Info Feature: Canine Commitment Rescue

If you’ve been coming in to Kamp K9 on a regular basis lately, you know that we’ve had some special guests here. They’ve included a Border Collie mix, a Beagle/Corgi mix, an Aussie/Hound mix, and a straight Border Collie pup. All of them are dogs who were rescued from various fates (including one last-minute rescue from euthanasia) from Southern and Midwestern states. The other thing they have in common is that they were all brought to Maine by, and have found homes and new lives thanks to, a rescue organization called "Canine Commitment."

Canine Commitment is comprised of three moms - a social worker, a school psychologist, and a marketing exec - and being long-time dog owners of rescued dogs themselves, they have teamed together in their passion toward dogs. They are volunteers who work in coordination with devoted and experienced Rescuers from Tennessee, Arkansas, and Mississippi to help facilitate successful adoptions for dogs needing great homes. They hold a Maine state permit to do so, and therefore all the dogs they sponsor are healthy with well-adjusted and well-socialized temperaments, and those dogs travel with good health status paperwork as signed by veterinarians. They use Alphadog transport (www.alphadogtransport.com), a USDA approved transport service for animals. According to Victoria Reynolds, one of the "three moms", Alphadog transport "are amazing people doing an amazing job, relocating 80-100 dogs every weekend from Southern states to New England drop-off sites."

Using Petfinder.com Canine Commitment has attracted homes for over 220 dogs in the last 18 months. To Maine and New Hampshire, they sponsor many litters of pups, lots of Labs, many Aussies, frequent hounds, and other breeds, including small breed dogs. They’ve found that our local area has a demand for puppies and family profile dogs. They recently arranged for the Animal Refuge League to sponsor some of their dogs, too, and they’ve transported 5 litters of puppies and 2 adult dogs to them in the last two months. They’re thrilled about this budding relationship, as the ARL is an outstanding animal rescue and placement organization in our area.

So how does Kamp K9 fit into this picture? Services and care at Kamp K9 is sometimes coordinated for dogs who need short-term foster and assessment until their match is made with a qualified applicant, particularly when it sometimes happens that there aren’t enough foster homes for all the dogs who have made their way to Maine. Victoria states: "We are very grateful to Kamp K9 as serving as a safe haven for dogs who wait."

Their adoption process includes an application which required references (which are thoroughly checked), including a veterinarian’s reference; in some cases a home visit is made for dogs coming from Pickett Paws in TN (per their policy); and collection of adoption/transport fees, which range from $210-$300.00.

Adopt and save a life!

Random Factoid

Maine has the highest per capita rate in the northeast, if not the entire country, for adopting rescued animals.

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