AZCentral: Groups take on challenge to help ‘foreclosed pets’
When life got bad for Rocky's owners, it got even worse for the 12-year-old Queensland heeler
The people he had lived with for 10 years moved from a Chandler house they could no longer afford into a small apartment that did not allow pets.
Rocky was abandoned in the back yard. .
Rescue groups said the same thing is happening to hundreds if not thousands of other Valley pets, as their owners hit hard times.
The Lost Our Home Pet Foundation, which recently placed Rocky in an Ahwatukee home, says calls for assistance from people who can no longer afford their pets continue to increase as the Valley's foreclosure rates remain high.
"There are so many more pets in need than there were even at the beginning of the year," said Lost Our Home president Jodi Polanski, a Mesa resident. "We are just overwhelmed."
One of the the group's most recent rescues was Rocky, who was more fortunate than many other so-called "foreclosure dogs."
He was fed and played with by neighbors for at least three months before someone reported his situation. He did not appear to be in bad health when Lost Our Home took him in.
Two weeks ago, Rocky went to the Ahwatukee home of Tammy and Howard Teeter, volunteers who also are professional dogs trainers that help the group's "foster families" take in displaced pets.
Lost Our Home, which is based in Scottsdale, has rescued about 400 dogs and cats in the last year, Polanski said. All were left behind by owners with financial problems, she said.
Both Lost Our Home and Ahwatukee-based RESCUE, another group that places unwanted pets with new families, say no one has solid numbers detailing the magnitude of the problem.
"Unless the owner states 'I've lost my home and can't care for my pet,' we have no way of knowing why a dog or cat ended up at the shelter," said Jennifer Berry, director of RESCUE, which takes pets on shelter "kill lists," rehabilitates them and finds them new families. "Most of the dogs and cats we save have an invisible past."
RESCUE is an acronym for Reducing Euthanasia in Shelters through Commitment and Underlying Education.
Rescuers also can't say for sure why someone would leave a pet behind in an empty house instead of finding a new home, although they suspect the motive is often financial.
"Leaving a pet at a shelter can cost money," Polanski suggested. "And people sometimes think of pets as something disposable. But I really don't have an answer to that question. If I did, we could solve the problem."
Polanski could spend her time telling stories few people want to hear:
A story about more than a dozen cats locked in an apartment and going weeks without food or water because no one knew the owners had walked away. Or one about a foreclosure dog that had to be euthanized because tics consumed much of its blood before it was found.
Instead, her focus is on now finding foster homes where pets can stay temporarily while they recover physically and emotionally from being abandoned - and on placing 130 dogs and cats that have recovered for adoption.
"Maybe Ahwatukee is not filled with foreclosures but it is filled with potential foster homes," said Howard Teeter, the volunteer who helps train pet foster families. He and his wife Tammy own Wiggles and Wags K-9 Training LLC, an Ahwatukee-based dog training business.
Tammy Teeter said being a foster parent for an abandoned dog is not as hard as it might sound - even for people who already have a houseful of kids and pets.
Like blending step-children into a new family, the pets need clear rules and regular schedulea. Too much pampering is actually discouraged, Tammy Teeter said.
"People tend to dwell on what the dog has been though and how bad the situation was ," she said. "But if you just treat them like a normal dog they will thrive."
Source: azcentral.com
Rescue groups said the same thing is happening to hundreds if not thousands of other Valley pets, as their owners hit hard times.
The Lost Our Home Pet Foundation, which recently placed Rocky in an Ahwatukee home, says calls for assistance from people who can no longer afford their pets continue to increase as the Valley's foreclosure rates remain high.
"There are so many more pets in need than there were even at the beginning of the year," said Lost Our Home president Jodi Polanski, a Mesa resident. "We are just overwhelmed."
One of the the group's most recent rescues was Rocky, who was more fortunate than many other so-called "foreclosure dogs."
He was fed and played with by neighbors for at least three months before someone reported his situation. He did not appear to be in bad health when Lost Our Home took him in.
Two weeks ago, Rocky went to the Ahwatukee home of Tammy and Howard Teeter, volunteers who also are professional dogs trainers that help the group's "foster families" take in displaced pets.
Lost Our Home, which is based in Scottsdale, has rescued about 400 dogs and cats in the last year, Polanski said. All were left behind by owners with financial problems, she said.
Both Lost Our Home and Ahwatukee-based RESCUE, another group that places unwanted pets with new families, say no one has solid numbers detailing the magnitude of the problem.
"Unless the owner states 'I've lost my home and can't care for my pet,' we have no way of knowing why a dog or cat ended up at the shelter," said Jennifer Berry, director of RESCUE, which takes pets on shelter "kill lists," rehabilitates them and finds them new families. "Most of the dogs and cats we save have an invisible past."
RESCUE is an acronym for Reducing Euthanasia in Shelters through Commitment and Underlying Education.
Rescuers also can't say for sure why someone would leave a pet behind in an empty house instead of finding a new home, although they suspect the motive is often financial.
"Leaving a pet at a shelter can cost money," Polanski suggested. "And people sometimes think of pets as something disposable. But I really don't have an answer to that question. If I did, we could solve the problem."
Polanski could spend her time telling stories few people want to hear:
A story about more than a dozen cats locked in an apartment and going weeks without food or water because no one knew the owners had walked away. Or one about a foreclosure dog that had to be euthanized because tics consumed much of its blood before it was found.
Instead, her focus is on now finding foster homes where pets can stay temporarily while they recover physically and emotionally from being abandoned - and on placing 130 dogs and cats that have recovered for adoption.
"Maybe Ahwatukee is not filled with foreclosures but it is filled with potential foster homes," said Howard Teeter, the volunteer who helps train pet foster families. He and his wife Tammy own Wiggles and Wags K-9 Training LLC, an Ahwatukee-based dog training business.
Tammy Teeter said being a foster parent for an abandoned dog is not as hard as it might sound - even for people who already have a houseful of kids and pets.
Like blending step-children into a new family, the pets need clear rules and regular schedulea. Too much pampering is actually discouraged, Tammy Teeter said.
"People tend to dwell on what the dog has been though and how bad the situation was ," she said. "But if you just treat them like a normal dog they will thrive."
Source: azcentral.com
