Rescued Dogs in God’s Creation

By Rev. John Guthrie

We have been fostering and transporting rescued dogs for six years. We are convinced that these precious ones constitute a singularly unique piece of God’s wondrous creation.

We began fostering rescued Roswell dogs in March of 2020, just as the nationwide COVID shutdown began. Since that time, we have fostered more than 400 dogs in our homes in Roswell and Santa Fe. Our rescue organization is Friends of Roswell Animals (FORA), and our purpose is to “pull” dogs from the Roswell City Shelter that are at risk of being euthanized when the shelter is filled to its capacity. Dogs are also euthanized for aggression (which is often due to kennel stress) and severe illness.

The dogs that FORA pulls from the Roswell shelter are fostered in the homes of our volunteers, or otherwise kennel-boarded where they are safe. Foster commitments by our volunteers could be as short as one night, or they could end up being many months, depending upon how long it takes FORA’s volunteers to find a “tag” for them from among our many rescue partner organizations, primarily in Colorado and Washington State.

FORA has several volunteers who communicate to our rescue partners information on each pulled dog: approximate age, weight, behavior with people, cats, and other dogs, etc. This communication is carried out through the internet, email messages, phone calls, and text messages. Our partners are primarily rescue organizations that arrange for the adoption of dogs they receive from us, which receive from them a “tag,” which is their commitment to take and care for the dog until it is adopted.

Dottie the rescue!

Then it becomes FORA’s job to transport the tagged dogs to their destinations, sometimes by private plane but more often using our two cargo vans, which are loaded with transport kennels (crates) to hold the dogs on their 8-hour trip from Roswell to Denver or their 26-hour trip to Seattle (with an overnight stay). Nancy has made the drive to Seattle, generally with a partner, at least 20 times.

There is a tremendous amount of administrative work involved in tracking each dog, arranging for vaccinations and health certificates necessary for them to cross state lines, advertising them to our rescue partners, and so on. There is still another crew of FORA volunteers that carry out all this administration. Nancy is a member of that crew.

Why is there a demand for Roswell street dogs in many of the cities in Colorado and Washington? Because those cities have robust and effective spay and neuter programs for the stray dogs that appear on their streets. Roswell and many other New Mexico cities and towns emphatically do not.

Often, by means of messages and photos exchanged over the internet, we can follow the progress of Roswell dogs who are fostered and eventually adopted through our partner rescue organizations in other states. It is deeply rewarding for us FORA people to see photos and videos and stories of our dogs, once at risk of euthanization, healthy and happy in their new adoptive homes. In fact, we often sit in front of a computer screen and weep, with joy.

Obviously we have many, many stories we could share, of the dogs we have fostered. Some of them are heartbreaking, but most of them are joyful. We wanted to share with you one of those, our experience with Dottie and her baby, Dolly. (We have fostered many mamas and babies over the years.)

Dottie came to stay with us as a foster late one night in August of 2022. After her trip from Roswell, she settled into her kennel with blankets and food and water. I (John) remember so well how she laid down in that safe and quiet place, almost with a sigh of relief, after who knows what harrowing experiences she had at the Roswell city shelter. (The shelter is very noisy with barking dogs.)

When we went to check on her the next morning, we found, entirely to our surprise, that she had borne two puppies overnight. No one who had cared for her knew she was pregnant. One of the puppies was either stillborn or had died shortly after birth. The other one we named Dolly.

Dottie and Dolly

Dottie was very protective of her baby and reacted strongly whenever we drew too close, so we provided for her physical needs and that was all, for a while. It was clear immediately that Dolly was not thriving, and she also died after about five days. We grieved. We think Dottie grieved, too. (Many mama dogs off the streets of Roswell are undernourished and sick.)

Dottie was still not receptive to human contact for a few days but was slowly warming to us. One day, wearing leather gloves, I picked her up and set her next to me on the couch, and cautiously petted her. From that point on her receptiveness to us grew quickly, and she turned into a happy, vibrant little dog, playing joyfully with our other dogs. Her grieving was done. We sent her on her way to one of our rescue partners in Colorado within a few days.

We are profoundly thankful for all the experiences we have had with our 400+ foster dogs. God has blessed us through them, time and again. The ones we can save, and the ones we cannot, are all precious. We believe they are, indeed, another facet of God’s astounding and wonderful creation.