Rescue Prevention Committee

Duties and Responsibilities

This committee was formed in 2001 by the Newfoundland Club of America Board to address the growing needs of Newfoundlands for the Rescue lifeline. Its purpose is proactive, to apply the creative resources of its members to "address the issue of rescue proactively by finding ways to educate breeders and the buying public and to develop an arsenal of weapons and strategies to combat the ruthlessness of puppy mills and other forms of indiscriminant breeding."

Newfoundlands enter the Rescue program through different avenues. Dogs may enter this program because their owners cared about their future but were no longer able to provide a home for the dogs. Some of the Newfs who have entered the Rescue program have been found wandering as strays or have been transferred from a shelter. Others who enter the program have been acquired from from pet stores when the puppy was unable to be sold or from commercial breeders when the dogs are no longer useful for breeding.

This committee seeks to understand the factors that underlie those situations which lead to a Newfoundland needing the support of Rescue, as part of the effort to proactively support more successful placements between Newfoundlands and their owners. In the event that the outcome is not successful, we hope to have done all that we can to ensure that Rescue is an option for the dog.

It is our goal to work progressively and proactively to assure that ALL newfoundlands have the care and good quality of life that they deserve. An important means of achieving this is by helping new and prospective owners and owner families become better prepared for sourcing, rearing and caring for a Newf. By learning what to expect and what is needed, new owners can avoid self-created pitfalls and unintentional cruelty, making life with their Newfoundland a good experience for both.

History & Board Actions

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Rescue Prevention Learning Tools - Visit the pages

Foreclosures and Homeless Pets:

Abandonment and homelessness due to foreclosures have been on the rise this year, leaving many pets in bad situations. Please see the articles below for more information:


Homeless Pets Crowd Shelters as Families Hit Hard Times

By BRENDA GOODMAN
Published: June 26, 2008

Abandoned Pets and Home Foreclosure by Patti Emmerling

The trend of pets being turned loose, abandoned in rural areas or left in vacant homes has put animal welfare officials on notice that financially-strapped pet owners are in critical need of help.
As a way to help educate current and prospective pet owners, here are a few suggestions that you may offer to help them keep their pet.
Foster care
If you have a friend, relative or neighbor who would be willing to take over the care of your pet until your financial situation is better, that option would relieve the distress of having to part with the dog on you, your family and the dog.  The more normalcy and consistency you can provide to all involved, the better.
In some areas, there have been programs started for families that lose their homes to foreclosures. As a part of the program, some of these groups will get a pet into foster care for as long as it takes for the family to get back on its feet, or if the family sees no way to take the pet back, they will get the animal into its adoption program and will assure a good life for the pet. (Contact your local breed-specific Rescue group, veterinarian or animal Shelter to check on availability of similar programs).
If you can’t find someone to foster your Newfoundland, contact Newfoundland Rescue at rescue@newfdogclub.org and ask about its Rescue Program.
Don’t Leave a Pet Behind when you Move Out
– If you need a place to live, contact your local housing authority for a list of pet-friendly housing. In some areas, local shelters may also have a similar list.
– For those on solid financial footing, be proactive. Take your animals in for regular exams. A small health issue won’t become a big one if it’s caught early. Get pet insurance.
– Put aside a little money out of each paycheck, to have just in case the bad economy jumps up and bites you, your family and your pet.
– If you absolutely must give up your pet, don’t turn it loose. Contact the appropriate breed rescue or, as a last resort, the shelter.  Just don’t let it run off or abandon it.  Abandoning an animal to fend for itself after it has been domesticated is cruel treatment to the animal.
Where there’s an eviction or a foreclosure, families will sometimes leave a pile of food and some water; most often nothing is left for the pet. By law the banks can’t come in right away, and the landlords can’t come in right away either... so they don’t. It can take weeks or months before the banks or landlords actually enter the property. It’s a terribly cruel situation because pets are found in horrific conditions or dead due to starvation/dehydration.
Don’t wait until foreclosure is eminent. Plan ahead and make necessary arrangements for your pets BEFORE eviction.

Rescue Education and Awareness Committee (REACt)
2010 Annual Report

Committee purpose: “to address the address the issue of rescue proactively by finding ways to educate breeders and the buying public and to develop an arsenal of weapons and strategies to combat the ruthlessness of puppy mills and other forms of indiscriminant breeding.
2010 REAC(t) Activities Highlights:
We are particularly happy with the success of one of our initiatives, the Newf Tide coupon offer in the AKC registration packet for new buyers who register their puppies with AKC. REAC has continued to follow some goals and initiatives carried forward from 2009, with focus on reaching novice buyers before they buy and supporting novice buyers after the purchase.
Status of objectives and activities:
• REAC New Buyer Project - Based on our survey from 2007, REACt had identified a widening gap between Newfoundland puppy buyers and NCA, a gap that had developed as a result of internet puppy sales. This gap had immediate and prolonged effects: 1) It left individual Newfs at greater risk, since new owners did not have the awareness of resources within NCA that help them learn how to prepare, raise and care for Newfoundlands. 2) It also further removed NCA breeders from puppy buyers, decreasing the proportion of those buyers who would become future breed enthusiasts and club members. Our committee began working to identify projects which would increase visibility of NCA and its resources to new puppy buyers. The outcome was a Newf Tide Coupon project and a newsletter geared toward the development needs of Newfoundlands.
− Newf Tide Coupon: The AKC registration packet contains a flyer from NCA about the Newfoundland breed. REACt added a coupon to this flyer offering a free copy of Newf Tide. This was our first full year for the coupon offer. We saw two spikes in requests, during mid-November and again in mid-January. In the first full year, a total of 145 requests were received from 141 litters. The requests came from 33 different states and from Canada.

The top 5 states for requests were: In terms of population density, requests/million people:

Based on this information, the coupon project is reaching approximately 7.7% of buyers for all Newfs registered, or one owner in every 5 litters.

− LifeStages newsletters - A major component of this project is the LifeStages newsletters. The newsletters have been organized and formatted into the newsletter service for distribution, but after reaching this point, another issue was uncovered. Several of the linked documents used for newsletter content need to be reviewed and updated. Lori Littleford will set up a subcommittee to coordinate the revisions of these documents. Once launched, this newsletter is seen as a “living” document. Content will be developed and substituted for existing documents that will be tailored to the development stages of growing Newfoundlands.

• Understanding Rescue Trends – A Sharepoint site has been set up for secured use by Rescue which will allow them to track information on Rescued Newfoundlands, as well as volunteer resources and adoption applicants. There is also a discussion area on the main page for sharing of resources, ideas for fund-raising, etc. where all NCA rescue groups may participate. Select data that is needed for REACt for observation of trends will be available as an exported report from the existing records. The initial configuration of the site has been done with input from a few Rescue members, and the site is now available to all NCA rescue operations.

• REACt Web Pages – Very little change has been made in the REACt pages this year. We have a project on hold which will be picked up when committee resources increase.

• Competing for Attention – One of our objectives for early 2011 is to submit a report to Newf Tide based on work done in 2009 and 2010 regarding the way information is presented to new buyers.

One continuing challenge for our committee is volunteer resources, those NCA members who would be willing to support specific activities for our committee, either on a short-term or long-term basis, or on a project-specific basis. We need support from members with skills in the areas of education, computer or internet skills, statistical analysis, and Newf experience in general. Enthusiasm for the breed and commitment to task are required!
We are looking forward to finding new ways to better meet our challenges in 2011.