everydogsdream.org

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Employee Spotlight: Audrey and Rick Woerter, Dog Rescuers By Audrey Woerter You won’t believe this, but I have not been a dog lover all my life.…. Rick had 3 and I had one and I was not at all impressed with any of them. I complained about them all the time, I complained about the hair, the smell, the drooling, the mess of dog food dishes, etc. But then ….Going through the loss of an animal changed my life. We lost our dog Molly in 2004, and as much as this dog drove me crazy with her barking, shedding, etc. I missed her terribly. Rick and I were devastated. Our golden retriever Mindy was distraught without her, so the search began for another dog. I had heard of Petfi nder.com and started searching for the next addition to our family. I came across many dogs in shelters all over the country that needed to be saved or they would be put to sleep in gas chambers, or given a heart stick and some even taken out back and shot. Rick and I found our next dog Trey in Ohio. He was a 6 month old pit bull mix. They were going to gas him soon. We contacted the shelter and a wonderful rescue group helped transport him to NY for us. After Trey joined our home, we decided to start bringing one dog in at a time and have him/her spayed/neutered and try to fi nd him/her a good home. One dog led to two and so on. I started fostering for a local rescue for about 2 years. Eventually, I wanted to branch out on my own. I came up with Every Dogs Dream Rescue. I signed up on the petfi nder site http:// www.petfi nder.com/shelters/NY793.html and with the help of Jim Smith we formed our own webpage http://everydogsdream.org/ joomla/. We just recently fi led for our 501c(3), which will allow donations to be tax deductible and will allow our rescue to apply for spay/neuter grants, grants for dog food, medications, etc. We have helped shelters all over the country along with local families that cannot care for their dogs due to the economy. We’ve provided dog food, vet care (spay/neuter) or medications, etc to families that want to keep their pet but are currently strapped for money. We help a local elderly lady who has a service dog by taking her and her dog to vet appointments. Every Wednesday we bring her dog to doggie day care at English’s Boarding on Route 12 to burn off some of the energy that labs tend to have! All dogs in our rescue are housed in our home. We average between 18-25 dogs and have several fosters that take in 1 or 2 dogs at one time. All the dogs are crate trained, and if they are not destructive and house trained, they have free run of our home. Our yard is completely fenced with a 6 foot chain linked fence which covers almost an acre of our back yard but the dogs are in and out as they please. Dinner time is open feeding. The 20 food bowls are placed outside on our black top driveway and the dogs all eat together. It is like musical chairs, they roam from one bowl to the next, thinking they are getting something special at each bowl. It is funny to watch. Now, I know a lot of people are thinking, “how can they live with all of those dogs and deal with the hair, the mess, the smell, etc.” First, our home is small, but it is clean. We have a routine and we just do it. There is no cleaning lady that comes in; we clean everyday. It is like a regular 8-5 job only ours is 24 hours a day. Yes, we have sheets on our furniture, vacuum at least twice a day and steam mop the fl oors. We have decided to stop purchasing new vacuums and stick to our Shop Vac! Don’t laugh; with the amount of hair, it does a great job. It is an emotional roller coaster ride in the world of dog rescue. We spend a lot of money and time caring for these animals and we become very attached. It is hard to say good-bye when adoption day comes for each of our dogs, but we know that for every dog adopted, one more will be rescued from the high kill shelters. All of our dogs are spayed/neutered before their adoptions. They are up to date on their vaccinations, including rabies, and we have heartworm blood work done and started on a monthly heart guard treatment. All dogs/pups are treated for fl eas and parasites before entering their new homes. Puppies that leave our rescue and are too young to be spayed/neutered require a mandatory spay/neuter contract be signed. Currently all expenses incurred are out of our own pocket. We do charge a small adoption fee for our dogs, but it does not even begin to cover the expenses we incur in our rescue. Many people make donation of blankets, towels, paper towels, bleach, fl ea medications, shampoos, wire crates, gas cards, Walmart gift cards, Sam’s Club gift cards, toys, bones, treats, dog leashes, dog collars and dog food. We have several Raymond employees who have adopted from our rescue. Pictured below: Audrey with Riley, adopted by Jim Smith, Bones adopted by Mike Field and Buddy, adopted by Kelly and Jim Bushnell.