Curious about dog fostering or rescue?
Have you ever wanted to learn more about how dog rescue works? Interested in being a foster home? Well, you’ll love this interview with foster coordinator Marieke from @taffyslegacycaninerescue.
Marieke fills us in on how they match pups with foster homes and adopters, and lets us know why rescue is so rewarding. We’ll also talk about two special pups in their care right now, and how you can help them. Links for today’s guest, Marieke Manshanden of Taffy’s legacy Canine Rescue & Rehabilitation: https://taffyslegacy.com
OMG – It’s here! So excited to get rolling this amazing group of pet-lovers! This first video will introduce the group, what our plans are moving forward and how you can get involved.
This week’s guest is Marieke Manshanden of Taffy’s Legacy Canine Rescue & Rehabilitation
Find them here –
Web: https://taffyslegacy.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TLCRR
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/taffyslegacycaninerescue/
Now, let’s get to the interview!
Transcription:
Laura Wombwell 0:00
Hi there, it’s Laura from Laura Wombwell Photography. And joining me today I am so excited to have Marieke from Taffy’s Legacy Canine Rescue and Rehabilitation. Hi, Marieke. I’m so glad to have you on.
Marieke Manshanden 0:15
Hi, I’m really glad to be on thank you so much for wanting to reaching out and wanting to speak with me.
Laura Wombwell 0:20
Awesome. So you work in dog rescue. And I’d love to hear a little bit about how you got started into rescue in general. And then how you created Taffy’s.
Marieke Manshanden 0:34
Wonderful. I started, so I did not found Taffy’s. It was pre-existing when I joined. It was founded in 2015 by Melissa, who is still our founder and still the president of Taffy’s Legacy, even though she’s less involved in operations now than when when she started, I actually joined as a reference checker in 2016. So I, I love dogs, I grew up always wanting a dog, I never had one because my mom is terrified of dogs.
And then I actually, with a ex partner of mine, I got a dog in 2012. And then, you know, as a lot of people do, I was exploring thinking about getting a second dog. I actually did foster with a different rescue prior to joining Taffy’s. But it didn’t work out it wasn’t they didn’t really invest in their volunteers and I was placed with a dog that wasn’t a good fit for my house. So it kind of turned me off the idea for a while. And then I kind of got back into it with just starting as a starting as a reference checker. And then I started fostering in the fall of 2016. And then here we are years later, I ended up joining their core team as being their foster coordinator, as well as their fundraising coordinator.
Laura Wombwell 2:05
Amazing. So what does a foster coordinator do inside rescue?
Marieke Manshanden 2:10
So, I mostly I do a lot of intakes. So Taffy’s Legacy is a little bit unique that when dogs come into care, we always place them on a two week intake hold or assessment hold at my house or at Melissa’s house. When they first come in, we want to know a little bit more about them. We give them that time to really decompress in a home setting. And you know, how are they with other dogs? How are they with people? Are they really pushy? Are they shy? What are their needs? And we use that information to match them with foster homes. So that’s kind of the second half of what I do I match dogs with foster homes in what is the best fit for their home. You know if that foster home has dogs or cats or kids or they’re very experienced or they’ve never had a dog before. So I try and match dogs with foster homes to kind of create the best possible match the best experience for those foster homes and making sure that we’re hitting all of our dog’s needs. And then I provide kind of support and guidance if they run into any issues until that dog is adopted.
Laura Wombwell 3:22
Amazing. So are your foster parents really involved in the adoption process itself? How How do people get in touch with you about wanting to potentially adopt,
Marieke Manshanden 3:35
Of course, so our foster homes aren’t super involved in the adoption process even though a lot of our foster homes also volunteer as application volunteers. So we kind of have a separate set of volunteers that do reference checks and home visits for the rescue. During COVID, we’re just doing home visits virtually over zoom because we’re trying to encourage people not to come in contact with each other personally. But our foster volunteers that we do make sure that we do meet and greets with a dog so because of COVID we’re actually starting with a virtual meet and greet kind of like what we’re doing now over over a zoom or a FaceTime and then moving into a in person meet and greet you know outdoors only masks on socially distant. So we we do get to know our applicants applying to adopt dogs through reference checks and a home visit and a phone call prior to setting up a meet and greet but we also really value our foster homes input because they know the dog best. And a lot of our foster homes do have social media they’ll have like an Instagram account for their foster dog. So people looking to adopt a dog will sometimes see that dog on social media or they can find us on our website taffyslegacy.com and a lot. We have a big following on Facebook as well. So that’s kind of where people see the daily or weekly updates on dogs. Whereas our website is more of a static picture of that dog and their needs. But a lot of people really like being on Instagram or Facebook, where they see those weekly updates and how they’re doing and foster care, which is, you know, a little bit more insightful of, you know, imagining yourself living with that dog.
