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Our new Rescue First program at Dogstuff.com has been in operation for just over a week, now, and it already has created more than $1,100 in contributions to dog and pet rescues around the country.

Dogstuff always has helped raise money for rescue, but Rescue First is a way of making assistance to rescue a full-time part of our business.

The principle is simple - every purchase from dogstuff.com creates a contribution for rescue. Participating rescues receive a commission ranging from three percent to seven percent of each purchase, depending upon how actively they’ve chosen to participate.

Customers can pick a rescue to support from among our listed groups or suggest a favorite rescue to add to the list. If they don’t choose a rescue, a commission from their purchase goes to our featured rescue, a different one every day.

There is no extra cost to the customer, and none to the rescue organizations - the contribution comes right off the top of our revenue for each sale.

Rescue. First. Simple, yes?

So from now on, if you buy anything from the Dogstuff website, we can happily say to you, “Thank you for being our customer and for supporting rescue.”

(Current rescues, listed by their state, regional or national activity, are here and a full alphabetical listing is here)

The quilt was assembled from blocks made by talented quilters across the country. This quilt is a true act of love through the donations and talents of Golden Retriever lovers. The quilt depicts the many aspects in the life and work of Golden Retrievers and their owners.

The quilt top is constructed using hand dyed batik fabrics of high quality cotton. The quilt measures 106″ x 106″ and will be a wonderful art display or bed quilt for the lucky winner. The quilt will have a pocket for a hanging rod should the winner choose to hang this work of art.

Detailed views of the quilting squares and raffle ticket information are here.

Proceeds will benefit the April Fund and the many rescued Golden Retrievers needing medical care. To learn more about the April Fund go to: http://goldenretrieverfoundation.org Thanks so much for your support..

In Irag and Afghanistan, two extraordinary women - Farah Murrani, heroine of the Baghdad Zoo, and journalist Pam Constable, respectively - have established rescue organizations geared toward easing the plight of furry victims of war.In Baghdad, the Iraqi Society for Animal Welfare:

https://baghdadpups.com/donation/contribute.php?source=DONATE

and in Kabul, Afghan Stray Animals:

http://www.afghanstrayanimals.org/index.html.

Both operations also assist soldiers whenever possible. Check out the shelters’ websites to see the wish lists and view the way too cute photo galleries.

Animal lovers show support for military by making it possible for soldiers to bring their mascots home.

Dusty was a young thing, but she knew how to get noticed by the right people. American Army soldiers patrolling an oilfield near Kirkuk, Iraq in the spring of 2003 took her on board as she scampered up to their Humvee and soon she was a fixture at camp.

Like other dogs and cats befriended by the troops, Dusty had to be kept under wraps: officially orders were clear. No pets allowed. An Army Captain sought to make arrangements to send Dusty, then a four month-old, home to his wife and kids but even when he found a sympathetic official ear, the astronomical $4,000 price tag made rescue out of the question.

Enter Betty Buckley from Massachusetts. When she heard about the situation, she took it upon herself to raise the money for to bring Dusty home. In the process she founded Military Mascots: http://militarymascots.org/index.html.

Operating with donations, Military Mascots sends care packages to provide for the strays who’ve given so much comfort to their soldiers deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan. When a soldier requests funds to help with transport, Buckley goes to work soliciting donations through her website even making arrangments, if necessary, through her nationwide network of volunteers for the pet to be met at customs and transported to its soldier’s home or a temporary foster home.

In the beginning Buckley was careful not to call attention to her group, refusing to issue press releases and grant interviews lest she draw unwelcome attention from military brass causing a crackdown on the troops who’ve shown such kindness to their former strays.

Her group also supports working military K9s, sending care packages filled with treats, toys and Kongs when donations permit.

To get involved or make a donation, refer to: militarymascots.org.

Update - the Challenge is complete and Newnan-Coweta did very well - thanks for your help.

The Newnan Coweta Humane Society www.shelterrescue.org is entered in the Kevin Bacon / America’s Giving Challenge, and has an opportunity to win a $50,000 grant! In order to win, NCHS must be one of the top 4 charities to receive the most donations of $10 or more. To put it simply, it’s not the amount of money raised, but the number of donors who give $10 each! Please donate through the orange donate button on our badge; you can give any amount, but we only need $10 per person for it to count as a vote!

Coweta, just one of many Georgia high kill shelters, has a group of dedicated volunteers, members of NCHS, who go to the shelter every day to love the animals, give biscuits to the animals, and spend time with the animals, knowing they may very well be gone by the next morning! The shelter budget does not even allow for minimal vaccinations and veterinary care—little awaits most of the animals but death!

