“How you treat your dog tells me who you are.”
By Kavita Chhibber
It was early 2017, and a young couple who were part of my extended family rescued a dog from the Cobb County shelter in Georgia. The rescue was a one-year-old, handsome Australian Shepherd mix named “Charlie”. The couple, like most dog owners, were unfamiliar with the breed and eventually unable to manage the dog. He ended up biting the pregnant wife out of frustration. They called every shelter, including the local Humane Society, requesting they rescue the dog but were honest enough to let them know that the dog had bitten the wife. It was then that we found out no one wants a dog with a bite history. Dogs mostly bite out of acute stress or fear. Most of the time it is because the dog has had ignorant or incompetent owners or cruel trainers using choke collars and other negative means. The only option was to put Charlie down. And that is the sad reality, especially in the Southern states. Dogs are put down more frequently than they are rehabilitated. Even when it is not their fault. There is a carding system – three strikes and the dog is euthanized. There are not enough financial, professional and personnel resources to save their lives.
It was then that I heard about Marybeth Rathbun, the founder of Rescue Me Georgia, a nonprofit organization that saves the dogs no one else would touch.
I was told if anyone COULD save young Charlie it was Marybeth. I called her in desperation, and she came, took Charlie, and kept him in her home for several months until she found him adopters that were the perfect fit for him.
Since then, Marybeth has saved another dog from our extended family from being euthanized and is in the process of helping re-home a third one from my extended group of friends and family. Last October, I stayed at her home, and went with her to various places – animal shelters, food and toy stores, etc. – to see how her organization works. It was among the most heartbreaking and heartwarming experiences of my life.
I saw a total disregard for her own health and wellbeing in the service of these animals. Marybeth is constantly on the run, barely resting and operating often on a shoestring budget. Nevertheless, her never ending passion for saving the lives of many animals, especially those who have no hope is inspiring.
Marybeth’s integrity was obvious when she even argued with me about a dog from my own group that was being re-homed. She came with me, met the person, and told me very candidly, that the person I was recommending for adopting that dog was very loving but not the right fit for the dog and vice versa. Since we had legally turned in the dog to her, it was her call and she refused to allow the adoption. I realized later how correct she was in her assessment of the situation. I was making an emotional decision, while her assessment came from 35 years of serving animals and understanding their nature along with the lifestyle and nature of the humans who are to live with them.
Once Marybeth was scrambling to find new fosters when many of her foster parents were unavailable due to illness. My husband Ajit said to her, ”I hope the dogs get adopted quickly,” and Marybeth responded, “I never hope that. I pray that they get adopted when we find the perfect home for them, no matter how long it takes.”
After seeing their selfless work, and the fact that this is a no-frills organization defined by a passion to save dogs and cats before they have the double trauma of losing their homes and then being dumped in the unsavory conditions at shelters, I felt that Rescue Me Georgia’s story must be seen. All support should extended to this organization. They take extraordinary measures to save animals who really have no hope. Every cent donated is used towards helping animals as it is a volunteer-based organization.
So please donate, help write grants and – above all – be a loving foster parent to a deserving animal.
Rescuing dogs is very tough business. 2020 reports state that around 29,000 dog and cats are killed in Georgia shelters annually. Depression and suicide rate is high among veterinarians worn out by debt, daily demands at work and additional stresses including clients being nasty and having to euthanize cats and dogs.
Over the years my family and I have adopted rescues from different shelters and the story is the same as when I went to the Dekalb County animal shelter in Atlanta Georgia with Marybeth this past October. I saw firsthand the trauma of both the animals and their handlers there. The staff and volunteers genuinely love the animals and want to do the best for them. But they are understaffed and over worked. They need volunteers to walk the dogs. Many dogs do not see the sunlight for days because of lack of helpers.
The shelters that had emptied out when people were staying at home due to the Covid pandemic are now again overflowing with pets that have been returned as people started going back to work or did not want to invest the time to keep the pet.
I saw a beautiful German Shepherd being put on the euthanasia list because she had been there too long, was showing signs of acute PTSD, and had bitten a volunteer (though I was told it was the volunteer’s fault.) But there is carding system, and a bite means it is the first strike against the animal. One of her handlers was so worried he would not let us come near him to protect her. So we could see how loved she was. There are hundreds of dogs like that in every shelter.
