A different day, well, sort of

This is Layla, pulled from CASPCA this morning

I spent the day at a dog adoption event.  Not exactly a different day for me, but it was a different location (Tractor Supply in Staunton), and a different group (Southeast German Shepherd Rescue).  The group is based in North Carolina but operates throughout the southeastern states wherever they can find volunteers and foster homes.  Some current and former VGSR volunteers are now working with this group as well, which I think is wonderful. 

A volunteer's personal dog, beautiful and very well trained

There was recently an email exchange among some VGSR volunteers about other shepherd rescue groups operating in the same area--(SGSR was not the subject of the discussion.)  Some people questioned the need for "other" organizations and suggested that everyone should just join VGSR.  Uncharacteristically, I withheld comment and resisted the urge to join the discussion because mostly it just generates more emails and irritates people on the email list who have no interest in the topic.  But what I was sorely tempted to say was that the suggestion that everyone should just join VGSR is both rather naive and arrogant.
 

A foster dog, I don't know her name, sweet, but she's a bitch on wheels

Rescue groups splinter and proliferate often because of personality conflicts or different ideas.  Dog people do not all think alike.  Most of us like dogs better than people and have better dog-handling skills than people-handling skills.  VGSR has people who will not adopt to people who have doggie doors that allow a dog access to a securely fenced yard during the day, but will adopt to people who will crate a dog for their entire work and commuting day.  This and other differences just reflect different philosophies on the appropriate way to keep and care for a dog.  Some people and some groups won't adopt to anyone who has an unaltered dog or cat in their home, period.  To say that everyone should join one organization, meaning their own, is to say that only that organization is doing it right (which ignores the fact that there is great difference of opinion even within any given organization).  That's the arrogance.

My Max, what a face

The naivete comes from the misconception that one organization, VGSR for instance, can do it all.  In spite of the name, Virginia German Shepherd Rescue, VGSR does not even begin to cover the entire state.  It would more appropriately be called Northern Virginia German Shepherd Rescue.  Most of the group's foster homes are in Arlington, Fairfax, and Loudoun counties.  It's a suburban area and that also defines the type of dogs that the group is able to take in.  A dog who has never lived indoors, has a strong prey drive, or a very defensive or protective nature, may not work in a community of townhouses.  Any dog considered for intake has to display a temperament that indicates that it would fit it or adapt to that sort of life.  There's nothing wrong with that, but it leaves a lot of dogs behind.  The truth of the matter is that VGSR does not save every German Shepherd Dog from every shelter in the state.  Some dogs we can't get to in time, either because of transportation problems, or because there is no one who can assess the dog, or because there is no one who will take a dog with too many unknowns. 

Max got bored

More people in the organization would alleviate some of those problems, sure, but it also creates others.  It may be that small rescue groups are more effective, more efficient.  Large volunteer organizations develop organizational problems, some of which VGSR is now experiencing.  Small, localized groups of like-minded people don't waste time or energy arguing about how things should be done, they just do them.  Many rural shelters will not or can not wait for a rescue group to locate a volunteer who is willing to come out to assess a dog, report back, and then wait for a foster home to come forward.  Dogs may be euthanized before all that can happen.  Rescue groups are volunteer organizations, and volunteers have a life outside the organization.  Some group may be unable to respond to a particular dog's need in a timely manner because someone may be out of town, sick, or busy with their other life. 

They had a good turnout of dogs and volunteers and the store was busy all day

All of this is a long way of saying that I think more rescue groups is a good thing.  SGSR pulled a dog, Layla, from the Charlottesville-Albemarle SPCA just today.  That's a dog that I might otherwise have taken, or felt that I should take.  She seems like a great dog, but I'm quite happy to have someone else step forward and take her.  We all long for the day that we would need to compete for dogs, but unfortunately there are still more than enough to go around and rescue groups still represent only a drop in the bucket of dogs needing help in shelters. 

I should edit this down to three brief paragraphs, but I'm tired so you are getting the raw stuff tonight.  I have filled in with lots of pictures to make up for it.  I took a non-shepherd, Max, to the event today.  He's a sweetheart but we didn't have any luck.  One couple was interested in him, but they live in a trailer park and already have 2 or 3 small dogs indoors.  That's just not going to happen.