NYC Shiba Rescue » News and Events

The Shiba Scream – Winter 2012

jenna — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 19:24:32 +0000

The latest issue of the quarterly newsletter for NYC Shiba Rescue and NYC Shiba Inus and Their Human Companions (www.nycshibameetup.com) has been published. Check out the Winter 2012 issue of The Shiba Scream.

Current Issue – February 2012 (click here)

Announcements, Upcoming Birthdays and Gotcha Days
Upcoming Area Events and Meetups
Review – Blydenburgh County Park, NY
Featured Inu – Current NYCSR Foster: Nicky
Articles & Special Contributions
- Screaming Recipe: Carrot Cookies
- Volunteering: Rescue Transport
- Shibal Inu Comic

The Shiba Scream archives are located here.

If you would like to contribute to The Shiba Scream, contact Managing Editor, Beth Bennett.

The Shiba Scream – Autumn 2011

jenna — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 12:25:10 +0000

The latest issue of our quarterly newsletter has been published. Check out Autumn 2011 edition of The Shiba Scream.

Current Issue – November 2011 (click here)

Announcements, Upcoming Birthdays and Gotcha Days
Upcoming Area Events and Meetups
Past Event Recap
Featured Inu – The Tale of Foxy
Articles & Special Contributions
- Amazing Activities: Canicross, The Power of Pulling
- Screaming Recipe: Yummy Chicken Stew
- Mind & Body: Escapes II
- Shibal Inu Comic

The Shiba Scream archives are located here.

If you would like to contribute to The Shiba Scream, contact Managing Editor, Beth Bennett.

Introducing NYCSR’s 10 of the “NJ 22″

jenna — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 18:54:51 +0000

This is the first chapter of a new beginning for ten Shiba Inu who entered foster care with NYC Shiba Rescue this week.

About twelve days ago, Mitch Fuchs of Shiba Rescue of Ocean County NJ was notified of an upcoming seizure involving twenty-two (22) Shiba Inu. We spoke with Mitch and started preparing to help by taking in as many of them as possible. Mitch met with the owners and took a pregnant female and three 8-week old puppies home with him, temporarily leaving 18 of the 22. On Wednesday of this week the local animal control, Mitch, Angela Hogan of Safe Harbor Animal Rescue (in Ohio), our friend Alisa Kane, owner of Dog-Gone Stylin, volunteer groomer Crystal Prutzman and our Director of Operations, Jenn Mauro, came together to effect the rescue of 17 of the remaining 18. (One is remaining with the owners under the watchful eye of Animal Control.)

All of the dogs were bathed and deflead by Alisa and Crystal and given Capstar on site before being transported. Ten dogs were then transported to one of NYCSR’s favorite veterinarians, Dr. Kenneth Dazen of Animal and Bird Health Care Center and Hospital in Cherry Hill, NJ. Seven headed off to Ohio with Angela, to be fostered and rehomed through both Safe Harbor and also Tri-State Shiba Inu Rescue.

Here are some photos of the dogs and the rescue in general. The dogs were all quite well behaved and sweet!

And a few more of our ten (Blackie, Snow White, Buttons, Kissy, Dakota, Freckles, Goo Goo 2, Winter, Asia and Smokey) after arriving at Dr. Dazen’s office. Big thanks to Dr. Dazen and vet tech Jennifer Popert, who were so wonderful!

The Second Chapter

Angela made it back to Ohio, dropped four dogs (Princess, Yogi, Saki and Peanut) with Pam at Tri-State, and took three home to Safe Harbor with her, including “Baby” the sweet male with deformities and severe flea dermatitis.

Our ten are doing great so far. Dr. Dazen didn’t found anything too seriously wrong with any of them – they all have flea dermatitis and were loaded with worms, one has flea allergies, one has low blood sugar, another has grade 2 luxating patella, and there were a couple eye with eye and ear infections. Eight have already been fully vetted and spayed/neutered and seven of them were transported to their new foster homes today. We will be posting individual updates for each dog as we start hearing in from their foster homes. We are looking forward to telling you all about their personalities!

How You Can Help

NYCSR received a few donations when the word of the NJ 22 first broke on Facebook, but only about $250 as of today… nowhere near what we have already spent on the rescue and vetting so far (not to mention ongoing fostering expenses and future vet bills for any with issues to be addressed). We would REALLY appreciate your help in taking care of these dogs. If you would like to help, please make a donation here.

