Have you ever wondered what goes on behind the scenes in dog rescue?
Curious about how dogs end up in a shelter or foster home and what their journey is from there?
In our upcoming interview with Roz York-Brodsky of Save Me Dog Rescue, we’ll talk all about the hard work that goes into finding loving homes for rescue pets.
This week’s guest is Roz York-Brodsky of Save Me Dog Rescue.
Find them here –
Web: https://savemedogrescue.ca
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SaveMeRescue
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/savemerescue/
Now, let’s get to the interview!
Transcription:
Laura Wombwell
Hi there, it’s Laura from Laura Wombwell Photography, and I am joined today by Roz York-Brodsky of Save Me Dog Rescue. Hi, Roz. I’m so happy to have you here.
Roz York-Brodsky
Hi, Laura, thank you so much for inviting me.
Laura Wombwell
So I would love to talk about how save me dog rescue got started.
Roz York-Brodsky
Save Me was started in 2012 by two women who had been involved in the animal welfare world for quite some time and had fostered for different organizations. And they wanted to start a rescue that they felt was more foster focused. And that’s how Save Me was born. And I joined about six months later. So just about eight years ago now.
Laura Wombwell
Oh, goodness. So you’ve been involved for quite some time now. And you are currently the rescue president?
Roz York-Brodsky
I am. That’s been for the last three years. And I’ve been on the board for, I would say close to seven years.
Laura Wombwell
Wow. So what does the role of President within a rescue organization entail?
Roz York-Brodsky
The board is made up of five people, we all work very, very closely together. And we really are a board of equals. But as President, you know, there’s certain legal aspects that need a president signature. And sometimes when we have some situations that need to be attended to, it’ll fall to me, but my main function in the rescue is that I’m the director of veterinary care. And we all have our particular areas that we are in charge of, but we very much work together on things as well. So we’re very much a democracy on the board.
Laura Wombwell
So what are some of the other roles that volunteers fill within the rescue?
Roz York-Brodsky
On the board itself, we have directors who are in charge of different things. One’s our Director of Finance, who takes care of a lot of the nitty gritty of the rescue. We have a social media person who takes care of all of our sites, social media is ever more important in the rescue world, and then adoptions director, intake. So those are like the main areas, but our biggest volunteer need, and what really makes the rescue run, are our foster homes. And they fulfill many roles.
Laura Wombwell
So what sort of roles do the foster homes play within the rescue setup?
Roz York-Brodsky
As I mentioned, right at the beginning, one of the reasons for founding Save Me Rescue was that the founders felt that there were certain things as fosters in another rescue that they would have liked to have seen. So that was part of the mandate from day one – to be very foster focused and supportive. So the biggest thing the fosters do is, of course, foster the dogs. But one thing we do that’s different than a lot of other rescues is we let the fosters choose which dogs they foster, based on dogs that we present to them. And they’re involved with every aspect of the dogs care from when the dog arrives, if they have to go for vet visits if they need medication, any kind of specialized care. And we also have the foster is intrinsically involved with choosing the application for who is chosen to be screened to adopt a dog. And most of the time they do the screening themselves as they know the dogs the best we feel their best to know would be a good fit for the dog.
Laura Wombwell
Wow. So not only do they help to give the dog, you know, a safe place to land and experience that home setting when they come in, but they take them all the way through the process to to their eventual new home.
Roz York-Brodsky
Yes, we have the best fosters. That’s for sure.
Laura Wombwell
That’s amazing. So if folks don’t know a lot about how the rescue process works, I would love for you to walk us through it a bit. So, how do the dogs come into your care?
Roz York-Brodsky
They come into our care from a variety of ways. Mainly, we do work with some shelters. And our main shelters are in Tennessee, Kentucky and Ohio. And if they have a dog that’s in need, or a dog that they feel we can particularly help they’ll reach out to us. And often I’ll see a dog and I’ll think wow, that dogs perfect for, you know, this particular foster. And we’ll ask them and 99% of the time, they’ll say yes. And other times, they’ll send a dog asking for help and we’ll just post to like an internal fostering group to see if there’s somebody that can help. And we work with this amazing all volunteer transport network that brings the dogs up to us. It’s a relay transport, it’s usually about 15 different drivers involved, who each do a leg. And once they get to Canada, they go all the way from Windsor to Ottawa. And the fosters will pick up the dog at the stop closest to them. We also deal with a couple of advocacy groups in Quebec, same type of thing that will ask a foster if they can help a particular dog, once again, all volunteer transport network called Freedom Drivers that bring those dogs across. And we do owner surrenders as well.
