The Ongoing Dog Shelter Crisis
While dog rescue has always been an important part of Peace Ridge’s mission, post-pandemic our national shelter system has been pushed into a crisis, we have significantly stepped up our effort to help our canine friends. Many of our dogs are coming from animal control here in Maine, though we also partner with shelters in the hardest hit parts of the country.
Our dogs typically fall into two main categories – dogs that are traditionally considered the “difficult to place,” primarily senior, high-needs medical and hospice dogs, semi-feral dogs, and dogs with other behavioral issues, typically from past trauma. Most of these special needs dogs will remain here as sanctuary dogs for the rest of their lives and they account for about half our dog population right now. The other half of our dogs are good candidates for adoption, and we focus on finding good, high-quality forever adoption homes. Because no one is ever given a time limit, everyone has a safe home here as long as they need it – even if that means for the rest of their lives.
Most of our dogs live in on-site staff housing, including in large pack houses managed by live-in sanctuary stewards, who live on-site to maintain our 24-hour-a-day care systems, and in smaller packs in on-site cabins with caregivers and interns. These home environments provide a soft place to land for dogs that would never know they are actually living at a shelter – and that is how we want it. This is their home.