GRIN is golden for saving dogs
Nice story from the Akron Beacon Journal about the very good work done by foster families who help dogs in transition. In this case the fosters are with Golden Retriever rescue, but it can be any breed or mixed breed organization. There's a lot of work and emotional involvement to being a foster. I've been a foster before and it can be very rewarding, but it's not always easy. You have a chance to make a big difference in a dog's life. You can help him prepare and adjust to a new home life before he goes on to his permanent family. Fosters are great at assessing dogs and finding out what kind of homes they are suitable for and if they need any particular help in some area. They are also often responsible for taking care of a foster dog's medical needs. Some of the money you spend is usually reimbursed, but you also spend a lot of money out of your own pocket.
As the story mentions, it often happens that you end up keeping a dog you foster. It's not usually intended! But some dogs are hard to find homes for, or hard to find the right homes for, and you can't just let them go, so you end up keeping them. So, if you're interested in fostering you should be warned that the dog you expect to foster for two weeks might turn into a permanent family member.
You should also consider how a foster dog will affect your own dogs. Will your dogs accept a strange dog? Will they still get as much time and attention as they need? I have to say that my dogs didn't always like having a foster dog in the house. I had one foster dog who became very dog-aggressive. When she began attacking my dogs, that's when I stopped fostering. It became a bad situation. When I contacted the rescue organization for help they told me I was on my own. Not good. They wouldn't take her back or find another foster for her. That is not the way to keep your foster families!
So, if you're interested in being a foster make sure you have a good understanding with the rescue organization. Make sure you can depend on them if the dog doesn't work out in your home. You need to have back up instead of being left to handle things on your own.
GRIN is golden for saving dogs
Network of volunteers in rescue group fosters, finds adoptive homes
By Connie Bloom
Beacon Journal staff writer
Published on Saturday, Apr 19, 2008
Michelle Gole, of GRIN, Golden Retrievers In Need, a rescue group plays with her dogs Tahoe (left), Jasmine, and Marley on Tuesday, April 8, 2008, in Richfield Township, Ohio. (Lew Stamp/Akron Beacon Journal)
Michelle Gole of Richfield Township and Christina Goloversic of Hinckley are chin deep in devotion, their four gorgeously feathered golden retrievers panting with excitement while a visitor approaches.
The women emerge from the pack and the dogs saunter over to investigate, sleek and coifed, nails clicking melodically on the landscaping stones.
I join the love fest.
It soon becomes clear that a home with golden retrievers runs on a higher frequency, hums a sweeter tune. Goldens are the classic family dog, dedicated, faithful, obedient.
The dogs move as one, but each comes from his own sad story, the depth and width of which neither woman will ever know. As members of Golden Retrievers in Need (GRIN), a volunteer charity founded in 1992, Gole and Goloversic howl in glee and call themselves "failed fosters." You know. They planned to be temporary foster moms to a couple of needy dogs, but tumbled into the rabbit hole and came out the other end with forever dogs — family.
Gole fails to mention she also harbors seven cats when she introduces her three goldens: Tahoe, Jasmine and Marley.
Tahoe is a puppy mill escapee and is still shy. "He was terrified of people," Gole said. "He would walk behind me as far back as he could go."
You'd never know. They ironed it out together at obedience school, the closest thing you can get to a guarantee of lasting harmony. As a matter of fact, new owners of GRIN goldens under age 4 are required to take their dogs to obedience training, which is also an
excellent way to bond. "Basic obedience forms a structure," Gole said, and teaches people how to behave. The policy minimizes rebounds.
Jasmine is the matriarch, a white-faced goddess that Gole adopted at age 10 three years ago. In a former lifetime, Jasmine's human parents were living in their car after losing their jobs and then their house. "We're seeing a lot more of these because of the foreclosures," Gole said. They were ultimately forced to give up their dogs in a heart-wrenching scenario that also cut deep into volunteers.
Marley wears "the coveted yellow tag" of a Therapy Dogs International (http://www.tdi-dog.org) service dog, but there was a time he thought he was a kangaroo, Gole confided. He couldn't stop jumping up and down. He was weaned too soon and as a result, gently mouths things — until he knows what you and your reporter's notebook taste like. What's a little dog slobber in a mutual admiration society? Marley's worth it.
Goloversic said Emma was running loose in Lake County when she was rescued. She was just certified as a therapy dog and will soon unleash her magic on recovering veterans. "She's a love bug, a born therapy dog," Goloversic said, Emma hovering in a GRIN flak jacket — a natty cloth coat with a pocket for donations, rimmed in plastic pansies.
A network of volunteers
You can probably tell by now that GRIN and its 600 members mean business when it comes to its dogs. It has no shelter, instead working through a network of volunteers and foster homes where dogs live until they are placed. Fostering is a sacred trust and privilege. The organization's cup is never full enough.
Volunteers comb the Internet and drive miles and miles to rescue goldens. "We pull dogs from shelters, as well as owner relinquishments, and our intake average is 3.5 dogs per week," Gole said. "That may not sound like a lot, but to 2,000 dogs, it made a big difference."
The GRIN landscape is dotted with young dogs, old dogs, girl dogs, boy dogs and the occasional three-legged dog.
"GRIN is one of the few rescue groups that does not discriminate on the age or condition of a dog when we bring them in," Gole said. Older rescues are grateful, calm, already in synch with humans. Raise your paws for older dogs!
Dogs needing surgery, including neutering or spaying, get it. The medical costs are a staggering $80,000 year and climbing. The money goes farther than yours would because the organization has been blessed with a network of generous vets who discount their services.
Here's a look at some figures from last year, when GRIN brought in 200 dogs. It spayed 40 dogs and neutered 94. The remaining 66 dogs came in already altered. Vet costs were $85,713.19. The whole enchilada was $124,928.06, which includes boarding, food and leashes. No one can say how deeply the dropping dollar and rising costs will cut in coming months.
Sloppy owners make GRIN's job harder.
"We are having more and more heartworm positive dogs come into our care," Gole said. "That's so sad in that giving them a monthly pill would prevent this."
Treatment after dogs get heartworm is expensive and rough on the animals, which must stay calm and quiet for six weeks. Even then, some die. People, give your dogs their heartworm medicine.
Foster homes needed
The headaches and heartaches pay off when a golden falls into the home of a grateful family, but new dogs can't be saved until the current batch is placed, at the very least, with fosters. Eight dogs are on the waiting list.
Foster families are asked to keep at least one golden a year. Applications for foster families and adoptions are posted on GRIN's Web site at http://www.grinrescue.org/, where you can also make a donation.
Before you leap, get your head out of the clouds. As charming as goldens are, they come with a learning curve. They are predisposed to ear infections, hot spots and copious shedding. They are not couch potatoes; they need a lot of exercise to be calm, contented house pets. They may become destructive when isolated from their family and they require tons of attention — which, presumably, is why you want a dog anyway.
If you can live with that, dig in.
Connie Bloom can be reached at 330-996-3568 or cbloom@thebeaconjournal.com.
