This San Francisco Dog Shelter Needs Help

No one (no one with eyes and a heart at least) doubts that we are living in scary, uncomfortable-at-best times.

It’s times like these that remind me that animals are better than us. At the top of the “love you no matter what, always got you back” animal list is dogs. Obviously.

That’s why working with Family Dog Rescue the last 2 years have made an immeasurable impact on my stress levels, kindness, and joy.

And now is the time they need the most help.

Family Dog Rescue has been in the Mission for 7 years, dedicated to saving the world’s dogs with particularly rough pasts and special needs. In my time volunteering, I’ve cuddle dogs who have been beaten, raped, cut up by machetes, missing limbs, blind, deaf, blind and deaf, with cancer, with seizures, and more. Sadly, they have to move out of their building. In a now too-common tale, this relocation wasn’t exactly voluntary or welcome.

So how can you help?

1. Adopt (or foster) a dog!!!

Meet Hope. She is a big, beautiful bundle of love. Literally every time I’m in the shelter, I say hi to her. She is exceedingly sweet and trusting.

I know, you’re like “awwww, what’s wrong with her eye?”

Well, some horrible sub-human strangled sweet Hope. The result was that one of her eyes needed to be removed and she is quickly going blind in the other. Still, she loves her people and will bump her head into your legs until you give her scratches. Dogs like Hope (and Coby and Lobo and Pasta and Rocky and Shantiquy) need homes desperately because they won’t be able to live at the shelter’s new location.

2. Donate your time and a truck

Speaking of the new shelter, while details are still being finalized, the result is that there simply isn’t enough storage for all the furniture and supplies the shelter currently holds. They need trucks! Do you have one? Do you have a spare hour or two next week? Are you capable of making a Goodwill run? Contact info@ilovefamilydog.org to volunteer your truck and your time so that the staff can finish moving. Bonus: you’ll probably get to play with a dog or two. They’re good boys and girls. They will say thank you with their tails.

3. Donate your money

Oh hey, do you know that non-profits need money? They do. Family Dog is shelling out quite a lot of money for this move and could really use some moving funds so they can continue doing all the other things they do: taking care of dogs. If you’ve ever had a dog, you know that it can get pricey. Imagine if you were taking care of 30 of them. Click here to donate directly to this shelter.

In the Bay Area, we spend a lot of time talking about helping others. You can not only help these honestly amazing dogs, you can help the incredible staff (and crew of volunteers) who work lean and strong to not only find these dogs a home but contribute to making our community better. You won’t find a kinder, more generous group of people who spend their time bringing other people and animals joy.

This is Moshi:

I adopted Moshi from Family Dog Rescue a week ago and have never been happier. We’re going to go the park now. I think you know what you should do next.