For The Love Of Rotts...The Michigan Connection

Our goal is to provide loving, caring, lifelong homes for abused, neglected or otherwise unwanted, Rottweilers.

We are often asked what rescue is and what adoption consists of. Although the following is not detailed, it does give a good overview of the entire process.

The process starts when we receive a phone call from a shelter, owner or other rescue, informing us a Rottweiler is in need. This puts us into action. We ascertain the dog's temperament and physical condition and, in the case of an owner surrender, the reasons the dog is being referred to us. Barring any problems, we agree to take the dog. In the case of a shelter, we pay a fee to have the dog released to us. Once the dog is accepted by us, we then begin the "home-inizing" process. The foster "parent" is charged with assessing all aspects of the dog, i.e. temperament, obedience knowledge and socialization capabilities, as well as housebreaking and crate training. The dog's health is assessed by a veterinarian. If it cannot be verified as having been performed, we pay to have the dog neutered or spayed, vaccinated, checked for heartworms and parasites, internal and external. Any medical problems are taken care of and the dog is placed on any necessary medications and heartworm preventative. While in foster care, the dog is placed on a high quality dog food, usually Science Diet, Iams or Eukanuba, depending on the foster home. When we feel the dog is ready, we proceed to the next step---the adoption.

Adoption applicants are obtained from ads, the internet web page, referrals from other rescues, word of mouth, et cetera. Paperwork is filled out. References, including past veterinary records, are verified. When the applicants are accepted, they are matched up with a dog. This is partially achieved through a series of questions on the initial application, or from the person seeing a dog they like on our web page. The family is then invited to visit the dog at the foster home. We ask that the whole family come so we can watch the "chemistry" between the dog and the family. If the family has other dogs in the home, we ask they also be brought. Then a visit to the applicant's home is made. If all goes well, more paperwork is filled out, a donation of $250.00 is made (which helps cover costs for all our rescues, including medical procedures, medications, advertising, food and other costs involved in rescue) and the dog finally goes home with the family.

Once the dog goes home with his or her new family, we ask they keep in close touch with us. If there are any problems, we will do everything we can to help solve them. We require the new owner take the dog to their veterinarian within the first 72 hours. We also strongly advise formal obedience training. We will continue to stay in touch with the dog and his or her family for the remainder of the dog's life. All this is overseen by the directors.

Many people have no idea of the amount of time or money involved in rescue. Most rescues have huge veterinary and food bills, as well as miscellaneous expenses, i.e. shelter release fees, advertising and phone bills, to mention a few. We request all people surrendering a dog make a donation to help with costs. Like all rescues, in addition to money donations, we are in need of qualified foster homes, food (Science Diet, Iams or Eukanuba), blankets, crates, collars, leads, "cookies", toys, et cetera.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. We hope it gives you a better understanding of rescue.

Note: PO Boxes will not show correctly on the map below.