Rescue Orgs - Selling of addresses - Page 1

About a year ago, there was an urgent need to assist animal shelters in the Illinois area because of a seizure of over 100 GSDs from the property of a dog collector/breeder. It had us all quite upset and I wound up donating to two different rescue organizations. Since that time, I have just about each day an envelope from some non profit Animal Rescue, Dog Shelter, Humane Society. The envelopes contain address stickers, Seasonal Holiday cards, T-Shirts and then I get mail reminding me of the gift and asking me if I received it and if it is not time, considering the end-of-the-year (or any other such important reason) to send in my donation. Today I received two envelopes. This is as bad as all the Credit Card or Mortgage Refinancing letters I get each day. Usually all this mail winds up unopened and thrown in my trash. Now this is my question: Do these non-profits sell these addresses? And how with all the different organizations can one determine if they are legitimate or not? How do you get off these lists? And boy, this must cost the animal welfare organizations alot of money 1) purchasing the addresses 2) paper, printing and postage and of course 3) the "gift". If I give to animal shelters, it is for the one that is in my County and which I can drive to and know of the good work they do. Sending my checks to Illinois was an exception because of the urgency and plight of the animals there. What is it with all of these others? Not really a dog related item, for which I apologize. But you will notice it began with sending two donations to rescue GSDs in the Illinois area. Sunny

Hello Sunny, I remember the exact situation you describe and I too sent a donation, for which I never even received a thank you. I have no idea where it ended up or if it was used appropriately. I am a GSD rescue organization. I run a one person operation and have never had time to get 503(c) status. However, I tell that to people, I do not openly solicit nor would I give out any information about donors or people who had been involved in a rescue situation. All I can tell you is that it is wise to check out the organization with prior donors, or people that know the person/s running the organization. For the most part, I do this out of my own pocket and the donations I have received are small. I ALWAYS send a thank you note. I always keep in touch with people who have adopted dogs. But that is just how I do it. What I can tell you is that it is a lot of work, especially when one has a life and has their own dogs and work to deal with. Though I have some outstanding dogs, it is also one reason why I breed very rarely. There simply are not enough good homes for most of the GSDs being bred, even in my state.

Did you give to the HSUS-Humane Society of the US?They are a good group,but the money you donate to them stays with them.They do not give any money to the local Humane Societies,but support them with information,nothing monetary.If you got on their list once you will be on it forever-once again not a bad organization,but maybe not where you want your money to go-next time try your local Humane Society and check out the local breed rescue group-if they are on the up and up they will invite you to come see them,and greatfully accept any donation.Not all rescues can get the 501(c)3 non-profit status because it takes alot of backing to do so,lawyers,board of dirctors,file fees,vet bills,feed,cleaning,ect.. most people find it easier to do it on their own and skip the red tape. If they are a true rescue it wont be a dumping ground for the unwanted poor quality dogs that they have bred and could not sell.All will be spayed/neutered and up to date with their vaccines and hopefully temperment tested to some degree.

I remember that mess, too...initially, it was said that donations were to be sent to Beth Riddle, but it turned out she couldn't accept them for the group(s) and ended up having to contact everyone who'd sent them to her and refund the ones that went via PayPal. I did get an email from Chicagoland Rescue, which is where I forwarded the donation when Beth returned it. Since then, I haven't gotten any additional solicitations since that donation, so I'd be surprised if they were selling addresses. I don't mind if a group doesn't mail me an acknowledgement, as long as I can be sure the donation got where it was headed...I'd rather they save the postage (though the note and pictures of Lissy that Herding Dog Rescue sent was a nice touch, and I still have that collage...makes me smile on bad days). Sharyn, I think it's *extremely* thoughtful of you to send out thank you notes, on top of everything else you've got going on, between rescue work, caring for your own crew, and just life in general! :^)) I hear you loud and clear, too--the only way I'll ever breed a dog again is if I'm in a position to keep the entire litter myself if need be, because I can't bear the concept of a puppy I brought into the world ending up discarded like an old shoe. When I had sled dogs, we kept all of the pups from our litters within our 5-family 'co-op', and any dogs which didn't want to be in harness were placed as pets *when the right home* was found. If it never was, then that dog lived with us until it passed from age.

Hexe, I had the same experience with that particular cruelty case and ended up using Pay Pal too. I never received as much as a thank you either, assumed they were just too busy yada, yada, yada. I did read that they did a wonderful job with those dogs and were able to place many of them. That was quite a testimony to the GSD when you consider the way those dogs were kept and the majority still had nice dispositions. I beleive ther were a few Malinois too. I've donated to the HSUS and some other organizations and have been getting the same solicitations that Sunny gets, mine started way before the Illinois cruelty case though. If I want to donate, I send them a donation, if not, I just keep the address labels and notepads. I'd like to do more than I do, but there is just no end to it. May I ask what breed sleddogs you owned. I have Malamutes. Those northern breeds are tough hombres, aren't they? Hodie, you are my hero or heroine, whichever applies.

