End of Year Newsletter

December 6, 2022

News

Our First Year!

Thanks to you, in 2022, Who Will Let the Dogs Out:

Traveled 9,473 miles to visit 38 shelters in nine states and shared their stories through articles, blog posts, podcasts, social media, and television interviews.
Delivered at least 8000 pounds of food, treats, medicines, and requested supplies, and transported two special dogs to foster care.
Led a work weekend with two other advocacy groups at Saving Webster Dogs to document, vaccinate, and improve conditions leading to the rescue/adoption of over 50 dogs.
Created a free online Resource Guide for shelters/rescues fill with hundreds of ideas for grants, resources, education, shelter practices, fundraising, volunteer and foster programs, canine enrichment, and community engagement.
Launched our Insta-grant program thanks to funds raised through our online auction fundraiser and a grant from the ASPCA. This will enable us to provide immediate support to smaller, under-resourced shelters.
Began developing a team of virtual volunteers spread throughout the country to join us in projects and ongoing work

Your continued support and donations embolden us to travel further and do more to support the lifesaving work of shelters and rescues, AND find solutions to the crisis of too many unwanted dogs suffering. We believe the problem does not exist because people don’t care, but because they don’t know. This year you helped us tell the incredible stories of the situation in too many of our nation’s shelters.

As you probably know, things have gotten worse in the wake of the pandemic due to:

increase in owner surrenders and returned dogs due to expectations, poor planning, the housing crisis, and economy
veterinary shortage (and pandemic stoppages) leading to fewer spay/neuter surgeries and more puppies
fewer adoptions and rescue transfers
staffing and budget challenges

We just returned from our latest shelter tour and saw the widespread struggle. For many, it is worse than it’s been in years.

And still….we believe this is fixable.

We’ve seen evidence of that in some of the poorest places. With good leadership, community engagement, and veterinary access, shelters can change their story. We will continue to share all that we learn, expanding our Resource Guide, giving Insta-grants, traveling to under-resourced, overwhelmed shelters to shine a light on the challenges they face, and offering assistance and support to all our shelter partners.

So, THANK YOU for your support in 2022! We’d love to have your support in 2023. We are headed on a sheltelr tour to North Carolina in January. Please consider making a donation to enable us to continue to work to raise awareness and resources for homeless dogs and the heroes who fight for them. Use any of the buttons below or mail a check to ‘Who Will Let the Dogs Out’ (128 W. High St, Woodstock, VA 22664).

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And now, we’d like to share one more amazing story… perhaps our proudest accomplishment to date:

Be part of the solution! We are so excited for Franklin County, but also hope absolutely convinced this kind of change is possible anywhere. All it takes is a group of committed volunteers. We hope this story inspired you to get involved wherever you are or to join the WWLDO team!

volunteer for WWLDO

Great Idea of the Month

While we were on our latest shelter tour we brought peanut butter boards to two municipal shelters in Tennessee. Peanut butter boards are an easy, inexpensive way to bring a little comfort and activity to anxious shelter dogs. Basically, they are homemade lickpads.

All you need are plastic cutting boards with a handle (Dollar Store or Walmart has them), carabineer clips (or zip ties), peanut butter and a spatula for smearing the peanut butter on the board. You can hang them from the front of a dog’s kennel (don’t put on the sides where it could encourage fence fighting).

Thank You Patty Larson!

We’d like to give a humongous round of thanks to one of our board members who is stepping down at the end of this year to pursue other endeavors. Patty Larson has been with Waldo since 2019 before WWLDO became an official nonprofit. Her connection was sparked after she read Cara’s book, Another Good Dog, and was inspired to foster. Patty has such a heart for dogs and especially homeless dogs, and currently has 3 rescue dogs.

Patty has worn many hats for WWLDO.She was instrumental in helping to establish the framework for us as a nonprofit.With herorganizational development, grant research/writing and strategic development experience, Patty created the grant support arm of WWLDO that follows up with all of our visited shelters. This past fall she successfully helped WWLDO get its first grant (from the ASPCA) which enabled us to start our new Instant Grant Program.Patty also spearheaded the creation of WWLDO’s formal annual plan, helped define board roles, and consistently shared resources on rescue-related topics.

Patty applied her skills in researching shelters to visit and rescue organizations for partner possibilities.She jumped in to help with everything from the creation of the Resource Guide, the work weekend at Saving Webster Dogs in Webster WV (where she brought along her supportive and helpful husband), and stepped up to support our first-ever online auction buying and donating (and shipping!) many items.

Patty was always looking to see where she could help support WWLDO and its mission.She talked and walked WWLDO to her friends and anyone who could possibly help forge our mission ahead.Plus, handled a lot of the administrative and record keeping so vital to any organization.

Whew! Patty will be missed.It’s no wonder that Patty is taking a well-deserved break.We thank her for all that she did so willingly for Who Will Let the Dogs Out. We wish her the very best in her dog rescue adventures, and know that wherever she lands, she will have a lasting impact.

And one last BIG Thank you to Max & Neo

Max & Neo is a pet supply company that is all about rescue. For every item purchased, the company donates that same item to a shelter or rescue. We have given out Max & Neo slip leads, martingale collars, food toppers, and other supplies on our last two shelter tours. The high-quality items are always well received and put to good use. And now, not only are they continuing to give us much needed supplies to distribute, they have donated the vehicle that gets us to the shelters! Check out our new rescue vehicle donated by Max & Neo!