Laura Wombwell 5:26
It lets you kind of have that window into the dog’s life before you’re fully committing to to this new family member.
Marieke Manshanden 5:34
Exactly. And that’s what we hoped for. We always want people to, you know, choose their forever companion based on personality and needs, rather than just looks.
Laura Wombwell 5:45
True. That’s pretty important in all aspects of life.
Marieke Manshanden 5:50
Exactly.
Laura Wombwell 5:52
So for you personally, what is your very favorite part of rescue?
Marieke Manshanden 5:58
Oh, this is my personal favorite. I actually love seeing the development in our foster homes. So I I love meeting the dogs I foster as well. I don’t have any foster dogs right now. But I love that part. But it’s actually so rewarding for me to see the development from our foster homes from you know, sometimes people have never had a dog before to being able to manage dogs with behaviors and being comfortable doing that training. You know, rescue is a lot of fun for the dogs, but it’s also amazing for all the people you meet, and just how much development you see in those people. You make a lot of lifelong friendships.
Laura Wombwell 6:39
That’s amazing. Are there any really special dogs that that you have in foster right now?
Marieke Manshanden 6:47
We do. So we’re kind of in between intakes right now. I think we have nine dogs on our website in rescue and I think three of them we actually just introduced yesterday. Yeah, three new guys. But we do have some special pups that I do want to share extra bits of highlights on we have two dogs that have kind of medical needs. And then we also have another dog who is a senior and is a little bit more shy.
So the first puppy I’ll kind of highlight is Alaska. He is a two year old Husky. And he came from to us from a local shelter. And we always do so in rescue. We always do basic vetting. So we do vaccines we do spays and neuters, we do microchip. But we also do what’s called a 40 x snap test that tests for Lyme disease heartworm and two other less common diseases that dogs can have. So Alaska actually tested positive for both Lyme disease and heartworm. So he’s a little bit special that we’re doing lots of fundraising to try and cover his treatment. Lyme disease is lifelong, and dogs. So after initial treatment, it’s just kind of managing it, it generally doesn’t affect them very much if they’ve only had short term exposure to Lyme. But heartworm is actually deadly if it’s not treated. So that one is a little bit more difficult.
Laura Wombwell 8:21
Oh, wow. I think we actually have a couple of pictures of Alaska here. He is a handsome boy.
Marieke Manshanden 8:31
Yep, that’s him. Yeah, he is an absolutely stunning Husky is bright blue eyes. He’s very, very playful. And I feel bad because with heartworm, you have to restrict exercise. They can’t move around too much. Because you have to basically keep their heart rate slow while they recover. Because heartworm is actually worms in the heart that you are killing. But as you can imagine, that’s very, very, it’s a very aggressive treatment. So he’s getting a lot of great rest and a lot of relaxation. But as you might know, Huskies are really high energy dogs. So he’s wishing he could be outside running around and playing right now.
Laura Wombwell 9:16
And you mentioned there was another dog who has some medical challenges that you currently have.
Marieke Manshanden 9:22
Yes. So our other pup is RuPaul, he is a six year old mix breed. I don’t know what to call them. He’s got a brindle coloring that could be like a Dutch Shepherd or some kind of Bulldog Mastiff mix. I have no idea. We don’t do genetic testing on breed background. So RuPaul,
Laura Wombwell 9:46
He’s very handsome.
Marieke Manshanden 9:48
He is he’s very well behaved. I mentioned I do the intakes for rescue. So usually we get these young, you know, 1, 2, 3 year old lab, Husky shepherds and it was just really nice having a six year old visit. So RuPaul came in. And he was from a shelter program called One Last Chance. They connect dogs in shelters or that are at risk with rescues like ours. And I didn’t know it when we signed up to take him on, but he actually had a tumor on his back, left or back right knee.
So we, we got him tested, and it turned out to be cancer. So he had a grade one, soft tissue sarcoma. We had it removed almost two weeks ago now. And he’s doing very well. On the bright side, the vets don’t believe that it’s spread anywhere, and they believe they removed the whole tumor. So we are expecting a full recovery from him. But the surgery and the diagnostics did cost $1300. So we were hoping to fundraise a little bit to recuperate some of those costs for RuPaul.
Laura Wombwell 11:05
So if folks wanted to help out with the medical costs for Alaska or RuPaul, what would be their best way to get in touch with you folks?