Blitzen, I am an old woman! Thank you for the kind comment, but I am just me and nothing special. Just trying to make a living and live my dream and train my wonderful dogs, have a great and fun and a-political Schutzhund club and, when I can, make a difference for a dog someone else (often the breeder) has failed. Hexe, I have no idea who you are, but also thanks to you for your kind comments. I should say I spent a lot of time one day several years ago making a very nice card for those who donate to my rescue organization. Now that I have changed computers, I will have to re do it. Fortunately, no one has donated lately, so I am off the hook :-). But I do believe strongly that if one is kind enough to help me with a rescue donation, it is the least I can do to send a thank you. I have a dog here who is 10 years old and belonged to someone pretty well known in the SchH world. She died suddenly and this dog may well have been put down. She is a wonderful old girl and I have had much pleasure from her, but she has had some medical problems, as would be expected. I have several other rescue dogs here too, probably all of whom will live out their lives with me. Hexe, I also agree 100% with you about responsibility for every dog I breed. I have 4 pups from my one and only litter before. I will keep them their entire life if a suitable home can not be found. My SchH 3 female was recently bred to Kevin Murrtal and I think she may be pregnant as she is tired and not eating with her normal gusto. If she has a litter, regardless of what someone is willing to pay, if they will not provide a "forever" and loving home, where the physical and intellectual needs of the dog are not met, then I will not sell the pup. Of course, i hope this will be an super litter and I will have some really great homes where people will come forward intending to show seriously and do SchH. We will see. Just as an aside, I also get frequent solicitations from the Morris Foundation. This started years ago when a vet donated in my name for a dog I had to put down. I was completely surprised by his actions, but very touched. The Morris Foundation is a very reputable organization and I donate when I can afford it. Each year I get some nice address stickers for envelopes, whether I can afford to donate or not, and I do not mind thier solicitations or the nice newsletter they send out. So all this to say to sunshines original question that it is possible that the solicitations arise from who knows where. What was suggested, of simply trashing if you don't want it, and I would suggest writing and asking to be dropped from their list, should suffice.

Blitz, I had both purebred Sibes(racing lines, not show lines save for my first 3)and Alaskan Huskies (the old style "Indian Village Dog" type, and the Walker/husky crosses, not the CKC version of Alaskans). At any given time, I'd have about 20 dogs of various ages and stages of training. The northerns *are* tough monkeys, and far too smart for their own good! I even beat my head against the wall and did AKC OB with one of the show-line pets; while he never did manage to qualify in trials, he was a blast to work, and never boring. (Could've titled him if I was willing to only trial him indoors, but what's the point of that? Cheapens the title, IMO.) To make this GSD-related, I got my very first GSD because I finally decided to stop wasting OB entry fees with the Sibe...my Shepherd-girl did an admirable job in harness, and ran wheel position on a 3 or 4 dog team. She was an awesome puppy-trainer, as she'd brook no nonsense from the tyke when it was in harness next to her. As they say, "Jack of all trades, master of none!" :^))

Hodie, I'm an old woman too, so we have that in common LOL. You are still my heroine for what you do for the dogs; don't underestimate yourself, you are indeed special. I hope your litter is magnificent. Hexe, I've had a LOT of Malamutes in 35 years but only 2 that were any good in OB. One I showed in Novice never did get her CD, after qualifying at the first show with a nice score, she proceded to fail the next 4 trials, one of them by leaving the ring to eat a kid's icecream cone while I did the heel free by myself - the judge said I scored perfectly, but the dog failed LOL. After 2 more DNQ's, I finally gave up when she left the ring on the recall and took a 10 minute trip around the Civic Center in Philadephia with my trying to catch her. That was her last show. Those Alaskans are something else, the screaming weasels of the dog world LOL. There is a lady in the GSDCA who worked a whole team of GSD's in harness on a sled, I think she is from the west coast, maybe you know her, I forget her name right now. There were some photos of her team in a past "Review", it was pretty interesting to see an entire sled team of GSD's. I guess having northern breeds first only enchances the appreciation of a good GSD LOL.

Blitzen, You made my day with your story. I can just see you running around the Civic Center in Philly trying to catch the dog! In rescue, I have sadly come upon many of the Malamutes who some moron bought, had no clue about their needs or the breed, and was wanting to dump the dog because it was running forever and getting into trouble. I do not know if I would call them weasels, but man, can they run and run and run........

I imagine it was a pretty funny site, that's a damned big building LOL.