You can also help the other Shibas by donating to one of the following rescues:

Shiba Inu Rescue of Ocean County NJ has a ChipIn set up here.
Donate to Safe Harbor Animal Rescue on their website.
Donate to Tri-State Shiba Inu Rescue on their website.

The Shiba Scream is BACK!

jenna — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 19:41:32 +0000

Shiba Scream Cover, Issue 5

After a very long hiatus (almost three years) our quarterly newsletter is back! We’re very grateful to our new Managing Editor, Beth Bennett and to the writers and other contributors who have worked with her to make this happen.

The Shiba Scream is a quarterly newsletter relaying all things Shiba (and a few things not Shiba) going on in and around New York City. It is the official newsletter for both NYC Shiba Inus (and their Human Companions) and NYC Shiba Rescue, Inc. It also includes some wonderful articles and contributions of value to Shiba-owned humans anywhere.

We’re very proud and excited to bring you The (NEW) Shiba Scream and we hope you’ll enjoy it very much!

NYCSR is Moving Foward!

jenna — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 19:56:22 +0000

March 28, 2011 – (New York, NY) – After operating under an intake hold for almost a year, spending the time to focus efforts on paying down debts and reorganizing the operational structure, NYCSR is back in the full swing of things. Since re-opening the foster program at the end of 2010, NYCSR has already overseen the adoption of seven beautiful Shiba Inus and currently has an additional eight dogs in foster care. In addition to the re-introduction of the foster program, NYCSR is also excited to announce the appointment of several new volunteers who will help ensure NYCSR continues to operate as efficiently as ever during what has turned out to be one of the busiest times this organization has seen.

As NYCSR works to keep up with increasing demand, it becomes ever more apparent just how crucial our amazing volunteers and financial contributors are to our success. Even after a year of reduced operations our roster of volunteers has returned in strong force, and with their help we have even continued to expand our base. Within that expanded base NYCSR was recently fortunate enough to find the following additions to the executive team:

Heather Richardson – Head of Fund Raising – Filling this new role within NYCSR, Heather is already off to a fantastic start and working hard to raise money for some of our specific needs dogs. Heather had been deeply involved within the Akita breed community for over 20 years before discovering the joys of the Shiba Inu. Since then she has become engaged in trying to raise money to help all those dogs that she knows deserve a better life.
Kathi Willi-Melton – Head of Public Education – In this newly created role, Kathi will be in charge of NYCSR’s attendance at special events and also helping educate the public online. Kathi is well-known in the NY area as a reputable breeder of Shiba Inus and has always been a strong supporter of rescue. She is a member of the National Shiba Club of America (NSCA) and of the Shiba Club of Greater New York (SCGNY). Kathi and her husband Matt were instrumental to NYCSR and SCGNY when we participated in the first ever AKC Meet the Breeds event at the Jacob Javits Center in October 2009.
Judy Dove – Intake Director – Judy adopted her first Shiba in 2001 and has been involved with the breed ever since, fostering and successfully placing Shibas as part of Mid Atlantic Shiba Rescue (MASR). Judy recently began volunteering with NYCSR as a foster home and doing other work within the foster division. She and her husband are currently owned by Frodo, an adopted 11 ½ year old male Shiba and Chelsie, a 10 year old Jindo/Shepherd. She is currently fostering Kashi for NYCSR.
Wendy Steele – Interim Foster Program Director – In addition to her current role as NYCSR’s Executive Director, Wendy is now also handling the responsibility of managing the Foster Program.

Jenn Mauro continues to make incredible strides as NYCSR’s Director of Operations. We are proud and grateful to have her ‘leading the pack’ behind the scenes and getting us to a better place than we’ve ever been! We’re also happy to report that she will be getting some well-deserved back-up in longtime volunteer and foster, Donna Mosier. Donna’s experience both in the private sector and as volunteer will be add welcomed support to the operations division.

