UBS turns 10
Today is Valentino’s birthday. He is 7 years old. As you might surmise from all of the pictures I post of him, and the articles about his adventures, my world revolves around Tino. He is a magnificent creature, and I feel lucky to have him in my life. It’s not just luck that I have Tino, though. Ten years ago, we specifically created Useless Bay Sanctuary to help dogs like Tino’s mother, Salma. As I was thinking about starting a nonprofit, a book about starting and managing a charity said I should only start a nonprofit if it would serve a need that is not currently being met. If there already is a nonprofit serving a need, then go volunteer for them rather than starting a new charity. While there are a lot of rescues for dogs, Useless Bay Sanctuary was the first one in Western Washington, as far as I know, specifically geared to help stray dogs with no known owner, like Salma. Other great rescues for dogs, such as Old Dog Haven or Saving Great Animals, focus on helping dogs in need who are currently in the custody of a family or a shelter. Many local rescues spend most of their effort in helping dogs from the streets of Texas or Taiwan, or other places where the shelters are full and dogs have nowhere to go. UBS was the first, and I think only, rescue where you could call us and say, “Hey, I see this black German Shepherd wandering in the forest near the freeway at Snoqualmie Pass. Can you help?” Animal Control generally does not come out to collect a stray dog unless she has been contained. Most nonprofit rescues for dogs are not really equipped or trained to help a loose stray, even if it might fit in their mission statement. A dog like Salma, pregnant and lost in the forest, with no known owner looking for her--she is exactly the type of dog that Useless Bay Sanctuary was designed to help. It is very unlikely that Salma would have survived, or that Tino would be here beside me today, if we hadn’t created a nonprofit targeted at helping stray dogs with no known owner.
In ten years, UBS has helped approximately 1000 stray dogs with no known owner. Most recently, we were able to help get Drax to safety. I named him Drax The Destroyer because his skin condition kind of looks like the textured skin of the dumbest Guardian of the Galaxy, although this dog does not seem dumb at all.
Because UBS has a pool of volunteers and donors, we were able to help secure him and get him to the vet, to get started on treating his skin condition. We expect him to make a full recovery. Of course, we are still searching for his owner. When we first started UBS in August of 2013, one of our first captures was Gus, a sweet little terrier, who is still with his foster mom, Dina Graham. Dina is a founding board member of UBS, and adopted Gus after no one came forward to claim him. We have helped dogs that required hundreds of hours of volunteer effort to capture, such as Annabelle, now known as Honey. We have helped dogs who were just wandering casually not far from home. There is a Samoyed in my neighborhood who I have returned home 7 times so far. When Salma was reported to UBS, people had been trying to help her, but she would always stay out of reach, as strays often do. I drove to Snoqualmie Pass with my humane trap, and I caught Salma in ten minutes. It was a relatively easy, stress-free way to get her to safety. Tino was born the next day.
Tino is a search dog for Three Retrievers Lost Pet Rescue. He has searched for approximately 180 lost dogs in the 6 years he has been a working dog. He has located about 25% of those dogs, either dead or alive. Tino saved the life of Puppy, a 150-pound Great Pyrenees who was old and deaf, with weakness in his back legs. Puppy had been stuck in deep mud for days, in a large forest. No one would have found him by searching acres of woods. Only Tino’s nose could have located Puppy. Tino was asked to search for a black German Shepherd who looked nearly identical to his mother. She had been hit by a car and her family had searched for her for days. Tino located her body in a short time. She had run away from the road about 40 feet and she hid under a tree in the brush. It appears she died from internal bleeding after being hit by the car. She looked like she was asleep. Her family could have looked for her forever and never found her remains in the bushes. Only Tino’s nose could have found her. Tino has done absolutely critical work, which has had a huge impact on the lives of dogs and their families. Tino only exists today because a group of people got together and decided to create a nonprofit specifically targeted at helping dogs like Tino’s mother.
Of course, Tino is not just a search dog. He is also my best friend. He is my family. Valentino is photogenic, and I have thousands of pictures of him. He sings beautifully every day. He loves to play. If Tino decided he didn’t want to be a search dog, he still would be an excellent dog. If he just wanted to lay on the couch all day, that would be fine with me. In his seven years so far, he has lived a life of adventure. He loves his family, and we love him. Although it only took ten minutes for Tino’s mom to go into the trap, it took an organization willing to understand the best methods for helping stray dogs. Our expertise in knowing how to help strays, and in giving them the best care once they are caught, made all the difference in the world for Salma and Valentino. Almost certainly, they would not have survived without UBS.
When you volunteer, foster, or donate to UBS, you help us do collectively what none of us could do alone. Before we founded UBS, I helped Fozzie, a dog typical of the type UBS helps. He was reported running down the freeway. I went and trapped him in a humane trap, in about ten minutes, and kept him safe. He was right next to a freeway, where, if someone took the wrong approach, Fozzie could have been spooked back onto the freeway and he might have died. We looked for his original family for months, but no one came forward. I adopted Fozzie, and I’m lucky to have him. However, I can’t just adopt every stray dog whose owners don’t claim them. Fozzie was the inspiration for UBS, so there would be an organization to help dogs like him, and the burden wouldn’t always fall on one individual. By creating a team of volunteers, fosters, and donors, UBS has been able to help hundreds of dogs like Fozzie, who otherwise might not have been helped. I am thankful for all of the support our nonprofit has received. People like you make it possible for me to have Fozzie and Tino snoozing nearby as I write this. Thank you.
Thank you and Tino for all the great work you do.
So happy to have the background on how it all came to be. Thank you for all that you and all of the volunteers do to help the strays.