Students and staff at North Harford High are helping to give abandoned dogs a second chance at life.  Freshman Alyssa Dunn, senior Cameron Laplante, junior Lillian Greco, and math teacher Mrs. Wenke Green are all involved in dog rescue or dog fostering.

     Dunn and her family have saved the lives of about 200 dogs and cats over five years from kill shelters in the south.  Dunn said that she and family pick them [dogs] up from Pikesville, MD or Virginia and take them home.” 

     Dunn’s operation is foster based, which she explained as “keeping them for a week if they are adults to make sure they’re healthy.  If they’re puppies we keep them until they’re eight weeks old, and then another week to check them out until they get adopted.” 

      While Dunn helps dogs get adopted, Laplante and his family have fostered five dogs, with  plans to keep doing so. “Although everyone wants to find their perfect family pet, many dogs in the US need homes with loving families,” said Laplante. 

    Lilly Greco is also involved in dog rescuing with her family. “Our household rescues and volunteers in whatever capacity we can,” said Mrs. Sarah Greco.  She said her family helps with fundraising, publicity, transporting, and “really anything that we can help with wherever they need us.” The Greco family has been rescuing dogs for around two years. 

     “We have, at the moment, three rescued German Shepherds. I suppose we are a bit of a failure at fostering, since any that have come to our home have stayed. It is difficult to invest so much time into something and then have to say goodbye,” said Mrs. Greco.

   She added that they got involved with this particular rescue through her vet office, Jarrettsville Veterinary. “We had lost one of our dogs to cancer and our remaining GSD stopped eating and started going downhill. Our vet suggested a buddy might help him and pointed us to Black Dogs and Company.”

     The rescue is called Black Dogs And Company Rescue, Inc.  ”The number of dogs in our rescue varies. We only have so many people who can volunteer and foster. Unfortunately we cannot rescue everyone. We just do not have the resources,”  said Mrs. Greco

        According to the ASPCA 60% of dogs that enter shelters are euthanized, while some had medical conditions that were life treatment others were perfectly healthy but not adopted in time.  It takes people only about 70 seconds to decide if they want that dog or not and may only look at a third of the options. 

     Lastly, Greco said the best advice she can give people who want to foster, adopt or rescue would be to be prepared for anything and be prepared to work. “In my experience, 9 times out of 10 you are probably rescuing a dog from a somewhat poor if not downright bad situation. Many times you have to first un-train learned behaviors and then retrain wanted behaviors through positive reinforcement.”  She mentioned that none of this can be done until the owner has established some level of trust and respect. 

“You really need to be prepared to stick to a schedule that your rescued dog can count on- routine helps immensely. It helps create that bond of trust as well as reduces anxiety in the dog. Our first rescue took us three years to balance. He was a hot mess.”

      The dog is almost 14 now, which is almost unheard of for a German shepherd, and Greco says he is really is one of the best dogs they have ever owned. “You would never have guessed that would be the outcome when we first rescued him. Many people recommended  we just put him down because he was so bad.,” said Mrs. Greco.