A San Francisco dog rescue is launching a holiday effort to help ease the strain on local shelters and get more senior dogs adopted.
Muttville, a nonprofit San Francisco rescue for dogs over the age of seven, is aiming to bring in 100 dogs from shelters in need over ten days and find those dogs homes for the holidays.
Sherri Franklin, the CEO and founder of Muttville, explained the rescue was founded to offer support for senior shelter dogs who are struggling to get adopted. Once at Muttville, dogs stay in a house-like environment (no cages) where they can wander from room to room. Franklin said this helps the dogs to socialize and stay adoptable.
Muttville takes in dogs from a variety of shelters around the state. Franklin noted that over the holidays, shelters often become overwhelmed.
But this year, Franklin described as a "crisis." She believes the aftermath of the pandemic, financial difficulties, housing insecurity, and restrictive landlord policies play a role in the strain on shelters.
"Just in the last month, I received three separate urgent shelter help emails that were different than they had been before, [saying] 'we’re starting to have to euthanize adoptable dogs for space because we’ve run out of space,'" she said.
The Muttville team decided to make a concerted effort to bring in more dogs all at once, they set a goal to bring in 100 senior dogs over 10 days. The rescue is aiming to immediately get these dogs ready for adoption or foster homes.
Since Monday, December 4, Muttville says it has brought in 50 dogs, 33 of which have already been adopted. Muttville plans to receive 25 more dogs this Monday and then 25 more dogs between Tuesday and Wednesday.
Muttville says it is receiving dogs from shelters around the Bay Area, including Oakland Animal Services, SFSPCA, San Francisco ACC, Contra Costa County Animal Services, East Bay SPCA, Penninsula Humane, and more. The rescue also expects to receive dogs from shelters across the state, including shelters in Monterey, Sutter, Stanislaus, San Joaquin, Sacramento, Amador, Fresno, and Kern Counties.
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When the dogs arrive at Muttville, they are bathed, groomed, and checked by a veterinarian.
If you're interested in adopting or fostering one of these senior dogs, get in touch with Muttville.
At the rescue Sunday evening, the senior dogs who'd recently arrived were relaxing peacefully, perhaps dreaming of the fur-ever homes that might be waiting for them.
