Shetland Sheepdog Placement Services of N J Inc

Education: Our website and quarterly newsletters include training and health articles, as well as resources for owners/perspective owners, and those just interested in learning more about the breed.

Visibility: We endeavor to expand knowledge of our rescue's work, not only in the immediate area, but also in other states within a reasonable travel distance.

Medical Care: We do not turn a sheltie away due to a medical condition. We consider all options and what is best for the dog to improve his/her quality of life. At a minimum, dogs are brought up to date on shots, spay/neutered and teeth cleaned if needed, and receive a full blood panel looking for health and/or parasite problems. Any medical condition that is found on exam is addressed as appropriate - be it removing/doing pathology on a strange lump, to correcting an inward-turned eyelid, to fixing/removing a broken screw from previous leg surgery. We are very thorough - and our cost per dog average reflects this - being over $1,400 during a three-year time period.

Foster Care: Shelties are placed in a safe, loving, home environment with one of our volunteer foster families. These families have been screened/interviewed/reference and home checked to ensure they have the experience to give appropriate care to a foster dog. While with the foster family, shelties are assessed from a training and behavior standpoint. Dogs often come to us lacking basic house manners, obedience/leash walking skills and the foster family works with the dog to help make him/her a more suitable companion for a new home. Some dogs have behavioral issues due to their life's experiences and we address these on a case by case basis. Our goal is to ensure that each dog receives whatever care & training is needed to make him/her successful in a new home. We do not place a time limit on foster care. The dog could be with us for a month ... or over a year .... we do not "flip the dogs in/out of rescue". Successful placement in a forever home is key. Some dogs are not desirable to adopters, due to behavioral or medical issues, or age. We designate these special needs dogs as 'forever fosters' and they live their lives out in a foster home, under the supervision of the rescue. We do not throw a dog away just because no one wants to adopt that dog. We firmly believe that rescue needs to be here for ALL shelties that need us, not just the ones who will be easy to place in adoptive homes.

Post-Adoption: We stay in touch with the families post-adoption, contacting on a regular basis to see how the dog is settling in, are there any concerns/problems - and, of course, sharing good news and photos on our social media site.

Networking: With area shelters, as well as other sheltie rescues so that we can work together to provide homes for displaced shelties - sharing adoption applications, doing home checks, assisting with transport.

Building relationships with area veterinary hospitals to get discounts towards our extensive vet bills.

Fundraising: Providing medical care is costly and we have a robust fundraising committee dedicated to new and innovative ways to ensure a continual flow of donations/income. These include, but are not limited to semi-annual events for area sheltie owners, auctions, specially designed t-shirt sales, raffles for custom made items, etc. We have added a member to our team (non-Board) who researches possible grant opportunities.

We have a very active Board of Directors and dedicated volunteers throughout the state of NJ. Our BOD has professional experience in finance, administrative work, graphics/design, organizational development, fundraising, data analysis.

SSPSNJ has over 25 years' experience with the Shetland Sheepdog. We have helped over 1,000 shelties find loving "forever" homes. Between 2020 and 2022, we have increased our assets from under $2,000 to over $30,000, while not turning away ANY sheltie needing our assistance.