Laura Wombwell
Wow.
So have you found with COVID, transporting the dogs cross border has become more challenging?
Roz York-Brodsky
For the first five months after COVID started, we were not bringing the dogs in at all from the US. And there was a time there were no dogs from Quebec, because the shelters were closed down as well. There wasn’t a hard and fast rule against bringing them but we were asked not to. And we’ve tried to be very, very compliant and not add to any problems during Covid. Then in August, the designation for the dogs was changed that they were once again deemed dogs for commercial purposes. And we were given the green light to start bringing them in again. So we have been ever since then, with COVID protocols in place. And we want to make sure our foster homes were comfortable as well, bringing dogs in and people doing the transport and everyone’s worked together beautifully to be able to continue saving lives.
Laura Wombwell
Wow.
So I know I’ve heard from many rescues that COVID really has changed a lot, both in intake, but also just in the volume of applications and, you know, not being able to do in home visits the same way that you used to, what are some of the things that have changed for you?
Roz York-Brodsky
Yeah, those things that you’ve touched on. Absolutely. We have had to adjust things quite a bit. Because safety comes first for everybody. And we have not had any foster homes say they don’t want to foster during COVID but we did put COVID protocols in place, we do everything electronically. Now that contracts are signed in scanned back rather than when the dogs picked up. We’re unfortunately not really doing meet and greets now, which we always like to do before. And we do do adoptions in a COVID safe manner as well. We’re not doing in person home visits, we are doing that all online as well. And so far, it’s worked fine. And we do look forward to the day when we can go back to actually meeting people in person. As far as interest in adoption, it’s gone through the roof. And that’s been a very hard thing for all of us. Because we know there are a lot of very disappointed people out there. And it’s unfortunate, but there just aren’t enough dogs right now for the amount of interest that there is.
Laura Wombwell
So I know you’ve touched on, you know, having folks who are needing to perhaps wait a little bit longer to find that perfect dog for them. I know for my part, I have all rescue dogs and absolutely good things come to those who wait.
Roz York-Brodsky
I couldn’t agree more. And even before COVID, there would be times that people would apply for four or five dogs with us before they got the dog. And we always tell people be patient, you are going to end up with the dog that you’re meant to. And to every single person, they all feel that way after. And I’ve had people say to me, after finally adopting their dog how they can’t believe they ever thought there was a different dog for them than the one that they ended up with.
Laura Wombwell
What’s something that you wish that the general public knew about dog rescue?
Roz York-Brodsky
I think the main thing, that we still work hard to overcome is that a lot of people have the misconception that dogs end up in rescues because they’re damaged in some way, or that they’re not good dogs, and nothing could be further from the truth. More often what we’re seeing are human failings, not dog failings. And there are some dogs who absolutely have special needs and need a particular kind of home. But it’s very gratifying that those homes are always out there. And people just have to have realistic expectations. They have to read the biographies of the dogs. So often they see a picture and that’s all they’re going on. And there’s so much more to a dog than what they look like.
Laura Wombwell
Absolutely. What is, for you, the toughest part of doing this work?
Roz York-Brodsky
The toughest part is that we can’t save them all. Try as as we want to, and sometimes medically as well, we just can’t save them. And that’s always a very bitter pill to swallow. But on the other hand, we know we tried our best. And sometimes the dog gets a few months in a loving foster home. And that’s their nice ending rather than in a shelter. But for me, that’s the hardest part are seeing that there’s just all this need and not enough foster homes for them.
Laura Wombwell
Being that you are completely volunteer run, are there any resources inside the community that you really rely on, folks that really help you out?
Roz York-Brodsky
Our biggest help are the veterinary clinics that we work with? We absolutely could not be the rescue we are without them. We do like to take a lot of senior and high medical needs dogs. And it’s because we know that we have these fabulous veterinarians who are very generous with their time and also do give us a discount that we oftentimes feel we can speak for a dog that would have no chance otherwise, really, of ever getting out of the shelter. So they’re number one on my list of why we can do what we do, of course, the next and also equally as important our supporters and the people who donate and are so generous in that way because our adoption fees cover a small percentage of what we end up spending on the dogs. And without the donations, we wouldn’t be able to do what we do. And just in general, anyone who supports a rescue, follows the page, shares our posts is helping as well.
