Welcome!

Welcome, my friends, to the Used Dogs blog. This is a new venture for me, and I hope that you will join me in it.

Rescue can be an overwhelming and sometimes lonely path. "Overwhelming" because the stream of pets needing rescue is unending, and "lonely" because the pets in our charge require constant care, allowing us no time for vacation, break or even, it seems, a cup of coffee. As a result, volunteers quickly burn out and friends move on.

Did that sound like whining? I hope not. It certainly isn't my intent. Instead, it is one of the reasons I have started this blog. It is a place for me to journal my experiences, to share my insights and, hopefully, to help get pets adopted. And so, let us begin!

First, a bit about me. A native of New Orleans, I moved to San Francisco and worked in the film industry for several years. In 2002 I came home to visit my mother and saw all the abandoned dogs wandering the streets. I was horrified and decided to take action. Along with a friend, I started Used Dogs, a rescue with dual purpose ~ the saving and re-homing of abandoned pets and the advocacy of spay/neuter programs. We were making good headway ~ successful dog placements, fund raising to assist low-income pet owners in the spay/neuter of their pets, volunteers helping with the dogs ~ when along came Katrina! It knocked the wind out of sails and the resources out of our organization. We lost most of our fund raising and volunteers, including my co-founder. That was hard. Very hard. But if you live in New Orleans, it is a too-familiar story.

We've kept plugging along, making a difference where we can. Just when I wondered if perhaps it was all for naught, I was contacted by a casual friend who was starting a new radio show. She wanted to know if I would be interested in doing a "Doggie Minute" on the weekly show. You have to ask???? And then, through the miracle of Facebook, I "bumped" into a high school friend after 30 some-odd years, a friend involved in rescue in Florida. She helped me set up this blog and brainstorm ideas for rejuvenating our efforts. Serendipity, luck or a blessing? I don't know, but I do know that I feel that things are starting to move forward again.

I'm excited. I think that great things are going to happen. I hope that you will join me on the journey and perhaps together we can turn the tide of abandoned pets. We can make a difference!

~ Madalin