Songdog Rescue Center | Malamute Rescue

Moving Forward While Looking Back

This year we want to bring this rescue to the next level of operation, establishing a permanent location that can serve the following purposes for our rescue. Songdog Rescue has been in operation since 1986 and used to operate as a Malamute Rescue under the acronym AMOR primarily. In 2006, Songdog became an independent rescue organization to facilitate the rescue of wolfdogs and huskies instead of remaining a strictly Alaskan Malamute rescue. Since that time, we have obtained 501 charity status and rescued thousands of dogs from neglectful owners, individuals that could no longer care for their pets, law enforcement, and local as well as regional kill shelters.

Intermediate Housing for Songdogs

Intermediate Housing would consist of outdoor covered kennel runs with dog houses in each kennel, as modeled below in many professional kennels. Quarantined animals would obtain their section separated from the other kennels. Instead of moving all Songdogs directly into foster care, we would prefer temporary housing to occur in a consolidated location for all animals upon intake. This will allow us to process each animal, so behavioral and veterinary concerns can be addressed and better match a foster dog to a foster home.

We also are in dire need of housing for returned Songdogs, as we take all of our dogs back if the adoptive home doesn’t work out, even if that’s five years down the road instead of 5 months. Without a foster home always available for a Songdog to be transitioned to after the unexpected occurs, our ability to take back our dogs is sometimes limited by how time-sensitive and urgent they are, resulting in animals being placed in boarding.

Sanctuary & Hospice Care – Dogs

While our long-term goal is to move towards the intake of adoptable dogs and providing sanctuary for Wolfdogs, we currently house dogs that are unadoptable due to behavioral or medical issues. Included in this group of dogs are adoptable seniors that are in low demand and therefore need a place to rest their heads as well as special needs adoptable dogs who are still waiting for that particular person to let them in. As with returned dogs, sometimes intentions to only bring in ‘adoptable’ animals don’t always go as planned. Developed runs will allow dogs to be housed in pairs for companionship while providing shelter for these long-term residents when they would prefer to be outside, subject to seasonal extremes that require the more delicate animals to be brought into the location caretaker’s home.

Sanctuary & Education – Wolfdogs

Sanctuary space will enable us to open our doors to the public, allowing for education while the animals remain safely in their environment. We would also like to host educational events and training clinics.

We are looking to establish well-developed Sanctuary pens for our Wolfdogs, and have been permitted to utilize Big Oak Sanctuary of Florida as a reference for our facilities. Pens will be developed to include insulated dens or underground dens, platforms for perching and basking in the sun, as well as pools for cooling off in the hot summer months. Each enclosure will be designed to house between two to five animals, and size will vary depending on the population within.

Community Involvement Facilities

We don’t just want to be a rescue off the beaten path! We want to be a place that volunteers and adopters come and enjoy spending time.

Facilities would be planned to include adoption Meet-And-Greet space, where approved adopters can come and visit multiple prospective dogs as well as introduce each family member to the potential new dog in a controlled environment.

We have already partnered with Diggler Scooters and have connections within the mushing (dog sledding) community that place us advantageously to take advantage of on-property trail systems. These trails could be used to exercise our dogs, but also open to volunteers and local adopters to exercise their former Songdogs! We also have been graciously donated used Agility equipment, which we would like to set up in a level practice area that can be used for practice, confidence-building, and daily training. With these added enrichment features and the training they would facilitate, more Songdogs would be ready for their Forever Homes in shorter amounts of time!

Volunteer housing options are also being explored so that transporters and long-distance volunteers would have a place to rest after a long day. These same housing options could eventually be utilized to explore community projects similar to the Warriors and Wolves project at LARC, which serves as a first step for veterans US Veterans transitioning back into society after active duty.