Did you know? 

At any given time there are hundreds of animals hoping to come to rescue from all backgrounds...they are our focus...funding our rescue efforts is our focus...saving animals is our focus... It is important our community has this information so that you can help us to clarify misconceptions and spread the word of the amazing animals we serve. 

Fact: 

We serve animals from overcrowded kill shelters, rural pounds, reservations with limited resources, local surrenders, and breeding/auction backgrounds. 

 Animal Shelters

We pull animals from animal shelters, many of them kill-shelters from out of state. We work with partners who understand that we are foster based, so cannot welcome any animal with known aggression (to other animals or humans). We welcome local animals and animals from across the nation. We determine what partners and rescuers we work with by how solid they are with temperament testing. Sadly, many of the out-of-state shelters have to euthanize for space routinely. Our rescue pulling animals out is often the only chance they will ever have! 

Fun fact: Our first annual Out of the Heat rescue effort helped 102 dogs from kill shelters in Texas!

Rural Areas

We work with many rural communities that have little-to-no resources. We try to do everything we can to help them! Sometimes these rural communities are on tribal land. Due to previous negativity towards these communities, we choose not to disclose the specific areas we serve. It is important to us to protect them from backlash- as often many of these circumstances are completely out of their personal control. These are often dogs that arrive with mange, gun shot wounds, have been hit by cars, have survived in survival mode for a long time. Sadly, every winter we are notified about puppies that need help...and by the time the rescuer goes to pick them up they are already frozen to death. It is the sad reality 🙁 

Fun fact: Our annual Out of the Cold rescue effort has helped 200-450+ dogs to rescue from the cold under-resourced areas in one weekend each winter! It is incredible the difference this effort has had on the areas we serve!

Breeder backgrounds

We have welcomed many dogs from breeding backgrounds. Many directly surrendered, and many from auctions. We do not believe our participation should result in a breeder profiting, but we also believe these animals need help, so we explain our logic below! Sadly, dogs from breeding backgrounds are typically in the worst shape of them all- emotionally and medically. The saddest cases in rescue often come from these backgrounds. However, we feel good knowing that our efforts ensure they get out of the breeding cycles, breeders do not make a profit, and we spay/neuter each of our animals to end the cycle. There are also many adopters out there looking for these types of dogs, so we know that it helps to get more deserving dogs into loving homes and is not perpetuating the cycle in mills.

The auction facts:

Do you pay fees?

Yes! We pay fees for most incoming dogs from all areas though (including shelters, rural pounds, etc..).

Do breeders profit?

No! We place a safety net bid that ensures the dog has a chance to make it to rescue, and out of the mill and cycle, but without profits to breeders. How? Breeders have hard costs associated with placing a dog in the auction. This includes a consignment fee, rabies vaccination, vet inspection, health certificate and transport to sale. There are also care-expenses (though hard to think they receive any care in the condition they arrive sometime...but the fact is there are other vaccine/food/care costs). Our safety bid totals LESS than these hard costs (our cost / safety bids range from $10-$150)