Marieke Manshanden 11:15
So we always say the best way is to email us at taffyslegacy@gmail.com. We we usually accept e-transfers for for fundraising so and it can just be sent to that same email taffyslegacy@gmail.com. We’re also doing several fundraisers. So we’ve partnered up with some local businesses, Creative Country Classics is doing a custom wineglass and custom mug fundraiser for us with cute little sayings. Like, you know, I only speak to my dog before coffee or the other one is, I just want to drink wine and rescue dogs, but they do custom they can do whatever people want. We’ve also teamed up with a small company called Pitbull Tough that is selling t-shirts with proceeds going to Taffy’s Legacy. And then there’s also a small business in Guelph Heidi’s Happy Hounds, which is selling paracord dog collars with proceeds going to Taffy’s Legacy. So we’re, we’re really lucky to have a lot of community support for our rescue. That’s fantastic.
Laura Wombwell 12:25
So what’s one thing that you wish that the general public knew about rescue, what’s a secret that you can let us in on?
Marieke Manshanden 12:36
it’s not really much of a secret. But I find with the pandemic rate now, a lot of people are, you know, really eager to get a canine companion. And because there’s a lot, there’s a lot of demand, and there’s less supply than there usually is because dogs are getting scooped up from rescues really quickly. The one thing I wish people would be more careful of is that matching process and making sure that they’re looking at dogs that are a good fit for their lifestyle.
So I find we’ve been getting a lot of applications. So we do shelter pulls, as well as we take in northern dogs. And dogs we used to get from shelters tend to have some more, they tend to be a little bit more difficult, they might have some behaviors that they need to work through, which is totally fine. But they do need a more experienced foster home or a doctor that is willing to take them to training and put in a lot of work to make them kind of the happiest they can be. But I do find that we do get a lot of adopters going based on looks rather than personality and focusing on that dog’s needs. So we tried to get a lot of bully breeds and rescue just because our core team members love them. And they’re absolutely fantastic dogs, but they tend to need more experienced people.
And we’re getting a lot of people who have never had a dog before right now applying for dogs that you know might need a little bit more experienced handlers. So that’s kind of the the biggest thing that I wish people would consider is really focusing on their lifestyle, their needs and seeing if they can provide that for the dog. And so it’s not an overwhelming, uncomfortable transition into their home.
Laura Wombwell 14:24
Yeah, you want both the pet to be well adapted from its excellent foster experience. And then the new pet owner to be fully ready to take on all the challenges that a new pet, especially some of the bully breeds, you know, being ready to go into training and, and really give that dog the stable loving home that it wants.
Marieke Manshanden 14:48
Exactly. So that’s another reason why I’m so happy to be a part of Taffy’s is, you know, we take we make a great effort to get to know our dogs before they go to their foster home, we have a two week hold while they’re in their foster home before being matched with an adopter, just so we get to know their personality really well, and we know their needs and their quirks. But we also have a very long adoption process that some people are a bit critical of sometimes. But it’s important to get to know our adopters to know what they’re looking for in a dog.
Laura Wombwell 15:24
And good things are worth waiting for.
Marieke Manshanden 15:25
Right. Exactly.
Laura Wombwell 15:29
So we’ve talked a ton about Taffy’s and the great work that you guys do. I would love to hear a little bit about your own pets who is living with you currently.
Marieke Manshanden 15:40
Perfect. That is my favorite thing. Um, so I have two dogs that I own and then I foster as well. So currently, I’m not fostering right now. My foster dog I just had a bull terrier named Jinx and he was just adopted last week. And he was one of those more difficult dogs. That’s a real handful, but super cute. So everyone wanted him. But he was a handful. He’s very, very stubborn, very pushy. And he was looking for that experienced home, but I have two dogs myself. So my first dog is I’m hoping I can tell my screen here is eight year old Molson. So my golden boy living his perfect eight year old cozy life.
And Molson was not quite a rescue situation. But he was re homed to myself and my ex partner in 2012. He had been adopted impulsively by a young couple who soon later got pregnant and they were having a baby, and they just weren’t able to take care of him. So he came to live with us and he was actually he’s supposed to be half Border Collie. We were looking for a border collie for herding geese at the Waterloo Campus. So if you google UW Geese Police, you will find pictures of my golden retriever when he was two years old.
My second dog is Rexxar who is trying to jump in under my lap here, though, so he’s your typical northern Mutt that you would get from our rescue most of our dogs from come from isolated northern communities. They tend to be these young Lab Husky Shepherd mixes.
So Rex came from one of those communities. He was a little orphan at three weeks old, I bought him and his two sisters. So they just found them in the snow with no mother around. And I actually foster failed and adopted him. So he was my 14th foster dog. And I foster failed him and he has been the best companion to to our fostering program.
