The majority of the dogs we specialize in are small dogs, typically under 20 lbs. We care for our dogs in a network of foster homes that are in NYC and surrounding burroughs.
As small dogs are desirable in current urban society, the ones who are abandoned in city shelters typically have medical or behavioral problems that are becoming overwhelming or inconvenient to their owners.
Many small dogs that are deemed 'adoptable' by the city shelters are adopted out individually to the public rather than to the rescues.
This framework explains why the vast majority of the dogs that WTR rescues and rehomes are inherently “hard to place”. Many of these dogs will be euthanized within a few days unless a rescue group like Waggytail Rescue pulls them out. At that point we place them in foster care until we can find permanent guardians…which in many cases takes weeks or even months. The dogs we rescue typically have one or more of the following: behavior issues (fear biting, cage aggression, dog aggression, food aggression…), health issues, have physical or sensory disabilities, are elderly, or are unattractive. We often rescue dogs that have severe problems, ones that even other groups are unwilling to rescue.
We do not return dogs to the shelter. Once we have taken a dog we rehabilitate it behaviorally and medically to the point where it is adoptable, and we educate the general public about the joys and trials of a rescue dog so their expectations are reasonable.
Here are some examples of dogs we saved, with links to their Petfinder profiles. Poor Beaver, who was the victim of torture. Ida, had a tape worm, fleas, and a terrible yeast infection affecting her skin and ears.
. Sweet Scarlett, who was emaciated, starved, and had a significant eye condition that needed ointment five times a day. Shy Cujo, who had a liver problem that we hoped to ameliorate in foster care but we did not end up curing.
The rest of this blog will tell you how we Market these hard to adopt dogs, and find them loving, dedicated forever guardians who they are ready for the whole world to know just how much they love their dog.
