GWP RESCUE
National GWP Rescue Program – A Frank Discussion By Diane Turner, National Rescue Coordinator
Following is the “good news and bad news” of the GWPCA rescue program. 501c3 Status Granted: There is much good news. After years of waiting, National GWP Rescue, Inc. has received federal non-profit (501c3) status. Donations to rescue will now be tax-deductible. This status will also enable national rescue coordinators and fosters to take dogs out of some shelters and animal control facilities without pull fees or adopting the dogs. And the status offers some liability protection for the club and its officers. Insurance Coverage: The insurance has been finalized and we now have one million dollars worth of liability insurance and $10,000 in property damage coverage per incident. This covers the club, the board, our fosters, our transporters and our evaluators. Acceptance with PetFinder: We have now been approved for a PetFinder account and are awaiting some final paperwork prior to getting the rescue dogs listed with the online agency. The dogs will be listed by region and we have designated the west coast, southwest, rocky mountain, south and east as our regions. New NGWPR Website Coming: In the upcoming weeks, rescue will have a new website. Thanks to Amy and Adam Cunningham, who have donated the site, rescue will not only be able to feature each rescue dog, along with its information, but the site will also allow adoption and foster applications and reimbursement forms to be filled out on-line. The new site will allow us to do volunteer training on-line. We will be able to accept on-line credit card donations and the site will feature a gift-store. Numerous artists have offered to support our online store with their GWP items. These items will be varied in price and will offer a wide variety of unique gifts. Once the store is up and operating items may be purchased with a major credit card.
16
WIRE NEWS
©2010 GWPCA
New Regional Coordinators: NGWPR is pleased to announce that Garnett Persinger has agreed to be the Eastern Foster Coordinator, Heidi Baumbarger has agreed to serve as the Coordinator for the Southern region, Amy Cunningham will handle the Rocky Mountain area and Diane Turner will act as the coordinator for the Southwest. The coordinators will handle the development of a foster system in each of their areas, they will deal with shelters and animal control facilities in arranging the release of shelter dogs to NGWPR, they will also organize temperament evaluations and transport for the rescues in their area and work with owners wanting to release their GWPs into our rescue program. Owner Release and Shelter Protocol: The rescue program is grateful for the help of our members in identifying dogs in shelters, animal control facilities and owners who wish to re-home their GWPs and we are even more grateful when our members offer to take in a rescue dog. However due to liability issues ALL owner releases must be evaluated for temperament prior to be acceptance into the rescue program. If you are contacted by an owner who wishes to give up a GWP please speak with your regional coordinator or the national coordinator prior to making any commitment on behalf of the rescue program. The owner will be contacted and a temperament evaluation scheduled. Most shelters and animal control facilities do temperament evaluations prior to releasing dogs for public adoption or to a rescue program. Not always are those evaluations an accurate portrayal of the dogs personality, but it can give an indication of an underlying problem. Temperament evaluations may seem an unnecessary step; however, some owners quickly become “rescue savvy” after calling a few local rescues and finding that their dog does not qualify for a rescue program due to a personality issue. In such cases an owner may minimize the problems they have encountered with their dog. It is