Precious Paws Rescue was started in December of 2006 shortly after I first moved to Barrie. I started the rescue because I was already taking in a couple dogs here and there from pounds where they were listed to be euthanized. I was then paying to have them vetted, fostering them in my home and then adopting them out (after applications, home visits, etc). In order to be able to advertise the dogs I had for adoption on www.Petfinder.com I was kind of pushed to start up the rescue.
I know many people today are starting up "rescues" all over the place. They have a love for animals and they want to help and they want to do it on their own. This unfortunately often leads to "rescues" that are not spaying/neutering or microchipping before adoption, "rescues" that adopt out dogs before properly assessing them and "rescues" adopting out dogs to families that either are not screened properly/at all or families that are not suitable for the dog(s) in question. Without proper knowledge and experience in the rescue field, many people end up doing more harm than good unfortunately - although they may have had the best of intentions to begin with.
I decided to start Precious Paws only after I had gained many years of experience and knowledge in the field - and always with the understanding that I need to continue building my education and experience to better the lives of animals outside of and within the rescue. I started out working in a shelter - the Northumberland Humane Society - for more than 6 years. Following that I graduated from Northern College's Veterinary Technician program and shortly after that I moved to Barrie and started working in a veterinary clinic.
With the guidance and help of several reputable rescue groups who gave me the encouragement and support that I needed, Precious Paws Rescue was started. Today, I am still working in the field full-time as an animal care and control officer in Toronto and still running Precious Paws as an additional full-time but a volunteer position of course!
As I progressed with Precious Paws we had several people wanting to help out with volunteering and then fostering. Today we still have many of the same dedicated volunteers who first started out with us and many more as well! We are still a very small rescue and we're hoping to stay that way, although we are always looking for more foster homes. Our volunteers and foster homes are absolutely invaluable - without them Precious Paws Rescue would not be where it is today and we would not have been able to rescue more than 150 dogs - have them fully vetted and then adopt them out into wonderful, loving forever homes.
But we continue to network with many other reputable rescue groups - we know that we can never know everything there is to know about rescue and we are always open to new concepts and ideas. We are even now in the position to help out newer rescues by providing advice and support.
What would my advice be to others who want to start their own rescue? Get the experience FIRST. If you have time and space for animals in need and you want to help - partner up with a rescue that is already in good standing - they would love to have you! Foster, volunteer, do whatever you can to get a really good understanding of what is involved in rescue. It is NOT easy. Animals need proper veterinary care, emergencies and unexpected medical issues arise. If you are not willing OR not able to have each and every animal that comes through your rescue spayed/neutered, vaccinated and fully vetted - you should NOT start a rescue. You are not doing the animal world any good if you are not at the very least spaying/neutering animals before adopting them out. You are only contributing to the problem unfortunately. So if you don't have the resources to do this - partner up with a rescue that can! Your help is definitely needed! And then once you have the experience and resources necessary to run a reputable rescue group and you still have the passion and LOTS of time on your hands - only then should you consider starting your own rescue.
This year has been an important one for Precious Paws Rescue. First, we have partnered up with many incredible businesses that have been tremendously helpful to our cause. All of our animals now go to Simcoe Veterinary Hospital in Barrie and we could not be happier with the excellent medical care that they all receive (so happy in fact that my own dogs also go to the vets at Simcoe and many of our foster homes and adopters have also chosen the clinic for their animals!). We have also partnered with ICONIC, which is a graphic design company here in Barrie that now designs all of our promotional materials. Our logo, business cards, brochures, etc., are all designed by ICONIC and as you can see - they do stunning work!
There are so many other companies that I would like to thank for their continued support and most of them are listed on our website under the links section. Please check them out and support them too as we use and highly recommend all of them!
Second, we have also partnered with two umbrella organizations that are registered charities - Helping Homeless Pets (www.helpinghomelesspets.com) and K9RescueMe (www.k9rescueme.com). To be a part of HHP we have signed a rescue code of ethics which all member rescues adhere to. The benefits of joining these two groups are endless but one important benefit is that they allow us to accept donations to Precious Paws through each of them so that our donors can receive tax receipts and the donation goes directly to our veterinary bills.
Third, we have now applied for incorporation of a non-profit for Precious Paws and although we have not yet received our approved paperwork, I did get word that our application has been approved! Which is absolutely wonderful news! Our official name will now be Precious Paws Rescue Inc. and this is a very exciting step for us!
As we continue to grow we are expanding our fundraising strategies. Unfortunately rescue is costly - most of the dogs that we rescue cost us double what their adoption fee is. And often they cost us much more than that once they are fully vetted. So this year we are continuing with our monthly barbeque fundraisers at Sears in the Georgian Mall in Barrie. We are also again participating in the Woofstock Walkathon (another blog will be posted about this!). This year will be the first year for hopefully our annual Golf Fore The Dogs Tournament at Tangle Creek Golf Course in Barrie! With the help of our generous sponsors, we hope that this will be our biggest fundraising event each year and that we will raise lots of funds for the dogs that need us most!
So please keep checking this blog as I do my very best to keep it updated. I will be featuring our rescued dogs, happy adoption stories, fundraisers and events and much more! I'd love to hear from you as well - let us know what you want to know about Precious Paws!
And thank you again to all of our wonderful supporters - we certainly couldn't do it without you!
Cassandra
Founder - Precious Paws Rescue
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