Laura Wombwell
I would love for folks to be able to give some support to to those vets who help you out. So who who do you work with regularly?
Roz York-Brodsky
Our main that’s our Kingsdale Animal Clinic in Kitchener for fabulous veterinarians there. And Dr. Kadri at the Richmond Hill Animal Hospital in Richmond Hill. We keep them very, very busy. And we also work quite a bit with the Thornbury Animal Hospital. And Dr. Justin Levy, he’s amazing surgeon who has done some really, really complex surgeries for us. And just as importantly, oftentimes will tell us that dog doesn’t need surgery, you know, this dog needs rest, or he needs therapy. And he’s an invaluable asset to the rescue as well.
Laura Wombwell
Excellent. So I know, your rescue relies fairly heavy very heavily on foster homes. If folks don’t have, you know, the time or the resources to be a foster right now, what’s the best way that they can help you out?
Roz York-Brodsky
As I mentioned before, we are very reliant on donations. And there’s literally no donation too small, it all helps. And we are registered Canadian charity and are really happy that we’re able to issue tax receipts to people. But even the simple act of sharing a post, and just getting more awareness for the rescue for rescue in general, for our dogs for maybe something we’re doing for fundraising is very helpful as well. It’s not that often that we need help with transport and things like that. But it does happen occasionally that we’ve posted on the page that we need help moving a dog to a new foster home or a veterinarian, and the public always, always comes through for us. We have wonderful followers.
Laura Wombwell
Are there any particular fundraising campaigns that you’d like to highlight right now?
Roz York-Brodsky
We are going to be doing a raffle for a beautiful quilt that one of our supporters has made for the rescue. And that should be coming up shortly. But unfortunately, the fundraising events are another casualty of COVID. You’ve done so many beautiful events for us with your photography, with Christmas pictures and Halloween and Valentine’s Day and Easter. And that’s always been so so helpful. Hopefully, by Christmas next year, we’ll be able to do that again. But events are just not able to happen right now. And it’s certainly had an impact on things. Another great way for the public to support our rescue and any rescue is once events are allowed again to go out and support them go to adoption days and things like that.
Laura Wombwell
Excellent. So I would love to know for you what is the most rewarding part of being involved in dog rescue.
Roz York-Brodsky
There’s so many things. I love it. It’s truly, like, the most meaningful thing I’ve done in my life. But I guess overall, it’s just taking a dog out of a really, really unfortunate situation. Dogs that maybe had severe medical injuries, and making them well and whole, and getting them into an adoptive home, and then getting those fabulous updates that we get. We all love the updates from our adopters, so keep them coming. And invariably, we always get the “I didn’t rescue the dog, the dog rescued me” kind of messaging. And it just makes it all worthwhile. Because there’s a lot of heartbreak and stress and days where I want, you know, we all wonder why am I doing this to myself, but it’s the good just so so so far outweighs the days that can be hard.
Laura Wombwell
Yeah, I think for anyone who hasn’t had a rescue dog in their life, that moment where they start just coming into themselves and interacting, like, you know, a regular dog who doesn’t have a care in the world. Oh, my gosh, it changes your life.
Roz York-Brodsky
Oh, absolutely. And quite honestly, a lot of the dogs, they come off transport without a care in the world. And they’re just so happy to be in a home and out of the shelter. And right away. They’re loving the people and the other animals in the house, we see the gamut. You know, we take puppy mill dogs, and they can be really, really heartbreaking for a long while. But invariably, they come around. And they always need the right home just like any other dog. The fit is the most important thing for all of these dogs to thrive.
Laura Wombwell
Do you have any special stories, any special dogs you’d like to tell us about?
Roz York-Brodsky
Well, they’re all very special. And I could probably talk your ear off about them. But I’ll just highlight a dog that we recently had in rescue named Shaggy, who was hit by a car in Kentucky. And when he first was taken to the shelter, they thought they were going to have to euthanize him because of a lot of injuries. But that just for whatever reason decided she really wanted to try to pull this boy through and his internal injuries healed. He needed a rear leg amputated. And once he started healing from amputation, and started walking, they realized that his front leg on the same side where the leg had been amputated, was very injured. And it wasn’t anything that showed on x rays, because it was nerve damage. So they reached out to us with this heartbreaking video of Shaggy, and found to foster for him right away, brought him up, sent the X rays. And he went for a consult with Dr. Levy, we were really hoping there’d be a surgical solution. But there wasn’t. And we were all very heartbroken about that. But you know, we were told not to give up and that there were options, which we pursued. And he went for months of hydrotherapy and different therapy, till they were able to straighten his leg to the point that he could be fitted with a custom orthotic brace. And from the minute he had that brace on, he was able to do things that he hadn’t been able to do, like sit like a normal dog, go to the bathroom without falling over. Little things that really mean a lot. And we had great interest in him for adoption, which was lovely, because he is going to be an expensive dog to maintain with therapy and the brace will need to be replaced periodically. But he got an amazing home, we get the best updates, and he’s just living his best life.