Laura Wombwell 18:13
Amazing. I have one other question before we go into the rapid fire round, which is, how do you come up with the names for the dogs that you have taken in?
Marieke Manshanden 18:28
This is kind of fun. So we always name our dogs in themes. And the reason we do that is actually for administrative administrative purposes, that we don’t like to rename dogs so that when we look back in our records, they all have unique names. And so we named them in themes on intake. So the group that they come in with, we typically get dogs about four to eight at a time. We’ve taken in more before but like I said they have that two week hold period at my house. So I try not to to really push it too much. And we just named them in themes. Sometimes it’s what our core team members come up with. Sometimes it’s what our volunteers have come up with. So our current dogs and care are named after RuPaul’s Drag Dace. Our adoption coordinator Bronwyn loves RuPaul’s Drag Race. So all of our current dogs, Alaska, Vanjie, RuPaul. We have Naomi Smalls, Bob the Drag Queen. So they’re all you know, after famous drag queens, but we’ve done a lot of fun ones in the past we’ve done you know Lion King, Jungle Book, we’ve done cars, we had a Tacoma, you know, Dodge Ram, stuff like that. So it’s, it’s whatever theme comes to mind. Right?
Laura Wombwell 19:47
I love that. And I think having those special names helps people feel a connection with the dogs when they’re looking at them too
Marieke Manshanden 19:56
exactly we try to match the personality of it, but sometimes it’s harder, because I did the intake. I named our new guys, but I actually don’t watch RuPaul’s Drag Race, so I guessed a little bit on the personalities.
Laura Wombwell 20:10
Awesome. Well, I would love to jump into our rapid fire round. So I’m going to ask you some quick pet questions and just answer with whatever pops off the top of your head. All right. All right. Okay. cat or dog?
Marieke Manshanden 20:27
Dog.
Laura Wombwell 20:29
Favorite breed?
Marieke Manshanden 20:32
I’m into the bully breeds.
Laura Wombwell 20:36
What is your pets favorite treat?
Marieke Manshanden 20:41
Oh my goodness. Peanut Butter Kong.
Laura Wombwell 20:44
Okay, are your pets, and this can differ for both of them, full of beans full of dreams. or full of farts?
Marieke Manshanden 20:55
My Golden’s definitely full of dreams. Rex is dreamy and a little farty.
Laura Wombwell 21:01
If money and time were no object, what is one thing that you would do to absolutely spoil your pets?
Marieke Manshanden 21:10
Oh goodness, I would live full time at my cottage in North Bay. It’s on an island so I never have to worry about cars or anything like that. I would feed them a raw diet for sure. And honestly, I think I would help my mom retire because my golden favorite thing is my mother.
Laura Wombwell 21:31
What would your pets say is their favorite thing about you?
Marieke Manshanden 21:35
Goodness. So Rex, my two year old 100% the training he is all about training, learning new tricks, and stuff like that. My Golden Retriever’s favorite thing about me is probably my mother again and that I introduced him to my boyfriend who is he’s completely in love with.
Laura Wombwell 21:54
And if a human actor or to play your dogs in a film, who would play them?
Marieke Manshanden 22:01
Oh goodness. Um, I think little Rexxar would probably be like a Ryan Reynolds goofing off, full of action, always playing pranks on people. And I think Molson would be more like a Seth Rogen just very chill and, you know, very loving but very relaxed and calm.
Nice. And to finish off, what is one thing that you love doing in this area with your pets?
I absolutely love again, volunteer development, meeting new people, educating people in the community and making those connections. I love that the amazing opportunities to meet people that rescue brings.
Laura Wombwell 22:48
Awesome. Thank you so much, Marieke, it has been such a pleasure talking with you. And we will link all of your social media handles and your email and your website to this interview. And I hope people reach out if they want to help with volunteering or fostering or if they’re looking for a new best friend. Anything else that you’d like to share?
Marieke Manshanden 23:15
You know what that would be perfect. And even if anyone has any questions about, you know, what it’s like to be involved in rescue or what to expect bringing a new dog home or even what to look for in a new rescue pet or even just getting a new puppy what to what to expect. I always love having those conversations with people to you know, let them know what my experiences are like. And also hopefully set them up for success when when looking for a new addition or looking to get involved in rescue.
Laura Wombwell 23:48
Awesome. Thank you so much. It’s been a joy talking with you. This is Laura from Laura Wombwell photography with Marina from Takis legacy canine rescue and rehabilitation and we both hope that you and your pets have an awesome day. Bye!
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