Border Collie Rescues: Hands Off

[Margaret M Wheeler]

Jack Russell Rescue is handled under the auspices of the JRTCA. This a good thing I think. Our state representatives are expected to facilitate rescue, but our primary rescue personnel are not state representatives. They are a tightly knit group of folks who work together to help homeless jack russells.

 

The JRTCA facilitates fundraising for this group and rarely interferes in their activities. However, there is no question that Jack Russell Rescue is the responsibilty of the board of directors of the JRTCA. Occasionally, questions arise with regard to some aspect of rescue and it is the board who is ultimately responsible for any problems. This does not necessarily mean that JRTCA rescue is always better off thanks to its close relationship to the parent club. In fact, one criticism that has been aimed at JRTCA rescue involves fiscal decisions. Some people believe that the board does not allocate rescue funds properly. However, JRTCA responsibilty for rescue does insure that all those concerned: rescuers, breeders, prospective owners, owners who surrender dogs all have the expectation that the JRTCA will be answerable if something goes awry in the rescue process. I think that this contributes a great deal to the organized and coordinated and effective character of "Russell Rescue."

 

I think I am correct in noting that none of the major working border collie organizations have any offical connection to the many and various border collie rescues around the country. While there might be many good reasons for this to be the case, I think some problems, perhaps minor problems are a result, and that these problems are represented in small on this board. This is a big complicate subject, so below I will focus on the lack of shared meaning and policy that the border collie community's hands off of rescue behavior seems to me to contribute to:

 

• Who is a Rescuer, for example? Is it someone who fosters dogs? Is it someone who facilitates placement of dogs that are homeless? Is it someone who is well-versed in a particular breeds needs and the care and training needs that must be met for a dog to flourish?
  
• What is proper conduct for a rescuer? Is there some expectation with regard to the privacy and dignity of individuals who own or breed dogs that turn up in rescue? Should a person who responds ungratefully and inappropriately to the help offered them by rescuers be taken task publically or stigmatized privately via gossip and innuendo?
  
• What sort of care are rescuers expected to provide the dogs in rescue? Can a rescuer be out of the house for a 40 hour work week and still provide proper care for the dogs in her keeping? Is there a limit on the number of dogs a rescuer should have in her keeping?
  
• What qualifications can be justifiably be expected of rescue personnel? Is a first time owner of the breed, a person who has taken beginner obedience classes qualified to speak with authority regarding the breed and its breeders? Is it appropriate for such a person to make decisions regarding the placement of dogs?
  

Well... one of the gals who posts here fairly often, was it Julie?, once commented that one of the ways that the Border Collie community compares positively with the russell community is in it's conservative approach to involvement in issues affecting the dog. So, the ABCA sticks to registering dog never straying too far afield from that central activity and the USBCHA sanctions trials and generally oversees the tests that determine the quality of working border collies in America. Both of these are big jobs, and certainly they make a lot of work for a lot of people, but it seems to me that the tight focus of these organizations,leaves a lot of areas of working border collie life, areas like rescue that seem to me to be highly relevant to the well-being of the breed open to the pressures of the market

 

Margaret

[brookcove]

I woudn't want to see rescue overseen or "taken over" by the folks who run the registries or the Handlers' Association. These people have VERY different agendas to those who successfully rehabilitate and place the majority of Border Collies. There should be more interaction, maybe a commitee in charge of communication should rescuers need to contact these groups (well, maybe for the HA, the ABCA Secretary has always been delightful to work with, at least when I was doing rescue).

 

When I did rescue I made it clear we had the same GOAL - the preservation of the breed as a working dog. We did our part by placing unwanted dogs appropriately and removing them from the gene pool. We also educated like crazy. We had connections to frisbee events, dog park events, the lowliest of the low scale pet events and put up booths there. It's difficult to imagine justifying these outreaches to the Board of the HA. Yet they were our most rewarding efforts because that's where people went who were the kind of people that adopt companion Border Collies AND some of them ended up becoming volunteers themselves!

 

I'm a member of both the ABCA and the HA so I'm certainly not knocking them. And if they put their minds to rescue efforts that would be great - but I'm pretty sure they wouldn't want to interfere with what's going on right now. If they did for some reason, the outcry would be pretty sharp - we Border Collie people are a stubborn independent lot, much like the Scots and Border folk that created this breed.

 

Rebecca

Brook Cove Farm, NC

[Margaret M Wheeler]

Thanks for the reply Rebecca. Very nicely said!

 

Did it seem that I was recommending that the HA or the ABCA take over rescue? I tried hard not to recommend anything. You might know how hard that is for me, so I probably didn't succeed!

 

I described the JRTCA rescue to provide a counterexample. I started to ask you if you think there are problems with border collie rescue, but how could you or I or anyone else know since there is no oversight of any kind? Do you know if there is a rescuer's "professional association" of any sort that provides standards for rescue organizations?

[Margaret M Wheeler]

Oh and as for being stubborn and independent: try being Basque and Scot/English and you've got my autonomous, anarchistic, collective attitued!

[brookcove]

I'm not involved anymore so I don't know intimately how things are going now. I'm pretty sure looking on the outside that there's not much to complain abut even though the "system" is pretty higgley-piggley. It developed, much like the BC, to meet the needs of the local area and the form of each local rescue follows its function. Most revolve around a single individual and reflect that person's personality and philosphies. When I was in it, we'd warn people to look for the basics - a spay/neuter policy, a contract, and humane treatment of the rescues.

 

What I hope to see from rescues nationwide is simple communication and cooperation. Check "territorial" notions at the door - the needs of the dogs should come above petty human egos. And it was usually the case, I remember, though some silly incidents also stand out in my menory. No need to change anything based on a few rogues, however.

 

Right now there is at least one and probably a few Border Collie Rescue e-mail lists that connect all these people together and help them share information when necessary. Other than that, rescue is such an intensely local thing in my belief, that a national organization would be more of a hindrance and a distraction than anything else.

[Margaret M Wheeler]

Thanks again Rebecca. I was pretty familiar with rescue and rescuers in the JRTCA, but don't know many in the Border Collie community. If the majority of them are like you then it seems I putin a couple of hours of writing for very little reason.

 

I need to process this a bit. Hopefully, I'll come up with a reply that is half as sensible as yours.