I cried for hours over the German Shepherd while Marybeth comforted me and said “We need to focus on who we saved and not who we could not, or we would go crazy.” During two trips with her to assess the German Shepherd, Rescue Me Georgia saved close to thirty other cats and dogs by pulling them out. Marybeth’s husband Bob Rathbun, her son Court and her daughter Grace are equally involved in supporting her passion.
My conversations with Marybeth, her son Court and partner Adrienne Pugh, was an eyeopener in so many ways. There was so much I did not know. Interestingly neither Marybeth nor Adrienne come from families of animal lovers. It made me realize that love, compassion, and kindness is what drives our passion once we find our calling.
I hope this story will raise awareness and help us be better human beings and better animal lovers. As Mahatma Gandhi said, “The greatness of a nation can be judged by how its animals are treated.“
I am so moved by the work that RMG does that I decided to feature this interview not just in my new website on animal wellness but also my main website (www.KavitaChhibber.com) dedicated to my journalistic work.
The first segment of this story features my interview with Marybeth Rathbun, the founder of Rescue me Georgia. Interviews with Adrienne Pugh, Court Rathbun and foster parents, and stories of animals that were saved will follow separately.
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So did you come from an animal loving family to have this passion for rescuing animals?
No I did not. I came from a home where we had an outdoor cat and a dog on a chain in the backyard.
I distinctly remember that when I was about 7 or 8 my dad brought home a dog. It was a Cocker Spaniel/Poodle mix and it remained chained in our backyard its entire life. I used to go and sit in the doghouse with it and bring it in the garage at night. It was not allowed into the house, and it was very neglected. It was “just a pet” and we were not taught that pets are part of the family and deserve love and kindness.
I remember returning from school one day and on finding the dog and the cat missing, asked my mom where they were.
My mom said: “Funny they’ve been gone for days, and no one noticed. I had them put to sleep.” Many years later I found out that the dog had been given to a vet clinic that worked with a rescue group and I pray to this day that the dog who was incredibly young was saved by the rescue. His name was Biscuit, and the incident haunted me for years.
When I was in my twenties and worked in broadcasting, I really started getting involved with animals. I had already become a vegetarian when I was in college for health reasons but as I got involved with animals, I realized it was also the ethical thing to do. I was considered the outcast of the family because I was drawn to things that made no sense to my family.
I started getting involved with the local SPCA (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) and an organization called Animal Aid in Hampton, VA.
Then I started helping Pat Scoggins, a 70-year-old man who saw that I was young and fit and could climb fences. He would take me out into the woods, and we would rescue beagles. They had been trained to hunt, were fed only once a week, tied to trees with no water, so that when they chased an animal, they were hungry and desperate.
They were left in a pen, so I would climb over and hand them to Pat. Pat came into my life and opened my eyes to animal cruelty and much more. My family thought I was crazy. First turning vegetarian and then stealing starving dogs. But if you just look into the eyes of a dog, you will see how deep their feelings run.
Later, I was living alone and decided I needed to have an animal. I had been married for a year and we did not have any money. We went to the local SPCA but to adopt a cat the cost was forty-four dollars which we did not have on us. So, we went home and rolled out all the quarters, pennies, and dimes, and somehow produced the money. Shelley was the first cat we adopted, and she was the coolest one we had.
We were constantly moving, and I saw one day that our neighbor had thrown his white cat off the second story balcony. He had named the cat Stupid and ignored me when I told him the cat’s leg was broken. So I opened my car door and said to the cat “Your new name is Abby, and we are moving to Richmond.” The cat jumped right in, lived with me for ten years and was a great healer. When I was upset, she would lay on my heart, comfort me, and follow me around like a dog. Animals have such kindness, compassion, and unconditional love for us. Many human beings do not have that in their lives even as children. You need an animal to know what true love means.
My first dog was a rescued Dachshund. When his foster mom dropped him off, he stood at the door and cried for two hours. They give their heart repeatedly with such devotion. That is why we try to rehome our dogs as soon as possible so they do not get too attached to the foster parents.
Soon, I got involved with a Dachshund rescue group and ended up with a house full of Dachshunds. However, I would often go and rescue other breeds and they did not like it. They would call me and say, you are doing too much and making us look bad. You are getting too many dogs adopted into homes and we only work on weekends. And I said to them that it is about the dogs and their wellbeing, not about you. Our working styles were also different. Finally, my husband said, “You need to leave, start your own rescue organization and do things your own way.”
