What happens to dogs after moving day?
QBy Cynthia Grahame
uebec’s major moving day is over. Animal shelters and pounds are actively looking for
solutions and homes for the dogs that were surrendered and abandoned over the past weeks. The goal is to get the dogs adopted through innovative and positive solutions. Some of these solutions include lowering adoption fees, welcoming more foster families to help as well as networking with other rescue organizations to move the animals to facilities that provide the dogs a better chance of being adopted.
At this time of year, shelters are over capacity with stressed animals and they need support from the community to manage the Quebec moving period. This support includes financial donations, volunteers to help walk dogs, take photos, etc. Local shelters collaborate to move animals to organizations that can accommodate dogs, including dedicated speciality rescues for specific breeds. These group may have adopters lined up waiting for a dog to become available and often have a strong foster program to help during peak intake periods.
Local pounds are faced with receiving abandoned animals, as part of their mandate for animal control in the municipality in which they operate. Several of these pounds are working with volunteer rescue intermediaries such as One Last Chance Rescue and Pound Paws. These groups have extensive networks across the nation with the specific aim to place the animals into another animal shelter, primarily outside of Quebec. The group gathers the details of the dog, along with a photo and circulates the information through their vast network of shelters across the country. A shelter, in turn, will identify and accept a dog that corresponds to the clientele they serve. When a match is made, arrangements are made to pay the pound. Next, transportation is organized to move the dog to their facility.
Freedom Drivers and Critter Cabs are two of the groups that are dedicated to help with the delivery of the animals to the appropriate shelter. Coordinators work with the organization that has the dog and the one welcoming the dog to plan out the journey including all the logistics with volunteers driving the dog on various legs of the journey. Each volunteer drives approximately 100 km, and everyone needs to meet at specific times until the dog reaches its destination, to ensure everything runs smoothly. Many trips are from Quebec to Ontario or the Maritimes.
Although many of us have never heard of these organizations, they provide a valuable service to many communities through cooperation and dedication to save dogs’ lives. Each year, they successfully help over one thousand dogs. Many of the dogs go on to find loving homes and happy endings.