The This Lil Dog of Mine family is dedicated to supporting the animals of our community and those who have devoted their lives to taking care of them. This holiday season is a common time for families considering adopting a pet. We'd like to take the time to feature Austin Bulldog Rescue for those wanting more information about their process.

 

Austin Bulldog Rescue (ABR) is a non-profit, breed-specific, English Bulldog……etc. ABR takes in adoptable Bulldogs from animal shelters, other rescue groups, and from owners who can no longer properly care for their Bulldogs. They provide for their medical and behavioral needs. They aim to make the best match, considering the Bulldog's background and the potential family's needs. Every Rescue Bulldog is different: personality, temperament, energy, comfort with kids and other animals, medical needs, and more. They take all of these factors into consideration when making a forever-home match

 

Here's a little more of what we learned about the organization:

Q. What are your estimated current numbers? Are you experiencing overcrowding?

A. We currently have about 40 dogs in our care. All of them are in loving, carefully

vetted foster homes since we do not have a shelter or facility. Ideally, our

numbers would be closer to 20-30 dogs due to funding and volunteer capacity.

ABR relies solely on volunteers to support each foster family through medical

and behavioral challenges, so we need to make sure we aren't overwhelming our

already busy volunteers.

 

Q.  What animal makes up a majority of that number?

A. English Bulldogs, French Bulldogs, Olde English Bulldogs, and bully mixes

 

Q. What I the leading cause of animals ending up in your shelter?

A.  ABR receives a lot of owner surrenders from families who did not anticipate the

cost of owning a bulldog and can no longer financially care for them. We also

get quite a few young bulldogs due to owners expecting this breed to be lazy,

even when they are puppies. But that's not true! They need

stimulation and exercise just like any other young dog. Additionally, ABR takes a

lot of bulldogs from shelters that don't have the resources to care for this high-needs breed. One of my favorite things about ABR is that our board is always

thrilled to help senior dogs and hospice cases. We've adopted several hospice dogs this year to families who share our goal of wanting to

give them the best life possible, even if their time with them is shorter than

expected.

 

Q. What is the longest an animal has gone before being adopted?

a. Phillip is THE best behaved, most darling, loving, friendly pittie, and he's been

waiting 740 days to find his forever home!! He's AWESOME with kids, a

landlord's dream in an apartment (quiet, well-behaved, non-destructive, non-

reactive on the leash), and could live with another friendly female dog. More

about him: https://austinbulldogrescue.com/dog/phillip/

b. Gertie is a gorgeous, loving dog Argentino mix with one perky ear who has been

waiting 485 days to find her forever home! She loves to sleep with her head on

foster dad's pillow, enjoys getting hugs and kisses from every new human she

meets, and would be an amazing jogging/walking buddy for someone who wants

to get a morning run in (but then she'll just snooze the rest of the day). She

currently lives with a calm male dog, which would be a great fit for her. She is

also awesome with kids! More about her:

https://austinbulldogrescue.com/dog/phillip/

 

Q. Aside from adoption, how can the community support it?

A. FOSTER – this is our most significant need. Even if our community is begging us to save a

dog from a high-risk situation, we cannot help that dog without a safe, long-term

place for them to go. We can support fosters in Austin and nearby San Antonio,

and Houston. We also always need short-term fosters who can be utilized as

sitters in emergencies or when our foster families go on vacation. ABR

pays for all medical and training for foster families and can provide all supplies

when donations are available. Fosters can have kids, and cats, be an apartment –

they don't need to have a big house and yard! Here's more about our foster

program and a link to apply: https://austinbulldogrescue.com/foster/

b. DONATE – ABR is a non-profit, 501c3, that relies solely on donations and gifts

from our community to fund our bullies' medical and emotional recovery. We

are a rescue that does not shy away from high-expense medical cases or

heartworm-positive dogs, and we need help to ensure we can keep saving the

dogs who need us most! Here's how folks can help:

https://austinbulldogrescue.com/donate/

c. VOLUNTEER – Our fantastic volunteers power us! And

volunteers don't need to be bulldog experts to help out. We always need

assistance interviewing candidates for adoption/fostering, collecting

information from owners wanting to surrender their dogs, transporting dogs

from shelters (Freedom Rides!!), or even just vet appointments and

events. Here's our volunteer app: https://austinbulldogrescue.com/volunteer/

 

Q. What home dynamics do you feel are suitable for adopting?

A. ABR always needs adults-only/no-pet homes the most. But depending on the

dog, we can work with almost any situation. Since we don't have a

single facility where we can put eyes on every dog, we rely on fosters to share

medical and behavioral concerns in real time, including photos and videos. The most important thing we ask

from foster families is good communication and openness to learning and

applying new ways to care for and train their foster dogs.

 

Q. How can they test the waters or see if they are ready to adopt a pet?

A. Foster or sign up to be a sitter with us! Ask tons of questions about expenses,

research the products we provide for bulldog care, and plan to be able to care

for your dog into their golden years. The saddest surrenders and shelter pulls we

see are senior dogs who have been with a single-family their whole life because

nobody made plans to care for them in their old age.

 

Q.  What advice do you have for those considering adoption as a gift to someone?

A. No. Don't do it. This isn't a gift. This is a responsibility that someone needs to consider and prepare for carefully. A dog should be matched to a family and

home based on the dog's needs and the family's lifestyle. Giving a dog

based on how they look or how much someone enjoys videos of them on social

media is extremely shortsighted and doesn't take into account the long-term

the well-being of the dog.