I appreciate my husband Bob so much. He too has a real passion and compassion for animals. Every time a new dog comes in, he hugs every one of them, talks to them, and we often have them sleep in our beds with us to make them feel secure.
What experience did you have of animals or knowledge when you decided to start your own rescue?
I did not have a whole lot of knowledge. I worked with a vet who was a friend, but I learned everything hands on. Living with a lot of animals and interacting with them teaches you a whole lot through experience. I realized that the most important thing in animal care was to have a routine and structure, and to help them understand where they fit in. Many other rescues are not like that, so the animals do not know where they are placed in the scheme of things. You do not have to have a lot of experience to understand animals. Many of our fosters and volunteers come in with extraordinarily little experience or training. The ones that work out the best are those who are willing to learn how to help animals adapt. The biggest problem happens when adopters or fosters change their entire lifestyle to suit that of the animals. When it should be the other way around. Animals are followers and most adapt to whatever you wish to teach them. They are so grateful to have another chance.
Also, I did not realize what a lengthy process it would be. I had to get the license from the Agricultural department and get a 501 status and the process is terribly slow. We are subject to inspection twice a year and there must be a record on every dog or cat, where they come from, who is fostering them, who adopted them. I did not know about all this or that funding would be so difficult. We often borrow from one place to pay another.
Your rescue is quite different, because I saw it firsthand, that people and even shelters call you to help rescue certain dogs because they know no one will accept them and you will even if you do not have the money or the space.
My rescue is indeed quite different from a lot of rescues because we often go ourselves to tough rural areas to rescue animals. It could be an underground drain, or a drug bust where they have found a pack of dogs, or someone staying in a mobile home hoarding dogs. Or someone whose dog has been tied outdoors for months with minimal food or water. Many times we have paid the owners to rescue those dogs. We will go right up to the property so we can see where these animals are coming from, their circumstances and condition. It is especially important for people who adopt rescues to know as many parts of their story as they can. We take pictures when we leave with the dogs, we share how many people fostered them along the way and what they learnt about these animals.
We took in two dogs recently whose owner died watching the funeral of a relative on Zoom. Another lady committed suicide after dropping her dogs off to the dog sitter.
We pulled out two dogs whose owners had died, and we found these two big, traumatized dogs lying in their own urine, and not moving, in a room with four hundred other traumatized dogs. It was so heartbreaking, that we loaded them up, brought them home only to find they both had advanced cancer and were incredibly old. They lived only for another four weeks but we made sure to give them the best 4 weeks of their lives. They could not even get up to go out to relieve themselves.
We got them to rest on tempurpedic cushions, fed them great food, and they knew they were safe. When their time came, we had them close to each other, we sat with them, and two vets put them to sleep simultaneously as they held on to each other. We could not have separated them. People may think I am crazy, but it was the right thing to do. I did not want them to die alone and unloved in a shelter in deep trauma.
I have had people come to my house and callously drop off a dog, or someone going through divorce lie to me and say she was dying and leaving her dog with a tattered sweater, a stake and not much else. And the dogs often stand near my gate and cry for hours for their owners just waiting and hoping for their return. We have had some awful situations where we had to pull the dog out. A woman choked on a hot dog and died, and her dogs were left behind.
Another awful situation was where the woman in a dysfunctional marriage shot her son as his lab lay next to him. The lab was severely traumatized with some blood on her body when we were asked to help. We bathed her, got her settled in a foster home and quickly found her perfect forever home. Dogs do remember trauma and abuse and in many cases that leads to fear or aggression, but this survivor was showered with love and is now doing great.
People do not talk to their animals.
Like human beings, they must be comforted and reassured that they are safe and it will all be okay. Every word has energy and if dogs can smell out a seizure or cancer, and they flag down people to save their owners, you realize that they know way more than we do.
We have had dogs that people said were extremely aggressive biters. When I am called to rescue a dog that is considered dangerous and a biter, all I see is a dog whose pain and suffering is acute and whose fear is amplified 500 times. In many shelters these terrified dogs are rarely taken out of their cages because they are considered a threat. They rarely see the sunlight, they are left in the back of the facility and ignored very often.
