Through our rescue programs, we take in dogs that are either at risk of being killed in local shelters, are no longer wanted by their owners, can no longer be kept by their owners for a variety of reasons, or who have been found by a good Samaritan who has not been able to find the dogs’ owners despite their best attempts.

Our rescue program includes:

Shelter Rescue

Almost 100,000 shelter dogs are euthanized in Metro Atlanta every year. These are dogs that end up in local shelters for a variety of reasons. They may have been picked up as strays. They may have been surrendered by their owners who can either no longer keep them or just don’t want them. Or they may have been turned in by Good Samaritans who found them, but are otherwise not able to keep them. Sadly, our local shelters are over crowded. And despite the efforts of rescues, adopters, and the shelters themselves, there are still far too many great dogs that do not make it out alive. Rescues like us do our best to prioritize these dogs, who are at risk of being put to sleep as shelters get over crowded and need to make space.

Owner Surrender

We accept dogs from people that can no longer keep them or don’t want them. We also attempt to intervene in situations where we see, or someone has alerted us to, a situation where a dog needs to be rescued. In these cases, we offer to take a dog with the owner’s permission.

Good Samaritan Surrender

Kind, dog-loving folks will often pick up dogs they find on the side of the road or take in dogs that show up on their neighborhood. In these situations, dogs must be scanned for a chip and local animal control must be notified to attempt to reunite the dog with its family (if it even had one). We cannot legally take strays. But we can accept dogs that have been in the care of Good Samaritans who have attempted to reunite a dog with its owner (alerting animal control, scanning for chip, posting flyers, posting on Facebook, etc.) but have come up short.

Special Needs

Throughout the year, we take on various special needs dogs who require extra time and extra special care. Examples include dogs with broken legs, broken jaws, severe skin problems, heart worm disease among many other non-terminal illnesses and diseases. These dogs receive extra special care, vet attention and everything they need to get on their road to recovery. Once they are healthy, we make them available for adoption.

Senior & Hospice

As painful as it can be losing dogs, we are so thankful that we have the resources and ability to care for dogs that are terminally ill or at the end of their lives. We will pull dogs from shelters that are clearly unhealthy or terminal. In many cases, we are able to nurse them back to health so they can enjoy their twilights. But in some cases, their time with us is very short, sadly. We give them as much time as we can, with quality of life, making them comfortable and letting them know they are loved before giving them a peaceful goodbye.

Sanctuary

In some cases, we rescue dogs that we feel have very limited chances at adoption. Typically this is for behavioral reasons like dog aggression, reactivity to certain touch or being super high energy. These are dogs who have not responded to our best efforts at training. They are still really great dogs, but require special handling.