Working dogs given new leash on life

Australian Working Dog Rescue Inc, was established by Carey and Di Edwards, Cairns, Qld, in 2007 and focuses on the working dog breeds, fostering and re-homing canines across the country.

In 2009, AWDRI took in its first rescue dogs, and resettled about 50 dogs that first year.

Fast forward a few years, and in the last financial year the group re-homed more than 1100. And Carey said AWDRI was on target to place just over 1500 rescue dogs in "furever" homes this year.

AWDRI was borne from an Australian Cattle Dog web forum the Edwards had taken over - AuCaDo - which focused on working dog discussions.

"Out of that, the forum broadened to serve American and Canadian members who were trying to coordinate rescue efforts of cattle dogs there," Carey said.

"We already had the Australian Pet Registry and Cairns Dog Registry, so we made some changes and brought together an organisation that encompassed all working dog breeds."

So began the not-for-profit charity AWDRI in 2007.

"It took about 10 months to set up by the time we got through registering as a charity and all the paperwork," Carey said.

The growth of AWDRI has been phenomenal - from just Carey and Di in 2007, AWDRI now has 21 people in administration and more than 600 active volunteers in every state and territory of Australia.

"We have just over 250 active dogs in care at the moment," Carey said.

Having developed working relationships with more than 80 councils across Australia and other informal relationships, Carey said these organisations advised AWDRI when there were working dogs on pound "kill sheets".

"Thursday tends to be the busiest day of the week because that's when kill sheets are sent out, so we've got two to three days to find foster care and transport for the dogs," he said.

"The advantage of having such a wide network is we can reach people in places where they wouldn't normally see dogs."

Carey said a couple of calls and donations can move dogs to just about anywhere AWDRI needs to get them.

A large component of AWDRI's network is by way of social media.

"Social media is huge for us," Carey said.

"The general public can get an idea of what we do, and what they can do.

"People see a dog on facebook that needs help and feel compelled to do something."

He said AWDRI had a lot of followers on facebook - and twitter - and each follower donating the cost of a cup of coffee each day could cover transport and other costs for a dog.

"With so many followers, a little goes a long way," he said.

The busiest time of the year for AWDRI is from the end of January to February.

"From December to January, we get about 100 puppies a month come through - and that will only increase as we get better at rehoming them," he said.

Carey said a lot of puppies and dogs got dumped as their owners went away on holidays, having forgotten to book them into a kennel.

"A lot of puppies and dogs just get dumped at pounds," he said.

Others were the result of Christmas presents which had lost their appeal and the surplus of puppies from backyard breeders looking to cash in during the Christmas period.

* Full report in Stock Journal, January 16, 2014 issue.