NYCSR is still actively recruiting volunteers to help fill the following positions:

Director of Public Relations – The PR division includes public education, volunteer recruiting and communications, and donor communications. The Director of Public Relations is charged with overseeing and directing the public image of NYCSR. This person should ensure that the organization is communicating accurately and frequently with the public in as many ways as possible to support our mission statement, operations, and finance. They will also review our website for accuracy and timeliness of information and review the final copy of The Shiba Scream before distribution.
Writers for The Shiba Scream – NYCSR is very excited to announce that The Shiba Scream, our quarterly newsletter, will be making a comeback starting in July 2011. As such we are looking for contributors. If you would like to contribute an article to the Scream, please contact Managing Editor, Beth Bennett via our contact form.

A Special Request

At this time NYCSR is working to raise money for several fosters dogs, the most urgent of which is Jasmine, who is in dire need of special medical attention to help care for and alleviate pain and problems in her lumbar area and a collapsed disc. Jasmine needs to see a specialist to get X-rays and the appropriate tests to determine what type of surgery is needed to fix her collapsed disc. Without the surgery, there is a chance that her condition can worsen over time and she could seriously injure herself. Based on veterinary exams and consultations to date, the estimated cost to help this little girl is between $5,000 and $6,000.

NYCSR is asking for your help to raise this money for little Jasmine. Any amount will help and all donations are 100% tax deductible. If you are interested in helping Jasmine please visit our fundraising site for Jasmine to make a donation.

About NYC Shiba Rescue, Inc.
NYC Shiba Rescue, Inc. (NYCSR) is an all volunteer group dedicated to contributing to the quality of life of Shiba Inus in and around the New York City metropolitan area. To that end, NYCSR actively works to rescue Shiba Inus and Shiba Inu mixed breed dogs from dangerous environments and shelters in order to find them loving, permanent homes. We will, among other things, foster and evaluate Shiba Inus in order to prepare them for adoption and seek out proper adoptive homes for the dogs. NYCSR also promotes responsible dog ownership by educating the public in the selection, care and training of dogs.

NYC Shiba Rescue, Inc. was founded in April 2007. NYCSR is incorporated as a not-for-profit corporation under the Not-for-Profit corporation law of New York State and is a federal 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation.

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To distribute a printed version of this release, download this PDF.

Exciting New Developments at NYCSR!

jenna — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 23:16:10 +0000

Dear Friends and Supporters,

When NYC Shiba Rescue (NYCSR) announced that we would be halting intake last year we listed several very specific goals that needed to be met before we would be able to officially re-start new foster intake on a full scale basis. One of the major goals we highlighted was to “reorganize our operations in a way that puts less of a personal and financial burden on key people while efficiently involving more volunteers.”

We have never had much difficulty with the “rescue and rehome” portion of our mission statement, highlighted by the nearly 100 beautiful Shibas that have been rehabbed and rehomed as a part of our foster program. Unfortunately the crushing demand on our foster program took up the bulk of our available time and left little time for focus on the back office support functions necessary to maintain NYCSR as a fully functioning rescue operation. To help overcome this hurdle we have formally restructured our organization into three silos: operations, PR, and finance.

Recently, we’ve been recruiting and training volunteers in new positions based on this reorganization and we have several exciting new high level executive changes and appointments within NYCSR to announce to you today.

Most exciting among these changes is the appointment of Wendy Steele to the new position of Executive Director for NYCSR. Within this position Wendy will now be responsible for the day to day operations of NYCSR.

Wendy is owned by two rescued Shibas; Caleb, who was found wandering the streets of Hartford, CT, and Barbie, an NYCSR foster program alumnus who was adopted in 2008. She also has an adopted cat, Charlie, and an adopted horse, Dolly. Wendy is the current Organizer of the NYC Shiba Meetup group, however she makes her living as a full time on-air personality for a radio station in Connecticut. As part of her job, Wendy has made public appearances to help benefit numerous animal rescue organizations. Wendy will also be assisted in her new role by her husband Terry, who is also very much dedicated to rescue animals in general and Shiba Inus in particular.

Terry and I are thrilled to be able to help the organization who brought Barbie into our lives,” said Wendy. “We hope to be able to share this great joy with lots of new Shiba owners and to help with the rescue of many more Shibas ‘one curly tail at a time.’

NYCSR’s current president, Zennia Barahona, will be handing the reins to Wendy and moving to heading up our Financial arm as the new interim Director of Finance.