Laura Wombwell
I think we even have a video of Shaggy in his new home. (video sound)
Let’s like you said earlier, there’s always the right dog for the right home. It’s just about taking time and finding that fit.
Roz York-Brodsky
Absolutely. And the other thing that I find so heartening about what we do is we do take a lot of senior dogs. And as long as they’re healthy enough to get adopted, they get adopted. There are people out there who will open up their hearts to a 14 year old dog a 16 year old dog knowing they want to give them the best end to their life possible. So we never hesitate to take for older dogs.
Laura Wombwell
But I think
I know there’s been this huge puppy boom during COVID. But being an adopter of not a senior dog but an adult dog, there are some things that older dogs give you that, you know, a puppy is very challenging. Adult dogs are often a really nice breath of fresh air.
Roz York-Brodsky
Oh, absolutely. And and of course we love our puppies too. We, you know, young or old. It all depends on the person really. For many, many years, I got eight week old puppies that was our life for many years, and loved them all. But I realized about 10 years ago that my puppy days were behind me. And they are a lot of work, the rewards are great. There’s something to be said for, you know, bringing in this little eight week old dog and seeing them through their whole life. But just as joyful and meaningful is bringing in a 12 year old dog, and just giving them the best life possible.
Laura Wombwell
Absolutely. So speaking of dogs that you’ve had throughout your life, I would love to talk a little bit about your current pets. So who who lives with you currently? And how did they come to be there?
Roz York-Brodsky
We have a number of dogs here. And a few of them were rescues foster fails. I’m a proud member of the foster failure club. One of them was one of those very, very special needs terrified dogs that she was found closed up in a box after having puppies. And she’s the only foster I’ve had that I really felt would not emotionally survive leaving me. And so she stayed. And that’s Annie and she’s a beautiful, Beagle spaniel mix of some kind. And she’s definitely got her quirks. And it’s been extremely rewarding having Annie with us, she trusts my husband and I implicitly and to gain the trust of such a terrified dog is really fulfilling, but she can be challenging. It just makes her more lovable as far as I’m concerned. We have a eight year old black Russian terrier was an owner surrender in North Carolina. And we had had a previous black Russian terrier, and it ends up this guy is his nephew. So to me, it was the universe just working in very mysterious ways that Princeton ended up in our home. Unfortunately, he is one of the dogs with nutritional dilated cardiomyopathy. And we had to stop fostering because of that, because just the risk of him even getting like a mild kennel cough or something like that would be too much for his heart. So we’ve put a pause on fostering as Princeton’s health of course, comes first. We did have a pallative foster for a while with him, which was nice because I felt that I still had my foot in the fostering door. But unfortunately, Lainey had to be euthanized after being with us for a few years. And she was quite an old girl. And then I always have a Westie or two, poking around. We’ve had Westies since the day we got home from our honeymoon almost 37 years ago. So can’t imagine life without a little white dog. And they’re always an adventure in and of themselves wonderful dogs, but very much stubborn little terriers. And I have Should I keep going?
Laura Wombwell
Oh, yeah.
Roz York-Brodsky
My mother in law’s dog is with us right now. And I that’s about it, I guess. Wow, I love them all. As you can see, they’re such good dogs. They’ve been very well behaved during all of this. And they’ve all been great with foster dogs that have come and gone over the years, we’ve had over 40 foster dogs while we were fostering and as much as I miss it with Princeton being ill, I hope I don’t get back to it for a long time, and that we still have him with us for many years to come.
Laura Wombwell
So with that many dogs, what are some of your favorite things to do in southwestern Ontario?
