Spotty Dog Rescue

We spoke with Carol Vassar about how Spotty Dog Rescue rescues abused, abandoned, and neglected dogs and places them into loving homes and how people can adopt, foster, or volunteer. 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good morning, Thank you for listening to Community Access. My
guest this morning is Carol Vassar. She is a volunteer
at Spotty Dog Rescue.

Speaker 2 (00:07):
Good morning, Good morning Alison, thanks for having me.

Speaker 1 (00:11):
You bet tell me. How did Spotty Dog Rescue come about?

Speaker 2 (00:16):
So? Spotty Dog Rescue was founded by a very forward
thinking woman by the name of down DeSantis. That came
about in twenty twelve. She was visiting the islands, the
Virgin Islands and noticed that dogs there were in need
of being rescued. There's a big dog problem down there,
with dogs roaming running free, and she was able to

(00:39):
bring dogs back with her at that time. So she
gathered some folks around her who were like minded animal lovers,
dog lovers in particular, and started bringing up other dogs
from the islands, and also started making sure that dogs
that were in local shelters could be pulled out, assess,

(01:01):
put in foster homes and ultimately adopt it. Unfortunately, we
lost on a few years ago, so we carry this
all on in her memory.

Speaker 1 (01:11):
Wow, thank you for sharing that. I'm sure she's looking
down and so pleased with all the amazing work that
you guys are doing.

Speaker 2 (01:18):
Yeah, I hope so.

Speaker 1 (01:19):
So tell me what does Spotty Dog Rescue do. Now,
can we go to your place and adopt dogs?

Speaker 2 (01:26):
We do everything almost virtually. So what we do is
rescue and placement. Again, we will take them from unsafe situations,
whether it's in the islands, bring them. I've been I'm
a transporter, so I've brought dogs from New York City
who have come up from the Islands from Westchester Airport Bradley.

(01:46):
They come into Boston and get them into foster homes.
We prefer not to put them in kennels, and in
fact don't put them in kennels because we find that
the foster homes that home environment is really it's best
for transitioning dogs who are eligible for adoption. So we
pull dogs from shelters unsafe situations, bring them up from

(02:09):
the islands, transition them into foster homes rather than kennels.
There they can decompress, they can socialize perhaps with other dogs,
sometimes yes, sometimes no, depending on the dog that's being fostered,
and then we have a chance to really assess their
needs before they're adopted. We also provide the appropriate veterinary care,

(02:33):
including vaccinations, and we make sure that any dogs that
we foster and adopt out are stayed in neuters prior
to finalizing that adoption. And if you're looking for a
reputable shelter or a resutable rescue, those are some things
you should really look for, making sure that the foster

(02:54):
the rescue provides veterinary care and stay in neuter prior
to adoption. So we're quite active. I just thought up
a dog from Bradley who came from the Islands about
a week ago. I've got another one coming in from
the island shortly, so we're quite active. But we do
need more volunteers and fosters.

Speaker 1 (03:15):
Let's talk about that. What are you looking for in
foster families.

Speaker 2 (03:19):
We're looking for people who love dogs first and foremost,
people who perhaps have some experience with dogs. Even if
you didn't have a dog yourself, maybe your best friend
had a dog that you used to go over and
watch when the best friend and their family would go
out of town. We're looking for people who you know

(03:40):
we're going to background check you and make sure that
your references are tidy and clean and good. But people
who can take the dogs in, give them a place
to decompress, give them a place to socialize. It doesn't
necessarily mean you have to have a dog and spend
some time with that dog and be kind to them.

(04:01):
But also fosters have to have a special ability to
move that dog along once we find the appropriate adopter.
That's why I don't foster, but I encourage other people
who can do that to do that. My part with
transport and what we have found sometimes with transport, the
dog will stay in our home for maybe a few hours,

(04:23):
and my husband in particular, his heart breaks even if
the dog's only been there for five hours. So the
fosters really need to have a special place and a
special love for dogs. And I know there are people
listening today Allison, to your station and your show who
have that in their heart.

Speaker 1 (04:39):
Absolutely, you're a volunteer. What's that like for you?

Speaker 2 (04:43):
It adds to my life. I work very hard. I
have a couple of different jobs that I do, but
it makes me feel like I'm kind of balancing out
the universe, if you will, not to get to spiritually
crazy here, but I feel like, you know, it's kind
of in the plan for me to move these dogs
along to good places when their outcomes where they originally

(05:07):
were born or originally were living might not be the best.
I can note my own dog who was pulled out
of a pound and woolcut. She was about half of
the weight she should have been. She'd been abandoned in
the woods. So Spotty Dog pulled her out, nursed her
back to health in a home environment, and made sure

(05:29):
that she got into a great home, which happened to
be our home. And now we are giving back as
volunteers for the love that they gave our little miniature pincher.
That's kind of our story and the reason we volunteer,
and what we find from it is other people are
getting that same love from the dogs they adopt that
we are involved with.

Speaker 1 (05:49):
And volunteers don't have to necessarily do what you do.
They can do other things.