NYCSR would also like to make a giant ‘bark out’ to Jenn Mauro for agreeing to fill the newly created position Director of Operations. Jenn has been with NYCSR since near the beginning and during that time has spent significant time in charge of both Intake and Adoptions. Falling under Jenn’s responsibility in Operations will be three new volunteers: Donna Mosier as Intake Director, Beth Bennett as Foster Program Director and Cristina Steele as Adoption Director.

For a more specific breakdown of the new NYCSR organizational structure you can view the NYCSR organizational chart.

We are pleased and grateful to have Wendy, Donna, Beth, Cristina, and all of our new and ongoing volunteers working together to strengthen NYCSR and continue saving Shibas. The volunteer experience within animal rescue and NYCSR specifically continues to offer those of us involved with among the most rewarding experiences possible. We have all been touched in different ways, great and small, by the interaction with our foster Shibas who have given us all so much more than we could ever give them. We would love for you to join us in this adventure as well! We are still actively recruiting and will be sending out job descriptions for some open positions soon. Please contact us if you’d like to help in new ways!

Most sincerely,
Jenna Gates, Founder
Zennia Barahona, President
(and all the Shibas who run our lives)

NYCSR Needs Your Help

jenna — Sun, 07 Nov 2010 14:35:06 +0000

Dear NYCSR Friends and Supporters:

As is often the case within the world of animal rescue, it seems that we are often taking one step forward and two steps back. We here at NYC Shiba Rescue have been making great strides getting the rescue back on track with rebuilding a strong core base of fosters and paying down what seems like our endless debt. Unfortunately as we have been preparing to relaunch the NYCSR foster program back to full operation we have recently been caught up with several extenuating circumstances that have thrown us back a few steps.

Among the most urgent of these issues currently putting a drain on our efforts is the fact that one of our special needs foster girls, Lola, had been temporarily moved into a boarding facility back in March while we have been attempting to make arrangements for an appropriate longer term foster solution. As this is an ongoing situation it means that we are constantly adding to our debt on a daily basis until she can be moved back into foster care. Additionally, with the decidedly tragic circumstances and care for Blossom’s recent passing we have been tagged with a substantial vet bill on top of Lola’s boarding fees.

It is in times of urgency like these that we have to look to our support system of volunteers, friends, partners in rescue and animal lovers to help us maintain and operate NYCSR. If you have anything to spare that you can pledge to our efforts to support Lola and continue rescuing other shibas in need we would be eternally grateful, any amount counts no matter how big or small. If you are interested in donating please visit the donation page for options.

Our most sincere thanks,
Zennia Barahona, President
Jenna Gates, Founder

NYCSR and The Wet Nose News

kathy — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 16:09:33 +0000

All things dog and all from the viewpoint of professionals in the animal industry. The Wet Nose News is a newsletter for dog owners in the tri-state area who would like to stay on top of the some of the latest events, trends, and learn about the different ways people care for their canine companions.

The magazine is quarterly and you may be able to find it in your local pet store or vet office but if you can’t, don’t worry. You can subscribe to it for only $15.00 for 4 issues and know that a percentage of that money is going to help animals in need.

Right now, if you use the promo code: NYCS0104 20% of your payment will be given to NYC Shiba Rescue.

There are two ways you can subscribe to The Wet Nose News:

1: Print and mail the postcard

2: Subscribe to The Wet News on their website.

76 Shibas Saved and Counting But Not Without Your Help!

zennia — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 15:03:33 +0000

NYCSR is Still Actively Working to Rescue All Shibas in Need One Curly Tail at a Time

Dear Volunteers and Supporters:

It has been nearly one year since NYCSR announced that we would be halting all intake of new shibas due to a lack of sufficient foster and volunteer support and a severe drop in monetary contributions. Unfortunately the explosive popularity of the breed brought a crushing demand for our organization which taxed our constantly strained but always willing volunteers, not to mention our depleted coffers. Despite all these obstacles NYCSR is still very much alive and kicking and in need of your support now more than ever. We are close to getting back on track but we are still, as always, in need of your support in the form of charitable donations, new foster homes and administrative support.

