Volunteers at animal shelters play a vital role in rehabilitating dogs rescued from abusive situations like puppy mills and hoarding cases. They provide daily care such as cleaning, feeding, and walking for the dogs as they recover from injuries, illness, and trauma. Through this individual attention and care over weeks or months, the dogs' health and behavior improve dramatically as they transform from scared and sick animals to happy, adoptable pets. The difficult but rewarding work of the volunteers helps give these rescued dogs a second chance at finding loving homes.

1. RESCUE
The unsung heroes that rehabilitate dogs rescued from
egregious abuse—think puppy mill seizures and hoarding
cases—play a vital, if oftentimes unrecognized, role in
saving animals desperately in need of a second chance
and hereto unknown human kindness
By Christopher Paré
THE INBETWEENERS
PHOTOFRANCISVACHON/APIMAGESFORHSI
Dogs awaiting rescue during a
large-scale dog rescue operation
in Bonsecours, Quebec.
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2. A
lot happens in between a rescue operation and adoption, but sheltering doesn’t
always get the recognition it deserves. It’s a long road to recovery for abused
and neglected animals, with volunteers working hard behind-the-scenes to give
deserving dogs and cats (and roosters?) a second chance at a happy life.
Blink and you missed it—an asphalt lot, two non-descript warehouses, and a whole lot
of emptiness. Trucks and local commuter traffic whiz by along a rural road, the drivers
clueless to the fact they’re within barking distance of an emergency animal shelter. What
they don’t know is that it’s kept secret for a reason.
Inside, hundreds of dogs and cats and even a few roosters are in various stages of
recuperation, having been seized from terrible situations. These survivors—emaciated,
parasite ridden, malnourished, scared, and battling infection—have been removed from
hoarding or abusive situations. They begin their road to recovery at this facility, where
selfless volunteers spend their days cleaning cages, scrubbing floors, and making life
more bearable for their furry wards while the legal system decides custody.
Take Maggy, for instance—rescuers found this sweet, blond Pomeranian crammed into
a tiny cage filled with other dogs inside a densely-packed puppy mill. Born a prisoner, she
never received the care and attention she so desperately needed. When Maggy was finally
liberated from her cage, veterinary technicians discovered she was suffering from a very
large and very painful bleeding tumor on her abdomen. Thankfully, she received immedi-
ate attention, followed by weeks of individual care, and today she lives a happy, healthy
life with her adoptive family.
PHOTOMICHAELBERNARD
One of the dogs rescued from a puppy mill in Quebec by HSI/Canada and the
Quebec Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Food. Volunteers and staff help
with the daily care of over 200 rescued dogs.
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3. DRACOSUBMITTEDBYKRISTINAMCKENZIE
From puppy mill to
forever home: how it works
Animal welfare laws and rescue protocol vary from state-to-state
and province-to-province. Typically, an animal welfare organiza-
tion is only allowed to carry out inspections and seizures if some
level of government mandates them to do so. A rescue occurs
following inspections that prove the animals on the premise are
not being adequately cared for according to law. It is usually only
the most egregious cases of abuse or neglect that result in a sei-
zure. These are the animals that end up in an interim facility as
described above.
Once the animals are rescued and removed from the property,
they are transported to a shelter or emergency facility where they
are housed and cared for until a judge has ruled on the case.
This process can take weeks, months, sometimes even up to a
year—which places tremendous strain on the people responsible
for providing care.
Humane Society International/Canada, a non-profit animal
welfare organization, knows these pressures all too well. Based in
Montreal, they work with the Quebec government and assist in
rescue operations. They also have the sole responsibility of man-
aging the emergency shelter, the location of which is kept a secret
for security reasons. And because the running and operation of
the shelter is almost entirely dependent upon fundraising, money
is always in short supply and volunteers are worth their weight
in gold.
A passion for helping
animals in need
It was September 2011 when volunteer Jennifer Rose got the call
to assist HSI/Canada in what would later be confirmed as the
largest puppy mill seizure in Canadian history. “It was a life-
changing experience to see 570 dogs arrive at the shelter, truck-
load after truckload at all hours of the night,” she recounted.
