Well it’s been some time since the last GSRT newsletter – a reflection of just how much is going on. Denise is going to pass on the honour of writing the newsletter to me so here goes my first issue!
It’s sad that we start on rather a negative note but the number of dogs needing homes has not decreased. At the time the last newsletter was produced (which was way back in September) we were rehoming dog number 795 – we’re now up to dog 838; that’s 43 dogs in the space of a little more than 6 months. And some of the reasons these dogs need to be rehomed still surprise us.
It is often alarming the number of unrealistic applications we receive. People who already have 8 cats, 4 dogs, 3 goats, free range chickens, then want to add to their family but expect there to be no issues or problems at all introducing another animal! Rescue dogs, of any breed, need time to adapt to their new surroundings and bond with new families. It is impossible to expect a rescue animal to adapt to a multi-animal household easily – if at all sometimes - especially when their history is often unknown.
Homes Needed Page - some of you may be wondering why the homes needed page has been relatively empty over recent months. It’s not because there haven’t been dogs needing new homes far from it. Thanks to on-file applications homes have been found quickly without the need to put dogs on the homes needed page.
Sadly though, there have been a number of aging dogs needing homes, many of whom have been 8+ years of age. This is a difficult age group to find homes for.
Rehomed as opposed to rescue dogs - we seem to be getting a greater number of dogs requiring rehoming as a result of families who are relocating, relationship splits, those who can't cope with behavioural issues, etc. It is timely that we remind folk that we are predominantly a ‘
rescue organisation’, which is run on a volunteer basis. We receive no funding other than what we generate ourselves or what we might receive from donations, with our efforts and resources concentrated on dogs without owners and/or dogs in abusive, neglectful situations.
We are certainly prepared, however, to help the dogs, through no fault of their own, who find themselves in a position where their owners no longer want them, or can’t keep them. In such
situations we expect the dog being placed to be up-to-date with vaccinations, to be council registered, to meet the microchip requirements and to have been desexed (something a caring and responsible owner should have done anyway).
Alternatively the current owner must be willing to cover the cost of desexing their own dog prior to coming under Trust care. Our limited funds, which are designated to providing medical treatment for needy dogs, would otherwise be so easily consumed by dogs who should have already been desexed, a responsibility of the current owner who should have already undertaken this (an owner who is now prepared to give their dog away).
From the time GSRT was founded Denise has made it clear that she did not ever want to put a price on any dog but the time has come where reluctantly, however realistic, we may have to
consider requesting minimum donation from adopting families in order to be able to continue to meet the requirements of the truly needy and homeless dogs.
Remember prior to placement we carry out home checks and then conduct follow-ups, the rehoming donations help to cover travelling expenses. This can also often involved transporting
dogs to and from airports. The Trust will reimburse petrol costs to our volunteers if there is considerable distance involved and when the dog is from a non-rescue situation.
Reimbursements from adopters - unfortunately this is not happening as frequently or generously as we would like, which means our meagre funds continue to dwindle away. Every dog has a cost attached to it, whether it be vaccinations, desexing, registration, transportation from one location to another (by road or air) etc. We have always worked on a donation only basis and 50% of the time this does happen so we extend our appreciation to those who do make donations.
Cat family applications - again we receive some very unrealistic expectations regarding the amount of time it might take for these two species to cohabitate happily - 24 hours is NOT a realistic expectation! If we know a dog needs a home but is not cat-friendly, we make that known on the ‘rap sheet’ when posted on the homes needed page, yet families with cats still put in applications for that particular dog!
Adoption applications - over the past month Liz (our home check co-ordinator) had a computer melt down and lost a lot of data. Denise has been able to provide some back up but if you did make an application and have had no response please contact us again so that the backup application can be located. Please accept our apologies for this technical glitch.
Home checks – dog are being rehomed far and wide now and locations are greatly varied. We often we have to scramble around to locate someone to do home checks, deliver and/or collect dogs. Our grateful thanks must go to the animal control officers who help out, not to mention the police officers in rural areas, who also help us - this assistance is greatly appreciated. Various areas in the Waikato prove to be difficult, however, Te Puke is one of them so if there is anyone willing to help with home checks in that area we would appreciate hearing from you.
Events – as some of you already know Devonport hosted the Devonport Dog Day on April 18. It was a well attended event with hundreds of dogs and their families enjoying a fine, sunny, Autumn day out. GSRT was well represented on the day with 12 dogs and 18 handlers who did us proud.
As a result of our attendance at the Devonport Dog Day we have been invited to submit a video promoting the work GSRT does. So we’ve gathered together a happy little band of people who will be involved in filming and editing, including footage from other parts of the country, of dogs we have helped so there is a lot of co-ordination involved and much to do in making this all happen by the first week in June (that’s our target anyway at this point).
The completed video will be available on an internet video channel called
Ziln (
www.ziln.co.nz - supported by Telstra Clear). The Ziln platform carries a channel called AnimalTalk (
www.animaltalk.co.nz) which was launched March 29 so it’s fairly new but in just one week AnimalTalk had 127,142 visitors to the channel.
Ziln was launched quietly in November 2009 with 5 channels; to date there are now 35 channels with another 5 being launched in a few weeks. There will be some extensive marketing taking place in the next few months to promote Ziln so this will be a great vehicle for us to gain some more exposure – and hopefully assist in generating some much needed donations.
Calendar sales - again, this year, we have had great success with calendar sales and we continue to have an excellent response rate. There were only a couple of uncollected/unpaid orders but they were sold on so there was no loss to us.
Registration - remember your dog relies on you so make sure he/she is not roaming around and can’t be picked up and impounded because YOU - his caregiver - have not paid his registration. Registration is coming up in about a month’s time so make sure you don't let your dog down.
Colleen Johnson
Trustee
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