Since our inception over three years ago we have been blessed with the opportunity to take into our foster care program, and see through to adoption, 76 beautiful shibas. Additionally we have helped facilitate the direct adoption from owner to adopter of around 110 shibas through the courtesy listing section of our website. Every dollar spent and every effort put forth from the Board of Directors, fosters and volunteers has always proved worthwhile in the end when we get to pass on one of our foster dogs to their new forever home. It is in this spirit that during the last year the Board and our volunteers have not given up on the countless other shibas that still need a truly deserving forever home.

The NYCSR Board of Directors would like to update our wonderful supporters who have continued to stick by the rescue during this rough period. Over the course of the last year the Board and our volunteers have continued operations to the best of our currently limited capabilities and have been working non-stop to help:

1. Adopt out almost all of our existing dogs in foster – We currently have 6 dogs within the NYCSR foster program. You can check them out and read their stories on our website. http://nycshibarescue.org/

2. Connect those owners in need of adoptive families for their shibas directly to fitting new homes through the courtesy listing section of our website. (4 additional shibas have recently been able to find loving homes)

3. Tirelessly educate the public on the shiba breed, the need for breed rescue, and the promotion of responsible dog ownership

4. Significantly pay down close to all of our debts incurred from caring for several severely unhealthy shibas. We had a couple small, but successful, fund raising campaigns and paid off about 3/4 of our debt. (Huge kudos to our donors here.) Unfortunately a number of the dogs that come into our care display serious signs of mistreatment or neglect. These dogs require considerable investment and we’ve been supporting them without the benefit of the adoption fees we would have coming in during normal operations.

• Molly – An absolutely adorable little girl, Molly came to us with a terrible case of Sarcoptic Mange that led to a loss of fur on her ears, legs and around her eyes. Additionally we found that Molly had severe allergies to what seemed to be nearly everything. Thanks to the funding from our fundraising and your donations Molly is now healthy and content in her forever home and her allergies seem to be under control.
• Luna – A simple, easy going cream girl, Luna has been in the foster program for over one year and has required constant care. Early into her foster time we found and treated a bladder infection for Luna. During the course of her treatment Luna was also diagnosed for Cushings disease which is now completely under control after treatments and multiple followups.

We sincerely hope to have of full, normal operations back up and running just as soon as possible, however we have several specific needs that still need to be filled.

• First and foremost we need foster homes. The economy has depleted our roster of foster homes dramatically which puts us in the sad position of not being able to pull Shibas in need from area shelters. If you or anyone you know is interested in fostering please see the fostering page on our website and contact us. Don’t pass up the opportunity to get to know firsthand some of the beautiful shibas that pass through the foster program.

• If you have just a few hours a month to spare we are in need of administrative help to cover the paperwork and documentation that comes along with running the organization.

• Monetary donations of any amount are always in desperate need. Please be assured that every last cent of your donation goes directly to the needs of the shibas.

As always, the NYCSR Board of Directors would like to take this and every opportunity to thank our past and present volunteers and supporters as you are the ones that help this organization run and continue to help us survive. We hope to be able to carry on introducing you to all those special shibas that make our lives worthwhile.

Warmest Regards,
Zennia

Harness the power of your facebook status and friends list to help NYCSR

mike — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 04:11:37 +0000

Hi everyone:

Calling all NYC Shiba Rescue facebook users. NYCSR is participating in the Chase Community Giving contest on facebook.com and we need your help. I understand that this is the second fund raising contest we have contacted our volunteers for within the last couple weeks, however this one is even easier.

Chase Community Giving is a program run by Chase that will allow Facebook users to vote for local charities and non-profits, and help direct Chase corporate philanthropy dollars to eligible organizations. The pool of eligible charities in this event is smaller and all we need to do is make sure NYCSR finishes among the top 100 finalists to guarantee a monetary award. The eligible charity receiving the most votes will be awarded $1 million, the top five runners-up will receive $100,000 each and the 100 finalists, including the top winners, will be awarded $25,000 each. Additionally, a special Advisory Board led by prominent national philanthropists will allocate $1 million to the nominated charities of its choice.

Log into your facebook account and vote for us here: http://apps.facebook.com/chasecommunitygiving/charities/1220911?src=wallpost&ref=nf.

You can only vote for us once, so the biggest help you can give us besides your vote is spreading the word. So please copy and paste the link into your facebook status and ask, beg or order your friends to vote for us as well.

Thanks again for all your help and support.
NYCSR