarding a dog who Read more ›

Our Responsibility to Spay and Neuter

Our Responsibility to Spay and Neuter

by Cara Sue Achterberg ♥ 7 Comments

Now that we are home and settled and sifting through all that we’ve seen and learned at our latest shelter visits, I am embracing every opportunity to share all that we learned visiting southern shelters.

Nancy and her dog Edith Wharton (my fiftieth foster dog who signs books with me) accompanied me to a speaking engagement last week. The wide eyes and the occasional tears in the audience told me that Read more ›

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Fifteen Dogs in My House

by Cara Sue Achterberg ♥ 1 Comment

My first experience with a northern shelter rescue, plus an update on what ever happened to Houdini from Walker Co, AL….

Another Good Dog™

We survived our record-setting weekend.

Now we just have fourteen dogs. Which we’ve had before.

Gosh, this makes me sound like a dog-raving lunatic. Which maybe I am. Or at least I feel like one after this weekend.

Saying we fostered fifteen dogs this weekend is somewhat misleading since

View original post 1,456 more words

Giles County is Writing a New Story

Giles County is Writing a New Story

by Cara Sue Achterberg ♥ 3 Comments

Our next to last shelter visit was actually two visits in one. We would visit the Giles County Animal Shelter, and also meet with some of the volunteers from the Giles County Humane Association, a foster-based rescue that supports the shelter.

This Humane Association/County Shelter partnership model is fairly common and usually turns out to be a good one for the dogs. While County shelters can’t fundraise and are limited to the budget they are given, a Humane Association isn’t and they can provide immediate support in areas where it is needed most – like veterinary services not covered in the budget, supplies, foster care, and when funds run low, collect donations of essentials like food and dewormers.

Giles County hadn’t been on my original list of shelters to visit. It was the Giles County Dog Pound back then, when a woman named Daphne, reached out to me through Facebook. “You have to see what is going on in Giles County,” she wrote.

I was intrigued and began looking into it. I was shocked by what I discovered. Read more ›

A Shepherd and his LAMBS in the Wiregrass Corner of Alabama

A Shepherd and his LAMBS in the Wiregrass Corner of Alabama

by Cara Sue Achterberg ♥ 2 Comments

“I hope this isn’t some wild-goose chase,” I warned Nancy as we headed south from Montgomery to visit our next shelter on the tour.

I’d heard about SHARK (Safe Haven Animal Rescue Kennel) from a Humane Society representative. I’d asked her about shelters further south in Alabama and her immediate response was, “You have to go see SHARK. You won’t believe it.”

She was right.

As we drove south Read more ›

When Mom Runs the Shelter

When Mom Runs the Shelter

by Cara Sue Achterberg ♥ 3 Comments

Our next stop in Alabama was The Humane Society of Chilton County in Clanton, AL. I’d heard great things about this place and it didn’t disappoint.

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Chilton has a very relaxed, happy air about it which made complete sense upon meeting the director. Jennifer is a former stay at home mom who began as a volunteer and ultimately became the director. She is calm and certain and clearly loves her job.

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As director she is hands-on, rarely to be found in her office. Instead, she Read more ›