Speaker 2 (05:54):
Oh yeah, they can foster, or they can do what
I do with transport. We need people who can work
on our fundraising committee. We need people who can work
on our communications committee. If you are a good writer,
we would love to have somebody on board who could
write up these stories and get them on our website.
We need people who can do publicity. I do some

(06:15):
of that, but more people lighter the way.

Speaker 1 (06:20):
Let's talk about the importance of adopting as opposed to buying.

Speaker 2 (06:24):
So we've all heard the phrase adopt, don't shop, And
one of the reasons is that we know these dogs
have had such a not such a great start in life,
and we are giving them a second chance. Rescues give
them an opportunity to get past what may have been

(06:49):
traumatic time in these dogs' lives. We also are making
sure that you know, some of the dogs that are
bought come from not such great situations. They come from
places where all that is done is breeding and breeding
and breeding, and that's not good for the puppies that

(07:10):
are fairly healthy. It's certainly not good for the mama
dogs because that's all they're doing, and oftentimes they are caged.
So when you adopt, you are taking away from that
buying and that awful situation where you know the dogs
are just in such dire straits. So adopting, you know

(07:35):
you're given the second chance on a doggie's life.

Speaker 1 (07:39):
With the holidays coming, often you hear about people buying
puppies and then it doesn't work out. So what should
you consider if you want to add a pat to
your home.

Speaker 2 (07:50):
Well, there's a lot to consider, and mainly it's financial
Adopting a dog is great. You bring them into your
home and like I said earlier, an adoption agency will
do vaccinations initially, will do spay and neuter, but you
have to think over the next this is a puppy,
the next ten to fifteen years, annual veterinary costs, possibly

(08:17):
dental costs. Dental costs a lot for an animal, and
making sure especially the smaller dogs, have that dental care
is important to their overall health. Accidents happened. My husband
left raisin oatmeal raisin cookies out and two of the
dogs ate raisins. Raisins are poisonous dogs. We're at the

(08:38):
vent and it was quite expensive to make sure that
they were both okay and their kidneys did not shut down.
So making sure that you have either pet insurance or
some sort of account to which you are donating or
putting aside money in the event of an accident, an incident,

(09:00):
or just general care for the animal. You also have
to think about supplies food. While the fosters are provided
with this food veterinary care, as they are taking care
of the dogs. Once you adopt, that's on you, and
you need to make sure that the dogs stays said,
the dog stays healthy. One of the reasons we see

(09:22):
dogs returned is because people can't afford to maintain their
dogs properly. So we want to prevent return think about
making sure you can afford this over the lifetime of
the dog. We don't want to see the dog rehomed.
We do take rehomed dogs because certain situations demand it,

(09:44):
but we want to make sure that you can take
care of this dog, and you want to make sure
you can take care of this dog for the lifetime.

Speaker 1 (09:50):
Spotty Dog Rescue does so much in the community and
so much for these dogs. And if you do adopt,
there is training that you need to think about. Exercise
roots teens and I believe Spotty Dog Rescue says you
need to wait at least three months for the dog
to decompress and get used to its surroundings.

Speaker 2 (10:08):
Right, that's absolutely true. Once the dog comes in from
let's say sing Kroix, they're going into foster. They may
stay in that foster for three months and they've become
accustomed to where they are. Once they get in your home,
it's a whole new situation. So it takes about three months,
possibly longer depending on the dog. And these are averages
to get used to their new surroundings. But loving them

(10:30):
and taking care of them, exercising them, making sure they
have their their vet appointments and their vaccinations. These are
ways that you can help the dog integrate into the
family and thrive in their new environment.

Speaker 1 (10:45):
I realize it's the holiday season right now, but do
you have events coming up in the new year.

Speaker 2 (10:50):
We do, and in fact, I'm going to mention two
of them. We have a Drag Queen Bingos fundraiser that
I know it's March. It's March twenty ninth, but if
you've never been to a Drag Queen Bingo fundraiser, they
are a blast. And this will all benefit Spotty Dog Rescue.
And if you really want to plan ahead, our fourth

(11:12):
annual golf tournament is happening in Meriden at Hunter's Golf
Course on August seventh of this year this coming year
twenty twenty six. If you want information on that, I
hope you will check in to our website Spotydog Rescue
dot org. There are also links there to apply to

(11:33):
be a foster. I can't emphasize enough the need for
foster families. Shelters are overflowing, and we really want to
make sure that dogs are in homes and adopt it
out to great homes, and fosters are really key to that.
Please apply to be a foster on our website s

(11:54):
Bodydog Rescue dot org. And of course we rely upon
donations and fundraisers. We are completely volunteer in terms of
our organization, so please consider a generous donation to Spotty
Dog Rescue. As the end of the year airs and
you're looking at that text deduction for twenty twenty five,

(12:17):
you can also do that on Spottydog Rescue dot org.

Speaker 1 (12:21):
Beautiful, I'm speaking with Carol Wesser, volunteer at Spotty Dog Rescue.
Thank you so much for being here today and for
taking care of all of those fur babies.

Speaker 2 (12:31):
Allison, I am so appreciative of time, and happy holiday
to you and yours