Tag: rehab
ASPCA opens rehab center for abused dogs
Dogs who have been hoarded, abused, fought or confined to puppy mills now have a new place to get over such traumas — the ASPCA has opened a rehab center in New Jersey.
It’s described as the first-ever facility dedicated strictly to providing behavioral rehabilitation to canine victims of cruelty.
The center opened this week as a partnership between the ASPCA and St. Hubert’s Animal Welfare Center in Madison, N.J., according to a press release.
In addition to working to rehabilitate the dogs who end up there, the center’s findings will be the basis of a research study that will be shared with shelters and rescue groups across the country.
“For some animals, the reality is that after a lifetime of neglect and abuse, the rescue is just the beginning of their journey to recovery,” said Dr. Pamela Reid, vice president of the ASPCA’s Anti-Cruelty Behavior Team.
“The ASPCA recognized the need for a rehabilitation center that will provide rescued dogs customized behavior treatment and more time to recover, increasing the likelihood that they will be adopted.”
Dogs eligible for treatment at the ASPCA Behavioral Rehabilitation Center will be those rescued from animal cruelty investigations conducted by the ASPCA as well as by other shelters and rescue groups.
The ASPCA says dogs admitted to the center will undergo an intensive rehabilitation regimen, including customized behavior modification treatments to reduce fear and anxiety.
Treatment plans will incorporate the use of “scientifically sound techniques designed to reduce the dogs’ fear of people and other dogs, acquainting them to unfamiliar objects, sounds, living areas, and real-life situations that can induce trauma and severe stress among this population.”
The primary goal is to improve their well-being and help them become suitable for adoption.
Work conducted at the center will be featured in a research study evaluating successful methods and treatment protocols for rehabilitating undersocialized, fearful dogs. The findings will be shared with animal welfare organizations and scientific communities nationwide.
“Many shelters around the country are doing great work in terms of rehabilitation and behavior modification, but often times they are stretched thin and may not have the resources to work with animals who need more time,” said Kristen Collins, director of ASPCA Anti-Cruelty Behavior Rehabilitation.
“Our goal is to not only rehabilitate the dogs we admit into the program, but to also collect data for our research study so we can share these findings with other animal shelters and rescue groups. We want others to be equipped to better treat those undersocialized dogs in their care so they can save more animals.”
(Photo: ACPCA photo of Musketeer, a five-year-old pit bull mix, with Pia Silvani, vice president of Training and Behavior for St. Hubert’s, at the ASPCA Behavioral Rehabilitation Center in Madison, N.J.)
Posted by jwoestendiek March 13th, 2013 under Muttsblog.
Tags: abuse, animals, aspca, behavior, behavior modification, behavioral, cruelty, dog fighting, dogfighting, dogs, evaluation, fear, hoarders, hoarding, madison, new jersey, pets, puppy mills, recovery, rehab, rehabilitation, rescues, research, shelters, st huberts animal welfare center, trauma
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Fabio the Maltese gets help in New Orleans
Fabio, a Maltese in Florida whose back paws were cut off to stop him from jumping over a fence, is headed to New Orleans for evaluation, prosthetics and rehab.
The four-year-old dog, who hasn’t let being hobbled slow him down too much, was being flown to see a team of specialists who will determine what sort of prosthetic devices might help him get around, said Joani Ellis of Florida Poodle Rescue.
“Fabio does not need us. Fabio’s making it on his own,” Dr. Allison Barca, the vet who’s heading the team of specialists, told Action News. “We’re just going to try to make it better for him.”
“I just think he needs something to help the stumps to feel comfortable … You just can’t order a set of boots that are going to strap to his legs. They’re going to have to be altered to fit this little dog individually,” she said.
Dr. Barca was part of a group that outfitted Molly the Shetland pony with a prosthetic leg after Hurricane Katrina.
Fabio was dropped off at a shelter in Miami and taken in by Florida Poodle Rescue, Action News reported earlier this year. His legs had been cut off just above the paw joint.
“The story was that his feet were cut off because he was trying to be an escape artist and climb a chain link fence,” Ellis said. ”And if that’s the worst he ever did, I think the punishment was certainly more than his crime.”
Officials say, based on the amount of callous on the stumps, that probably happened within the last year.
In New Orleans, Fabio will also spend time at Dag’s House, a rehab center for dogs with physical challenges. Ellis said some Dag’s House dogs have gone on to walk in parades in New Orleans.
“I would love to be waving a handkerchief and following Fabio in a second-line parade,” Ellis said. “That would be my dream.”
Posted by jwoestendiek March 12th, 2013 under Muttsblog, videos.
Tags: allison barca, animals, cruelty to animals, cut, dag's house, dog, dogs, fabio, fence, florida poodle rescue, joani ellis, jumping, maltese, miami, off, paws, pets, prosthetics, punishment, rehab, rehabilitation, rescue, shelter, veterinary
Comments: 5
Dogs Deserve Better closes on Vick house
It’s a done deal: Dogs Deserve Better, a nonprofit group that fights chaining, penning and other forms of cruelty to dogs, has closed on Michael Vick’s old house — the former headquarters of the quarterback’s dogfighting operation, Bad Newz Kennels.
Dogs Deserve Better plans to turn the property in Surry County, Virginia, into a center to rehabilitate and resocialize dogs that have been mistreated and abused, with the hope of finding them adoptive homes.
The name of the facility will be: The Good Newz Rehab Center for Chained and Penned Dogs.
The potential deal, which we told you about in February, became a reality in May, when Dogs Deserve Better raised enough money for the down payment and secured a bank loan to purchase the 4,600-square-foot white brick house and surrounding 15 acres.
The group paid $176,507 as the down payment for the house, liisted at $595,000, and is still raising money to pay for the rest and make improvements.
Once complete, it will be a $2.5 million facility, founder Tamira Thayne said told the Virginian-Pilot.
“Purchasing this property and in effect giving it back to the victims of the abuse that occurred here is a very powerful step for animal advocates and our country’s dogs alike,” said Thayne. “We are sending a message to those who want to abuse and fight dogs that a new day is dawning in America, a day where dogs are treated with the love and respect they deserve as companions to humans.”
The Washington Post had a report on the property’s transition from a place of nightmares to a place of hope earlier this month.
Dogs Deserve Better, which will move from its Pennsylvania base to Virginia, has never had a facility of its own, but it says it has rescued and rehomed more than 3,000 dogs during its existence.
Dogs Deserve Better says having the facililty in a house will help in socializing the dogs it takes in. The group hopes to rescue and rehabilitate 500 dogs a year.
Thayne said that, in addition to welcoming visitors, Dogs Deserve Better will also build a memorial on the property for the dogs who died and suffered there, according to Dogster.com.
For more information on the purchase, the plans and how you can donate, visit the website of Dogs Deserve Better.
Posted by jwoestendiek June 1st, 2011 under Muttsblog.
Tags: abused, adopt, adoption, animals, bad newz kennels, bought, buys, center, chained, dogfighting, dogs, dogs deserve better, dogster, football, former, good newz rehab center, home, house, michael vick, mistreated, moonlight road, nfl, operation, penned, pets, philadelphia eagles, pit bulls, property, purchase, rehab, rehabilitation, rescue, ring, surry county, tamira thayne, virginia
Comments: 4