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"No-Kill Shelter for Dogs Less than 40 Pounds in Weight" ™ About Our Agency |
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Thank you for your interest in our agency. Click on any of the links below to find out more about us!
Fetch 11 Humane Society, Inc. is a tiny, privately owned all-volunteer, 501(c)(3) non-profit charitable organization focused around providing no-kill shelter for dogs less than 40 pounds in weight. We are located in Northern California in Shasta County. Although we will take in any dog that meets our intake criteria (when we have room), we have come to specialize in pregnant dogs, mamas with litters of pups, orphaned puppies, and fear-aggressive Chihuahuas. We have also taken in several "special needs" dogs that were crippled, blind, deaf, suffering with mange, and/or traumatized by abuse.
Our agency was founded in 2004 and incorporated in 2005, and since the agency's inception we have been able to re-home about 100 displaced, abandoned and stray dogs per year. We're a very small agency, and have very limited space in our shelter house so we can't manage a lot of dogs at one time; but we've developed a system that allows us to adopt dogs out relatively quickly. Usually, dogs are with us for about 1 or 2 months before finding permanent adoptive placement, but some dogs have been adopted in one day (!) and other dogs have taken us about 2 years to place.
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We will only euthanize a dog if it is terminally ill or has a chronic disorder that keeps the dog in pain and makes it impossible for the dog to have any quality of life; or if the dog is dangerously aggressive, poses a threat to the safety of the other dogs or humans around it, and it has resisted all of our attempts at behavior modification. When a decision is made to euthanize an animal, one of our staff members goes with the dog to the veterinary clinic and sees the dog through the procedure so it does not die alone. We only allow dogs to be euthanized by lethal injection. We then take care to either cremate or properly inter the dog's remains. We believe in treating the dogs with dignity from birth to death. Since the agency's inception, we have only had to euthanize one dog.
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Our dogs are not kept in cement-and-chain-link kennels. Instead, we keep the dogs in a "shelter house" (a house specifically set aside for the dogs) where they live together and are cared for by staff members. The dogs eat and sleep in their crates, but otherwise have the run of the house, and get outside to exercise in our small play yard at least once a day. We keep one room in the house set aside for pregnant dogs (or mama dogs with litters of pups.) Each dog receives a full-body massage every day, and is fed a modified raw food diet (which is based around kibble but also incorporates raw meat, eggs, vegetables and fruit). Puppies get at least two meals a day, and adult dogs get one meal per day. Fresh well water is always available for them.
All dogs in our care are given DHLPP and rabies vaccinations (as appropriate to their age). When funds permit, we also do a heartworm test on dogs old enough to be tested. Puppies are given a fecal exam and are wormed (as needed). Dogs over the age of 6 months are spayed / neutered before adoption whenever possible. If a dog is adopted out before it can be altered, the adopter is responsible for having the dog altered and signs a spay/neuter agreement to that effect. We make sure every dog in our care is checked by a licensed veterinarian to ensure that it is healthy and physically fit for adoption.
Along with the dogs, we also keep a small number of Assessment Cats on the property. These are cats that are people-friendly and completely used to having dogs around them. Having the cats on the property lets us see how the dogs react to felines, gives us the opportunity to teach dogs how to accept (or at least tolerate) cats, and lets us raise any litters of pups that come our way with the cats, so they grow up being cat-friendly dogs.
Our Current Assessment Cats
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Fetch 11 Humane Society, Inc. is an all-volunteer agency. No one who works for us gets paid for what they do for the agency.
We use only local licensed veterinarians for the dog's veterinary needs.
Our agency's founder has over 30 years of experience with dogs, and has certificates in shelter management, shelter enrichment, and behavior assessments for dogs from the Humane Society University (of the Humane Society of the United States).
We have developed all of our forms, databases, manuals and protocols ourselves, and would be happy to assist other small non-profit animal welfare groups to do the same.
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To contact us we prefer that you use e-mail whenever possible. E-mail correspondence lets keep a written record of all contacts and inquiries, and we can add them to the agency's computer database.
E-Mail us at:
Write us at: Fetch 11 Humane Society, Inc. PO Box 688 Shasta, CA 96087-0688
Telephone us at: (530) 241-2342 (*)
(*) If you call us, you will probably be greeted by an answering machine (because we're usually so busy with dogs) so feel free to leave a message and we'll get back to you as soon as possible. Please do not call to try to place a dog with us or adopt a dog from us; instead, follow our prescribed placement and adoption procedures. To help us conserve our limited funds, we do not return long-distance telephone calls (and use e-mail for all long-distance communication). |
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This website, its contents, text and images are the property of Fetch 11 Humane Society, Inc. and Mary K. Hanson. Copyright (c) 2008, All Rights Reserved. For problems with this website contact the webmistress or e-mail F11. |
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