Longtime breeder Kitty Steidel, who raises Petits Bassets Griffons Vendéens, makes an important observation in a recent article for the AKC Gazette: "If all the breed-rescue groups affiliated with our AKC parent clubs are considered together as a whole, this combined force of dedicated individuals makes up by far the largest dog-rescue operation in the country, perhaps in the world."

Indeed, the amazing dedication of the thousands of AKC parent-club rescue volunteers who pour their time, energy, and hearts into protecting and preserving their breeds and ensuring the well being of individual dogs is something that the sport can be terribly proud of. With proposals of misguided anti-dog and anti-breeder legislation all too common lately, now is an appropriate time to raise awareness nationwide of the wonderful rescue work that is just one of the ways in which our AKC breeders, fanciers, and parent clubs are doing great things every day for the good of dogs.

What do breed rescuers do, and how can breeders support their efforts? In the Summer 2012 issue of AKC Breeder, two dedicated fanciers who started very successful breed rescues shared their comments on these topics. We continue this month with insights from three more hardworking rescue volunteers who are going "above and beyond" for their respective breeds.

"I have been involved and active in breed rescue for more years than I want to admit. I was doing rescue way before the club had an official rescue capacity, and it was more or less a one-man act then. It seemed like a no-brainer for me to get involved with a breed I loved so much. If I heard of one in need, I just stepped in, and that's how it started."

"There have been quite a few. One was a born-deaf puppy less than a year old whom the owners didn't want to deal with, and the breeder wouldn't take her back, so I took her. I found her a great home through a family who had gotten a pet from me. She had a good life. Another was a 4-year-old blue roan dog who turned up in a shelter right after we moved to Georgia. He was a great dog who won my heart, but after a few months I parted with him to a wonderful home. Another was a blue and tan girl who had the worst skin from allergies that I had ever seen, and I couldn't imagine who would ever want to adopt a dog like her — but a wonderful couple did and worked with her issues, and she lived to age 14."

"The most memorable rescue was a large surrender of dogs from a large-scale breeder out West three years ago... so many dogs, with so many issues. The club pulled the rescue together with great success, however. I fostered several of the dogs and drove to pick up a load in Virginia, and I adopted a sable girl, whom I adore."

"The Internet has totally changed the face of rescue, and now people can find us. I don't think there are actually that many more dogs needing help, but now we network, and people find us, so we are seeing more dogs. The thing that is impressive is that we take many senior dogs, and many groups can't — which is understandable, because seniors need more medical care and are hard to place."

"Without a doubt the hardest part of rescue is the emotional attachment to some of the dogs, especially the ones who were undersocialized or traumatized and just didn't trust people. You work hard and gain their trust, and then when you place them you feel like you are abandoning them. It can be heart-wrenching. I have failed at this over the years and kept dogs I had no intention of keeping."

"The rewards are obvious — helping dogs find the homes they deserve, and seeing the good in people that overpowers the bad in these situations."

"The advice to breeders is don't breed more puppies than you could take back should the need arise. Breeders can help breed-rescue groups by transporting or fostering dogs, donating food or crates, grooming dogs, chipping in with financial help, or even just sharing news of available dogs."

"To all fanciers, support rescue — if not physically, then with funds. Rescue is very expensive, and if more people would donate, it would be so much better for all involved. I am proud of the national club for all it's done, but sadly the work tends to fall on the shoulders of a few, and it shouldn't be that way."

"One of our biggest challenges is to find foster homes. ECS Rescue must cover the entire country. We don't have localized rescue groups such as exist for many more numerous breeds. Take American Cocker Spaniel rescue, for example: There are independent, local rescue groups for the breed in many cities all over the U.S., with lots of resources and volunteers to pull from. Not so for ECS Rescue. I'm in Indiana, and I have two foster coordinators — one in Arizona, and one in Kentucky — and English Cocker Spaniels in need come to us from all over the country."

"Thankfully, we don't have the large numbers in rescue that some of the more popular breeds have. But that also makes it more uniquely challenging for us. We do have our national parent-club base of members, but often an English Cocker shows up in an area where none of our members are. The challenge in such a case becomes trying to find a foster home and transporting the dog there."

"In addition, fostering isn't possible for many of our members who are involved with showing and competing and have a number of their own dogs. We just don't have a base of local resources we can turn to."

"At the end of the day, it feels so great to have such successful adoptions, based on the challenges we face!"

"I find that for some breeders there seems to be a stigma attached to the word rescue. Having been a breeder myself, I do understand this to some degree, but I also believe that we as breeders have a duty and responsibility to support rescue efforts and to be partners with rescue for our specific breed."

"There are so many ways breeders and fanciers can help rescue—all the way from fundraising, to fostering, to something as simple as offering to sending out thank-yous to people who have donated funds."

"In our particular rescue, we often receive more adoption applications than we have dogs available. We also have to be concerned with funding, as the cost of vetting a rescue dog before it is adopted far outweighs the adoption fee we take in."

"Breeders sometimes get dogs back who need new homes, and typically these dogs are already vetted and spayed or neutered. When I approached one breeder about letting rescue find a new home for a dog who had come back to her, as we had many good prospective owners with applications on our waiting list, her reaction was disappointing because to her there was a stigma in turning to rescue for help."

"Consequently we set out to change that kind of perception by starting a 'Re-homing for Rescue' program. A page on the parent club's website has been set up specifically for dogs who aren't rescues themselves but need to be re-homed, and the adoption fees from these dogs go directly to rescue. Breeders can now enlist our help and anonymously utilize our volunteers for reference checks, home visits, and transportation, and the fee that is collected when a dog is placed supports true rescue situations. It's a great solution and is catching on."

"I think it's important to constantly be looking for new ways to accomplish goals. Everyone has something to offer. Sometimes rescue groups are so used to doing things the way theyve always done them that they miss out on opportunities to work with different people and ideas that can give a much-needed boost."

"My husband and I began Jacksonville Sheltie Rescue when we bred our first litter of (what we hoped would be) show Shelties. So we are actually breeder-rescuers. Among the American Shetland Sheepdog Association's national group of rescuers we have at least a half-dozen breeder-rescuers. We have at least one Sheltie rescue in each state, and in some states more than one."

"The rewards have been in saving the many, many Shelties over the years. We take in and re-home 35 to 65 a year. The difficult aspects include getting in senior pet dogs who are no longer wanted by their owners and are treated as 'throwaways.' These dogs do not deserve to be abandoned like they are. We are a rescue that takes in the seniors — and if we can't find new homes for them, they live with us in our home until they are ready to leave this earth. Thus we have more Shelties than most rescues. Some of our Sheltie rescuers have foster homes, but we do not."

"In our breed's case, we have the backing of the breed's parent club, the ASSA. Some of the members are with us, and some think it's not necessary ('their dogs don't end up in rescue'). We have a fantastic woman, a breeder-exhibitor and on-and-off ASSA officer, who handles the funds when any of our rescuers need monetary assistance. I think the Sheltie breed has the best breed rescue going."

"Breeder-fanciers need to support their rescue. Some of their dogs do end up in rescue; situations happen, and dogs from any breeder can wind up needing help."

"With the current atmosphere of antibreeder legislation, I think it's so important for the AKC breeder to be part of the solution in helping animals in need and to show what a force for good we are."

For an alphabetical list of breed-rescue groups, click here.

Through a page on the parent club's website, breeders can enlist the help of breed rescue in placing dogs who aren't rescues themselves but who need to be re-homed — and the fees received when these dogs are happily placed go directly to support true breed-rescue situations.