Though the dogs ended up being at the shelter for three
months, Jennifer continued to show up to volunteer; she had
caught the volunteer bug, she said, after one of her first foster
experiences, a puppy mill dog who was “terrified of everything
when she arrived, and it broke my heart. When I read about the
volunteers who helped get her out of that horrible place I knew I
needed to find out how I could do that too. It’s been my mission
ever since.”
The transformation of the rescued dogs is nothing short of
miraculous. “I have seen animals come in that are terrified, anx-
ious, thin, ill…and I get to see their personalities slowly emerge
over time. I love when we get to take the dogs outside—many of
them have never seen grass, or even been outside. At first they’re
scared but then they start to relax enough to enjoy the feel of the
sun and smell of the grass—it’s truly amazing! These milestones
make my heart swell and I could not love them more.”
Nearly 90 animals were rescued from a puppy
mill in Quebec on June 16, 2015. The rescued
animals include a variety of small breeds,
including Yorkies and Bichon Frises.
Once removed from the premises,
rescuers transported the animals to
an emergency shelter where they
received veterinary treatment and care
from staff and volunteers.
One of the puppies
rescued by HSI.
Puppies saved during a large-scale
dog rescue in Bonsecours, Quebec.
INSETPHOTOESTRIEPUPPYMILL
RESCUE/JO-ANNEMCARTHUR
PHOTOMICHAELBERNARDINSETPHOTOFRANCIS
VACHON/APIMAGESFORHSI
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4. The toughest job you’ll ever love
To be clear, rehabilitating rescue dogs is much more than tummy
rubs and playing fetch. Team leaders arrive at the emergency shel-
ter at around 7:45 am and are letting dogs out for their morning
walk by 8 am. When the dogs are outside, a volunteer will clean
the cage and replace the cardboard that lines the floor. Depending
on the dog and the state of his or her digestive tract, some enclo-
sures can end up being more work to clean than others. You get
the gist.
Once everyone is walked and had their cages cleaned, it’s feed-
ing time. After some grub, the barking subsides and volunteers
get busy mopping the floor and taking out the trash. A donated
washer and dryer rumble along as a never-ending rotation of flan-
nel doggie blankets and mop heads are cleaned for the umpteenth
time. By the time noon rolls around you’ve already put in one
helluva day… and it’s only half over. Then it’s more walking,
more cage-cleaning, another meal, a good sweep and mop, then
if there’s time, enrichment—that’s special one-on-one time where
dogs get individual love and attention. One team leader even mas-
sages the dogs (when that leg starts going you know you hit the
magic spot!).
Everyone has their own take on enrichment, and classic rock
fans will no doubt delight in Jennifer’s unique brand of canine
therapy. “There was a Husky who would try to make herself as
small as she could at the back of her run because she was so
overwhelmed and afraid. One day I went into her run with her
and just sat on the floor, not looking at her. I started to sing to her,
and the first thing that came to mind was “Stairway to Heaven.”
As I was singing I felt her get up and slowly approach me. She
started to gently sniff my hair and clothes while I kept singing.
From that moment on she would come to me to take treats or let
me put a leash on her to take her out for some fresh air. We had a
special bond.”
So special, in fact, that she gave her new friend a special
name—something to always remind Jennifer why she kept going
back to help, day after day. “I named her Zeppelin.”
Flash-forward four years and Jennifer is at the airport awaiting
a flight to go train other volunteers. She chokes up at the memory
of some of the first dogs she helped. It dawns on her how far
she’s come, and she says she feels privileged to be passing on her
knowledge to others wishing to make a difference in the lives of
animals who have, thus far, only known the worst of humanity.
“I tell people when I do these training sessions that it honestly
changed my life. I’ve met the most incredible people, the most
incredible animals; I’ve seen dogs go from having no life in their
eyes to the beginning of a twinkle, a spark of hope… it’s opened
up a whole new world to me. Anything I can do—whether it’s
training volunteers or helping at the shelter—I want to do to make
a difference and, in the process, make our world a better place for
animals.” n
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