Roz York-Brodsky
Well, with having multiple dogs, we don’t go a lot of places with so many dogs. We have a very nice size yard, they love the yard, they love each other. It’s amazing seeing dogs who just have formed this wonderful relationship. And they’re very welcoming to any other dog that comes in here. Everyone in my family has dogs, and they have Save me dogs. It’s just a hazard of knowing me you end up adopting dogs. And don’t you know when in the good old days when we could be together they know the rule is you don’t come to my house without your dogs. So at times the dogs would outnumber the people. And it was just wonderful to see how sociable they all are, how well adjusted they are and I just saw enjoy seeing their relationships with each other and of course their relationship with me because no matter who you are, nobody loves you like your dog loves you. So they’ve been a great help to me during COVID I think it would have been much more challenging without the dogs and without the rescue, because I do feel that I’ve been able to still do what I’m passionate about, even during these very, very strange times.
Laura Wombwell
That’s incredible. and nice to hear that even while your rescue is uplifting dogs and, you know, helping out the community, you’re also being a resource for each other.
Roz York-Brodsky
Absolutely. It’s a wonderful community, the rescue community, I can’t say enough about it. We belong to certain groups with other rescues, everybody helps each other, everybody’s very generous with advice, supplies, or sometimes if you have a dog that you really want to help, and you just don’t have a spot and we’ll put them out to other rescues. So it’s a great community, mainly women. You know, there’s very few men that you know, we’d love to see more men getting involved.
Laura Wombwell
So to end off, I have a couple of quickfire questions for you. Are you ready? Alright. So cat or dog,
Roz York-Brodsky
Dog.
Laura Wombwell
Favorite breed?
Roz York-Brodsky
It’s really changed over the years. It’s always been Westies, but I have grown to absolutely adored beagles.
Laura Wombwell
Nice. What are your dog’s favorite treats?
Roz York-Brodsky
Dehydrated liver.
Laura Wombwell
Nice. Now, normally, I asked folks, if a human actor were to play their dog in a movie, who would it be? Because you have a variety of dogs what I would like to know is if your dogs were all in a band, what kind of music would they play?
Roz York-Brodsky
Well, it has to be rock, they’ve grown up with rock.
Laura Wombwell
Are your dogs full of beans, full of dreams, or full of something entirely different?
Roz York-Brodsky
Some of each. The Westies are pretty active. And Princeton rests a lot these days. So I will say full of dreams. But it’s quite a variety. I love watching them play together.
Laura Wombwell
If money were no object, and all of our current restrictions were lifted, what is one incredible thing that you would do to spoil your pets?
Roz York-Brodsky
That’s a hard one, because I really can’t think of anything that they would want that they’re lacking for. Their favorite thing is just that I’m home so much right now. So honestly, I think that they’re very, very happy. And like all dogs, all they really want is their human and to be loved. I absolutely love that answer.
Laura Wombwell
So as we end off, is there anything that you would like to say, to the Southwestern Ontario Pet Community?
Roz York-Brodsky
I’d like to thank the southwestern community, for their support of rescues in general, and for being really really good pet parents, Ontario should be very, very proud of the low numbers in our own shelters, and the compliance with things like spay and neuter, and proper veterinary care, heartworm prevention. So we’re doing a good job here in Ontario, and to keep it up and to spread the word about rescue dogs and how they’re all wonderful dogs deserving of a good home.
Laura Wombwell
And if folks want to support you, whether it’s with donations, whether it’s by liking and sharing social media, where can they find you?
Roz York-Brodsky
Our website is savemedogrescue.ca. And if anyone wants to reach out to someone with any particular questions, they can email to info@savemedogrescue.ca. And on Facebook, we’re Save Me Rescue, and we’re also on Instagram and Twitter.
Laura Wombwell
Excellent. Well, thank you so much for joining me today Roz. I really appreciate your time and I really appreciate you sharing that that really deep look into how rescue works and and how we can best support you. So thank you. (barking)
Roz York-Brodsky
That’s Annie saying thank you for all you do for rescue for save me in particular and we’re so appreciative of all that you do as well.
Laura Wombwell
Excellent. Well, and thank you to everyone listening. This is Laura from Laura Wombwell photography. I’m here with Roz York-Brodsky from Save Me Dog Rescue, and we both hope (barking)
well as the enemy. We
Well, Annie definitely hopes that you and your pets have an awesome (barking)
Roz York-Brodsky
Annie’s getting some help now now in the barking department!
Laura Wombwell
Annie did so well the whole time.
Roz York-Brodsky
She did. They were very good.
Laura Wombwell
Well, this is me and Roz signing off. We hope that you and your pets have an awesome day. Bye!
Roz York-Brodsky
Bye!
Do you want to be the next interview? We’d love that!
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