German Shepherd Rescue of New England (2024)

It all begins with a dog in need. They come in all ages, sizes, and colors. They come from Animal Control Officers and Shelters and owner surrenders. Each requires an evaluation and then a Board review to determine if we will be able to help the dog. Then there is transportation, micro-chipping, medical evaluations and in some cases medical care for illness or injury, grooming, dog supplies, food and sometimes boarding when there are no foster homes available. Some also need basic obedience support. Each dog also receives a photo shoot for posting on the German Shepherd Rescue of New England (GSRNE) Available Dogs page.

It is not possible for us to bring into GSRNE every German Shepherd Dog who needs help, but we do work with a variety of ages and medical conditions. Our policy is unchanged and that is to provide a safe haven to the dogs most in need. Sometimes it is an older dog like Diamond who lost her owner when she was 12. Sometimes it is a dog that needs medical care like our hero Nitro who had cancer after serving as an explosives dog in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The adoption process starts by a call to our Hotline from potential adopters. Our hotline volunteers respond to each of those calls which typically number over 1,000 each year. Applications are then sent to those who appear to meet our qualifications. Once an Application is received and reviewed, references are checked and a trained German Shepherd Rescue of New England (GSRNE) volunteer visits the home and meets with the potential adopter, family members, and resident pets.

We try to match each dog to the home where he or she will have the best chance of fitting in and getting the leadership and training needed, so we can't guarantee that each approved adopter will be matched with a dog within a specific time frame. The more variables we have to take into consideration (other dog or dogs in the family, cat or multiple cats, applicant wants a certain color or age or gender), the longer it can take to have the right dog for them. Some dogs require an experienced GSD person who knows how to be an above-average leader, and those dogs often have to wait for the best adopter to appear. Some dogs stay with us for a year or more before the right person comes along, and it wouldn't be possible to support dogs for this long (and longer) if we didn't have active volunteers doing events and fundraising in addition to the memorials and donations people send in.

The German Shepherd Rescue of New England (GSRNE) Annual Auction each April is our largest fundraiser of the year. We also hold an annual Calendar Raffle each July where ticket holders have 31 chances to win. Each year we proudly publish and sell an Annual Calendar featuring the dogs in our program. GSRNE sponsors other seasonal activities like painting parties, dog walks or harbor cruises that may vary from year-to-year. Our volunteers staff dog-focused events throughout New England every month of the year to raise funds for our dogs, primarily through education and selling GSD related merchandise such as candles, sweatshirts, tee-shirts, caps, magnets and other small items.

At the GSRNE website, www.gsrne.org, donors can select from a number of giving opportunities. The Jackson Memorial Fund for Senior Dogs, Abby’s “Leg”acy, the Mo-Bear Fund, and our Memorial and Honorarium pages, as well as general donations. Our Buddy Program provides donors a way to help support a foster dog through a one-time or monthly donation.