Sometimes we can give the purebred ones to rescue organizations that specialize in the breed and can rehabilitate them, but many others are not that lucky.
You have an incredibly detailed adoption form and I believe due to Covid you are not doing interstate adoptions?
Yes, we have a very extensive form that people must fill out for us to review, and many will complain but we do this because after all these years, just by looking at what they have said on the form gives me a surprisingly good idea about what kind of adopters they will make. I always say that adopting a dog requires a committed long-term relationship and so you cannot commit halfheartedly.
We want to make sure that both are a right fit for each other. We encourage another dog in the household, especially for young pups to be trained by the older dog and corrected. Out of all the dogs we have adopted out in recent times – and I have been doing this for 35 years – only three needed to be an only dog.
Dogs are pack animals. They need company. Most people have 12-hour workdays. By the time they return they are awake for another four hours. The dog’s day is over by then and the long twelve hours start all over again the next day and the next. And for a pack animal that is just not fair. Many times, people check out of the responsibility, and we take the dog back from them. You cannot imagine how many applications we turn down because we feel it is not a right fit. Many stressed out people think it is the dog when it is actually them. If one person’s energy is off in the household everything else goes out of balance and we certainly do not want a dog to be in that environment. It has already been traumatized by losing its original home and then sent to a shelter which is not the most cheerful place in the world either.
We have also informed many an adopter after going through the application that the dog they are looking at is not the right fit for them, but we can suggest one that would be. We do not want any of our already traumatized dogs to be set up for failure with the wrong adopter and to be further traumatized when they are returned or taken back by us.
If people are not open to creating balance and the right energy it will not work. Dogs and cats are great healers and an asset to your home, but only if you are willing to be open minded and work on yourself as much as you think you need to work on them. Dogs are the easy part. People are not.
We are not doing interstate adoptions right now due to Covid, unless it is a past adopter or if the recommendation comes from someone we trust. We do work with some rescue organizations in the New England area, who we love. We will send some dogs and cats up there for adoption whenever possible.
What are the challenges that are ongoing in a work like this?
Funding and finding people to foster the dogs we rescue. We want to get to the dogs before they reach animal shelters. The southern states have awful animal shelters and how animal control officers react to a situation also differs from town to town.
Shelters in southern states are dealing with lack of enough volunteers and staff and an overflow of dogs and cats right now. When the pandemic hit shelters became empty as people could work out of home and needed a companion, but they are overflowing again.
How do you raise money then?
Some businesses support us and will give us dog food and other stuff either for free or at a highly subsidized rate. And from time to time we have some fund raisers hosted by well-wishers. But there is never enough. If we think 100k would be good, we end up needing 125k. Some vets will give us a discount, but medical expenses and cost of surgery are quite high. We usually end up taking in dogs requiring expensive surgery. That is why these dogs have been turned away in the first place.
But no matter what happens we try not to turn away any animal that we can save. We take dogs that nobody wants – ill, old, biters, and beyond. You remove them from that negative situation, and it is a different dog and sometimes it may take longer for some of them to heal from that trauma or situation, but you take them to a safe space, and you will see a different dog,
There is unfortunately neither the resources, the finances, nor the facility to spent time rehabilitating dogs. We would go crazy if we started focusing on the ones we could not save. We focus instead on who we can and did.
Also, most people do not know this but when you return a dog from a shelter back to a shelter, you are signing its death warrant. Those dogs are the first ones to be put down.
Unlike other organizations we only do fundraisers when we need money. We do not have the time to write grants or have ongoing fund raisers because it is just Adrienne, my partner, my family and our small group of foster parents and well-wishers.
But my favorite line (and it sometimes exasperates others collaborating with me) is: “I will figure it out.” It is not the best way to run things, but a lot of our work is based on the faith that it will all work out in the end. And it often does.
We do not like putting dogs in crates or cages, so we are always looking for fosters who can open their homes to these dogs and cats temporarily while we help them find their forever homes. Unlike many other rescues we provide everything to foster parents from beds, toys, blankets, leashes, and food. Many foster parents don’t have a lot, but have the biggest hearts. They cannot pay for all these things. I remember a couple that came in and they had been to a food bank to survive but wanted to foster. I saw their meager belongings and we sent them home with canned food and other things to sustain them along with the dog supplies.