We place safety net bids (anywhere from $5-$150) so the breeder does not make any money- and almost always loses money. However, these costs are in line with what we pay for rabies, exam, and health certificate for any dog we welcome to rescue from out of state from shelters, rural areas, etc (for reference- we pay $100+ minimum for the same care before the dogs from rural areas arrive). It is important to remember these are not reputable breeders, and these dogs deserve rescue and a good life. We refuse to let a breeder profit but also we recognize the importance of rescue for these souls. We feel it is unethical leaving them behind if a minimum safety bid (that again- aligns with the costs of the services they would need to get to us anyways)accomplishes that AND does not allow a profit to the breeder. We try to accept any dog that the minimal safety bid helps. In addition, we try to take any dog that is not claimed after the auction. Many of our dogs with high medical needs and veterinary care costs come from this background. We do not "cherry pick", we try to make room for whatever dog is available for the minimum safety bid. Lately- that has been a lot because mills and breeders have overproduced greatly with low-demand....(which is good)...and this is the chance these dogs need at love-filled family lives. The only exception to when we will bid fees beyond the minimum is when there is a kennel closure. Our bid for kennel closures or significant downsizing is currently $200. This is because 1) the dog likely gets their only chance out of the puppy mill cycle and 2) the dollars do not go into perpetuating the problem as the kennel is closing down/not adding more dogs. We see these as the one-shot these dogs have at knowing any kind of real life and getting OUT of mill life, and without contributing to the cycle. When we have received dogs from these backgrounds we have often been brought to tears. They are often the dogs that have been stuck living in miserable conditions their entire lives and have no idea what home life is about. There have been times in history that some exceptions have been made to our minimum bid when special consideration is warranted. The people who participate in auctions are largely puppy millers/commercial breeders...which is why rescue tries to get them out...because otherwise they end up going from one mill to another. There are also would be very minimal profit and worth saving the dog from other alternatives. 

We always try to evaluate and make the best decisions we can with the information we are provided. We accept whoever the minimum safety bid catches- we do not pick and choose. *It is important to note that the rescuer works with a large number of rescue groups, each with their own criteria on auctions. Some organizations place higher bids, and they have their own logic, but Coco's Heart does not. We included our graph below to help highlight our logic. 

Many, many, many of the breeder dogs coming to rescue right now are straight surrenders....puppies, litters, and adults. The rescuer has worked hard to facilitate that and we always try to make room for those dogs because the fact they are being surrendered in large numbers was unheard of until recently. There are local breeders that have surrendered dogs in large numbers recently too. It is unreal. Bottom line- we do our best to welcome whomever we can, and to give them the lives they deserve, without contributing to any profits. 

The general operations facts: 

The rescuer we work with has worked through the surrender program above to get the mills to surrender vs. go to auction at all. THIS IS AMAZING AND A HUGE FEAT! We welcome a high number of those surrenders. One fact recently shared is that one of the kennels started with over 700 adult breeding dogs. That breeder is now down to under 280. She is surrendering those dogs to the rescuer instead of sending them to auction. This is a huge feat because those dogs are out of the puppy mill system once and for all. What is incredible is that that is just stats from one location. We are thrilled those dogs are being surrendered to rescue instead of the alternatives. The costs associated with the surrenders are the veterinary care and transport. Fun fact: the same applies to our shelter partners- we reimburse for veterinary and transport costs. 

The rescuer also reports any health concerns to the appropriate State Board of Veterinary Health. This is important as puppy mills are legal, but being sure they take any proven concerns to the proper channels is important...hoping that eventually they will need to provide better care for the animals until they (hopefully) get their chance out. While some of the dogs have been arriving in reasonable condition lately, the majority over time have not.

We always try to do the best we can and make ethical decisions. That will always be extremely important to us. We think helping them is really important. These dogs tend to have the most problems and continue to. The fluffy French Bulldog we currently have in rescue (local breeder surrender) is likely going to have upwards of $10,000 in medical care and surgery needs. The English Bulldogs are always a mess. The adults and seniors are typically in the saddest shape. The puppies often come covered in filth, urine, and feces and are under socialized. They also often come in with serious medical concerns...not always visible to the eye. We are happy to have the opportunity to give them the care they need and to end the breeding cycles.

With all of this being said, some people are passionate about not spending a dime on helping these dogs. However, this is the best plan that feels right to us at the moment. We constantly navigate and reevaluate to be sure we are making ethical decisions.

As always we encourage everyone to take a stand against puppy mills. We hope there is a day there is no need for our help in this faucet. Until then we will continue to navigate the best we can, striving to make the most difference and also not putting money into the hand of irresponsible breeders.

Please email our director if you would like to discuss anything! We appreciate you!

Sincerely, 

Coco’s Heart Dog Rescue