Save Me Dog Rescue

Frequently Asked Questions – Our Rescue

Many of our volunteers are located in Southern Ontario, Canada. Though we do not have a central facility or shelter where our dogs are kept, we are a foster home-based rescue, which means that each dog is fostered within the private home of one of our volunteers.

Save Me Dog Rescue is run by a Board of Directors, and very dedicated volunteers who commit countless hours of personal time and resources to saving dogs in need. Our volunteers are a fantastic group of people who make everything that we do possible. We prefer to interact with the public and our partners personally so that we are fully involved in all aspects of the organization.

To learn more about our Board of Directors, Honourary Members, and volunteers, please visit our Meet the Team page.

Save Me Dog Rescue has long established relationships with a number of open intake pounds and shelters. Due to being open-intake, these shelters are often in the difficult position of having to euthanize for space. We work with groups in Quebec, Ontario, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Ohio. As well, we work with advocates for Northern Communities in Ontario where there is not veterinary care, and the dog population is, at times, controlled by dog culls.
There has been post-covid fallout causing shelters to be more crowded than ever. Due to this, Save Me Dog Rescue, is not taking owner surrenders, at this time,

The sad reality is that there are dogs all over not only North America but the World, who are homeless and in need of new forever families. While a majority of our dogs do come from Canadian shelters and mills, we do on occasion take in dogs from U.S shelters or another American rescue. Some states have extremely high rates of euthanasia (over 90%) in their shelters due to the sheer volume of dogs; the United States alone euthanizes over 4 million animals each year. When a dog’s status in a shelter becomes urgent, we will step in if we have an available foster location. Many of these dogs are wonderful, sweet dogs yet would not have a chance at adoption unless they were brought to Canada.

A dedicated network of volunteers across the United States and Canada drive these dogs across the border to freedom, and deliver them to their receiving rescues every weekend of the year, rain or shine. It is a long journey for some, but we feel that every dog, no matter where they were born, should be given a chance at finding a loving forever family. Furthermore, there is such a great number of Canadian rescues that often we find that numerous rescues will step up for the same dog, thus limited our chances to save a life.

This is one of the biggest advantages to adopting a dog through a rescue. By fostering the dogs in our homes, they are observed in many situations and environments. Each foster parent is experienced with dogs of all types, and assesses each dog for behavior traits, training, socialization and quirks in general.

While there are never “guarantees” in life, we do not adopt out a dog without thoroughly assessing him/her and disclosing as much information as we have. Each home has qualities that makes them unique to other homes and situations such s children, cats, other dogs, time spent at and away from home, etc.

All Save Me dogs are vaccinated on intake. They will had received a DHPP vaccine (distemper, hepatitis, parvovirus, and parainfluenza vaccine) and rabies vaccine. Depending on location, they may have received a Bortadella and/or leptospirosis vaccine. Documentation of what a dog has received is provided to all adopters.
Puppies will have received all age-appropriate vaccines and adopters are provided with a list of what and when further vaccinations are required.
Save Me Dog Rescue follows the CVA recommendations for vaccines and strongly believes in the importance of keeping dogs up to date, as per these recommendations.

We do not license the dogs while in rescue and do strongly encourage adopters to do so for their municipalities. Licensing your dog is the adopter’s legal responsibility and can help reunite the dog should it ever become lost. Please contact your local animal control for information in your area.
Whenever possible, all Save Me Dog Rescue dogs are microchipped prior to adoption. The main exception is young puppies. It is advised that the adopter do this at the time that their pup is spayed/neutered. Upon adoption, the dogs microchip number will be transferred to the adopter, by the rescue and detailed information will be provided.

One of the most fundamental aspects of responsible dog ownership is spay/neutering. Save Me spays/neuters all of the adult dogs in our care. We do not do paediatric spay/neuter and puppies are adopted with a contract requiring that the procedure is done according to our timeframe.
We promote the importance of spay/neuter and can be an educational resource for anyone who wants to learn about the health benefits of altering one’s pet.
Save Me has been a support of spay/neuter clinics for Northern communities. While there are many complex issues involved in these clinics, we are happy to help when the opportunity presents.