We are all here to help each other.
What is the qualification for someone who wants to be a foster parent or an adopter?
A loving heart and a willingness to be open minded. I have said this before, most people get anxious and stressed out and try to change their schedule for the animal when they should just relax and let the dog follow their schedule and not get hassled if it accidentally pees on your carpet.
Many adopters and even fosters fail at just that. Anyone can be a “dog owner,” but we need owners to be “dog people.” Those who can learn to absolutely love their pets. We see dogs chained outside under awful conditions, thrown scraps of food. People also are ignorant about breeds and what each breed requires. They will adopt puppies and then dump them in shelters once that puppy grows up and does not fit their lifestyle.
How you treat your animal shows me who you really are. We often say no to a lot of people who set a lot of preconditions. We tell them they will do a lot better by buying a stuffed toy animal instead.
They do not understand that the fundamental job of a foster or an adopter is to help a dog, or a cat overcome the trauma of being separated from their owner for whatever reason and then dumped in a shelter among hundreds of other traumatized and stressed-out animals. They need love and compassion, and sometimes a lot of patience to interact with you and readjust back into a new family.
There are going to be accidents, there are going to be trust issues… but once they know they are safe, their gratitude and love is way beyond that of a human being. A human being can often be ungrateful, an animal will not.
Often it is hard to find people who would go outside their perfect little boxes thinking nothing can be out of order. We love those families that say, “Hey accidents happen; life is not perfect.”
It is also especially important for children to grow up with animals and learn kindness, compassion, and selflessness. Especially only children who do not know how to share. It makes them better human beings. It also brings so much love and positive energy for their parents.
We have some amazing families whose kids have benefited. There is this family that has been fostering dogs for us for four years and their little son lies down with the rescues and talks to them. Children like him are growing up learning how to be selfless and that life is not just all about them and their iPad and fancy toys. Animals teach you how to slow down and enjoy life. How to live in the moment and be happy with very little. It gives us so much happiness when we see our fosters becoming experienced and giving advice to others. And our adopters learning so many positive life lessons from their dogs and cats.
We do trial adoptions and that gives us the opportunity to take the dog back if we or the adopter feels the dog is not the right fit. Unlike in shelters where you know nothing about a dog and bring him home, we know the backstory of every dog, so you know what to expect. We will give the adopter the dog’s favorite toys, share their triggers, and something about their personality. The more educated and relaxed the adopter the more at ease the animal they are adopting. We do regular checks and encourage their owners to start an Instagram page about the animals so we can follow them.
It is important to remember you cannot fool a dog. They feed off your energy. One person gets negative in the house or is angry or stressed out and the entire energy changes and they can immediately sense it.
So many times, I am tired, or sleep deprived but I still try and stay in balance. It is not easy at times. My quiet time is in the wee hours of the morning when the world is asleep. And I can just chill out. I sometimes get to sleep at 7 am and the phone blows up with texts and messages and calls asking us to save a dog or a cat as soon as I turn it on.
So, fake a cheerful outlook if you must. Everyone needs it and its way better than being negative. That is why we do not adopt our dogs out to “dog owners.” We adopt them out to “dog people.”
If you were to teach southern states one thing based on your experience, what would it be?
Be more like the New England States. New England states have strict spay and neuter policies, and that’s why they don’t have the problems we have here. Southern leaders won’t make spaying and neutering an important issue, so we have litters year round and there’s no end in sight. When we send dogs north, the adopters are so grateful because in many areas shelters don’t even have full kennels. Ours are overflowing with perfectly wonderful dogs euthanized daily. We have no idea what it’s like to have a shortage of animals, that would be a great problem to have! But so many New England adopters shower us with thanks for saving these forgotten dogs, we are so grateful when they get the chance to leave the south.
And the best thing about saving animal lives is?
Gratitude that we can, but also the most beautiful thing about my work is the kind of friendships that are formed. So many people come into our lives because of a dog. Friends and relatives may go in and out of our lives but the dog people we meet have stayed forever. Their economic status, their ethnicity nothing matters other than that all of us follow the same passion. Saving the lives of the voiceless and the helpless.
To donate please go to rmgdogs.org
To foster or adopt email adrienne@rescuemega.org
