National Adopt a Shelter Animal Day

This sculpture serves as a landmark while finding your way to the Denver Animal Shelter, along the Platte River

I am a few days late but happy National Adopt a Shelter Animal Day! I’ll extend the holiday to last a week, as all holidays should be.

Sophie came from a shelter and was such an easy dog despite all of the warnings we got about potential shelter dogs. All dogs can have issues. Fortunately the shelters were pretty honest with us about what we could expect.

So here are a few local shelters to check out

Denver Dumb Friends League: http://www.ddfl.org
Foothills Animal Shelter (This one is special because it is where we got Sophie) http://www.foothillsanimalshelter.org
http://www.MaxFund.org

And a few rescues:

http://www.DMKrehoming.com They take in dogs who are on death row and help rehome them. I have volunteered here and their dogs are just lovely, and all breeds too. You’d be shocked at who ends up on death row in the dog world.
http://www.AllPointsWestgsp.org This is a rescue primarily for German Shorthair Pointers but they’ll help out with some English Pointers as well. It’s run by some of the loveliest people you’ll ever meet. Sign up for their newsletter!
http://www.BigDogsHugePaws.com This is just as the name suggests: they focus on rescuing and rehabilitating Great Danes, Newfoundlands, Great Pyrenees, Mastiffs, Scottish Deerhounds, Irish Wolfhounds, and Saint Bernards. My friend Renee got her 6 year old Newfie here and he is the biggest sweetheart.

Of course there are some other organizations in different parts of the country:

http://www.BadRap.org is out of Oakland, CA and helps Bully breeds
http://www.AllHoundsOnDeck.com, based out of NE Louisiana helps the many, many hounds that are often abandoned in that part of the country. My pal Kathy got two of her hounds from them and they are the biggest goofballs.
http://www.CaneRossoRescue.com is a Dallas-based rescue that takes in many hunting dogs who have been abandoned at the end of hunting season – that is actually a thing that people do. Good Lord, people! My dear friend Morriah has a dog from them and he is very sweet and quite the leaner.