Oudtshoorn dogs in need (ODIN)

Upon visiting our local municipal pound to select a puppy three years ago, we found the facility an inefficient, tragic seven-day stay-over until dogs and cats were PTS (“put to sleep”).  Since there is nobody called somebody - WE decided to make the difference. Today the entire community and a large portion of the Little Karoo – even as far as the Great Karoo and the Garden Route – is dependent upon our No-Kill Rescue Shelter. We look out for all animals – donkeys, horses, goats, sheep and even chickens.

What makes us different?

Education is not a building – it is getting out there and working with the community. 

Education is not going in and “sweeping” (“putting to sleep” 300 dogs) – it serves no purpose in teaching compassion or awareness that your pet is part of the family and should be cared for as such.  All PTS on large scale does is create more need for puppies to be bred to replace the PTS pet.

We do not believe in just removing dogs from owners - our first action is getting the yard dog healthy (thereby reducing the need for the never-ending demand for puppies), educating the owners and monitoring the re-introduction after sterilisation. Our number one horror and reaction is to remove the dog off the chain asap.

Our mantra – Rescue   Medicate   Educate   Re-Home

Our contribution is inoculations, sterilisations, vet assistance, observation of sick dogs and returning to homes when healthy and thereafter monitoring all dogs and cats that were beneficiaries of our assistance.

We are blessed in that most of our rescues are re-homed ALL OVER SA! We also make use of fosters and specialised rescue organisation eg Greyhound Rescue takes in our rescue greyhounds, Cape Dachshund Rescue takes in our rescue Dachshunds – thereby ensuring these dogs go to the right homes.

EVERY DOG & CAT GETS A HOME - whether a day, week, a month or year at our happy shelter - they all go home! We never give up! We constantly get complimented that people don’t cry when they visit our shelter because all the dogs run around together and play non-stop!

We do NOT believe in kennelling a dog for an entire day – all our intakes are sterilised asap and integrated to be social in order for then run around together in open runs! Notwithstanding that we could at any time have more than 100 dogs and 60 cats – we happily have a great turnover due to adoptions – always making a place for the next animal in need

Rescue Rocks!

Top THREE projects

• Outreaches
• On a daily basis we visit farms, indigent areas and others where animals are in need where we rescue, medicate, educate and if necessary, remove to re-home. 
• Sterilisation
• On every Outreach dogs are identified to be sterilised (as part of the holistic treatment and educational project). If the animal is not healthy, we keep them at the kennels and once they have been treated and gained weight – they are sterilised immediately. Should the family respond well to education, their pet is returned, whereafter we check up REGULARLY. We return the pet with a bag of food as a motivational reward.
• Removing the dog from chains
• We focus on removing dogs off chains IMMEDIATELY or we put an IMMEDIATE plan in action for realisation.  Our education is holistic but our conditions state clearly, we will provide all the assistance needed in all manner, on condition the dog is OFF the chain.  We assist with fencing, sterilisation, and education in dog behaviour in order to realise this outcome for each and every dog.

The future?

We are in the process of compiling a presentation to our Mayoral Committee to ensure enforcement or our By-Law prohibiting breeding.

THE SUCCESS STORIES

Every rescue is a success story.  Seldom that we would rescue the perfect dog, cat, donkey or even chicken in the perfect condition – they are a rescue for a reason.  So we have hundreds of before and after photos but have a look at Skye that landed the MOST FANTASTIC home after being rescued from inside a crate…..

Our needs

We run a fully operational kennel and outreach operation without assistance from any government or municipal organisation.  This equals to having to find the funds ourselves.  We are a very small NPO team (six members) and have a paid staff of 9 people. Being an NPO – we are exactly the same status as an SPCA and as such, carry out all the same functions.

Our need is operational, ie financial assistance for the following:

STERILISATIONS PLEASE SPONSOR A STERI FOR R350

Salaries

Petrol, maintenance of vehicles

Cleaning materials eg F10, Chlorine, Jik, Merzigan, Squeezies, brooms, poop scoops, plastic bags, black bags, etc

Kango Vet medical bill contribution

Dog and cat food

Informal medical goods – Savlon, wound sprays, deworming for cats and dogs, bandages, cotton wool (eye pads), Bravecto – any donations towards medical goods are appreciated – we are able to negotiate better prices (welfare prices)

Contact person:                      

Colleen Smith

Tel/Cell:                                       

072 084 1374

Physical Address:                      

c/o Municipal Pound, Rooiheuwel Road, Oudtshoorn 6620

Banking details:                          

Oudtshoorn Dogs in Need

Nedbank Cheque account 117 642 1395

Branch code 198 765