The numbers are staggering, but we have a dream to put an end to this senseless waste of life. We have dreams of a facility in which these animals can be safely placed and vetted, made whole and healthy, and then find forever homes. There is already a network of rescuers nationwide trying to help the Georgia shelters, but we need some basics to facilitate all of this. Spay and neuter, vaccines, a safe haven—these are the things we’re working for. We have big dreams, and with your help, we can turn these dreams to reality!

Update: The Challenge is complete and 11th Hour Rescue did very well!

Thanks for your help.

We got this from our friends at 11th Hour Rescue who asked us to pass it along to all who might be interested in helping them build a kennel to aid in their mission of saving dogs from high-kill shelters. It looks like a great way to leverage a small donation into a chance for a big one and we’re always glad to help any rescue participating in our Rescue First program.

You can help us turn $10 into $50,0000 and give shelter dogs a second chance at life!

11th Hour Rescue is once again participating in a challenge being offered by Six Degrees, partnered with the Case Foundation and Parade on America’s Giving Challenge. The four US charity badges that have the most unique donors through the America’s Giving Challenge will receive $50,000 for their cause.

A unique donation is defined as one single donation per individual. This means that duplicate donations from the same individual to a single charity badge will only count once.

We are entered in this contest for our rescue and need the help of each and every one of you. The Challenge ends on January 31, 2008 at 3:00 pm eastern time so please hurry!

We focus on saving wonderful, highly adoptable dogs from kill shelters and we are a 501c3 organization. So many more lives can be saved with this money! Proceeds will also go towards funding our new kennel !!!

Donations are tax deductible and all we need is a $10 donation made thru our “charity badge” to have a chance at $50,000!
It is NOT the organization with the most money in donations that wins BUT THE ORGANIZATION THAT HAS THE HIGHEST NUMBER OF DONORS….. We are asking for your help to win this grant

The top four charities with the most number of donations will receive the matching grant.Thank you in advance for any help you can give us and our rescued dogs.

…for the new Small Rescues Fund - part of the Rescue First program at Dogstuff.com

The idea for the Small Rescues Fund came about while we were looking at literally hundreds of rescue websites across the country to find groups to invite to join the Rescue First program. Rescue First donates money to rescue organizations every time someone makes a purchase at the dogstuff.com website.

Our research turned up a lot of rescue groups that are active, well-organized and very businesslike in their operations. That’s great for the dogs who need their help - they have a lot of resources to bring to bear on the problems of abandoned and stray pets. You’ll find a number of them listed in our directory of Rescue First participants.

There are quite a few others, though, (often in rural areas) that give their hearts and hands and commitment to rescue but have few resources to draw upon in trying to help the animals that need them. Often they are tiny groups, with a handful of overworked volunteers, no corporate sponsors and minimal ability to promote their cause on the Internet or raise funds.

So we created the Small Rescues Fund to see if we can help a little, by collecting a portion of Dogstuff’s revenue to create a fund that gives small grants to small rescues in the hope of helping them pay the next vet/food/supplies bill that comes due.

We’re not kidding ourselves that we will have a huge impact but we plan to help where we can and, in the process, let small rescues know that we are grateful for what they do.

So whenever you see us featuring Miss Rosie’s smiling face while you are shopping at Dogstuff, you’re helping small rescues, too, with every purchase - and we are as grateful for that as they will be.

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…how to sign up their favorite rescue group for the Rescue First program at Dogstuff. (And well they might - Rescue First has produced over $3,500 in donations to rescue groups in just under three weeks of operation)

The easiest way is to go here:

http://www.dogstuff.com/rescue-directory/

and then cruise the directory to find the appropriate state (or regional or national) that applies to your rescue. Then (and this is important), click the appropriate breed (or “other” if we don’t have a rescue in the list yet serving your breed) and you’ll go to a page that lists the rescues already in the directory for that breed. At the bottom of this page, find and click the “Suggest a Rescue” link. You’ll see a form into which you can add basic information about the rescue you think we should add to the Rescue First program.

Let’s say you wanted to add the Shaggy Dog rescue in Missouri. You’d first choose “Missouri” from the list of states, and then choose “Other” because we don’t have a Shaggy Dog rescue group in MO yet. You will see a page that looks like this:

After clicking on the “Suggest a Rescue” link at the bottom of the window, you will see a simple form to fill out and submit that looks like this:

Click “Suggest Rescue” and you’re done. We’ll take it from there and in a few days your favorite rescue should appear on our list.