Community Corner

Double Dog Rescue: 'We Literally Take Dogs from Death's Door.'

Double Dog Rescue, of Unionville, is looking for volunteers to help build 200 dog shelter beds at Thomas Hooker Brewery on Sept. 7.

By Patch Editor Kathleen Ramunni

After a Labrador mix from Tennessee ran away from her foster family in Farmington, spooked by the snow and cold in an unfamiliar place, the Unionville-based branch of the national dog rescue organization that rescued her rallied volunteers to search for the runaway canine.


Double Dog Rescue volunteers and area residents were successful in finding and recovering Sassy after the organization flew the dog's former owner in to put her at ease. Volunteers spent weeks hanging missing dog signs, scouring Farmington and Bristol for Sassy and sharing updates about the missing dog on a Facebook page. During the search for Sassy, Double Dog CEO Dan McCabe, of Avon, let the former owner stay with him for a few days. Sassy has since been placed with a loving family and some of the volunteers are now involved in a dog recovery group called Dog Gone Recovery. 

That is just one example of how he and others involved with Double Dog have volunteered their time rescuing dogs and connecting them with families.

Why does McCabe do what he does?

"The only real reward for the thousands of hours I have donated to dog rescue is the satisfaction of knowing we have taken a dog from a horrible circumstance through no fault of their own to a loving home," McCabe wrote in an email to Patch. "We literally take dogs from death's door and when our adopters follow up with pictures of a well adjusted dog in a loving family, it is worth all the time, effort and personal expense."

Double Dog Rescue is an all-volunteer organization founded in 2006, McCabe said. Chey Ottoson, of Rockland, MA, serves as board president and Jean Forsyth, of Canton, is the director of the board. 

The most dogs Double Dog has placed in a year was 320 and in 2013 the organization is projecting at least 550 dog placements, McCabe said. 

Most recently, Double Dog Rescue has rallied 50 volunteers so far to build 200 dog shelter beds at a community service event at Thomas Hooker Brewing Company in Bloomfield on Sept. 7 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. You can contact McCabe at doubledogdan@ymail.com to sign up to help. 

Double Dog is always looking for volunteers for multiple tasks from fostering dogs to helping out with the non-profit operations. The group has at least 100 volunteers spanning from the Hartford area to the South and to more western locations like Denver, CO and Orange Country, CA.

"We have been growing significantly and doubled our size in the last year," McCabe said.

Adopting dogs from a rescue has "become much more main stream in the last few years," which McCabe said has "done wonders to help the overpopulation of unwanted dogs."  

"People should know the only true fix for this problem is spay/neuter and elimination of puppy mills," McCabe said. "There are millions of great dogs euthanized in the US annually simply due to overpopulation. The shelter dogs range from pure breed to mixes, from puppies to seniors. There are so many well adjusted, smart, loving dogs (despite what they have been through) available that people considering bringing a dog into their life should consider a rescue first."

ORGANIZATION INFO

Dog rescue organization: Double Dog Rescue
Address: PO Box 435 Unionville, CT 06085
Phone: 860-748-5470 (Dan McCabe)
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DoubleDogRescue
Website: doubledogrescue.org


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here