Mutt haven finding pups’ forever homes

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    For more information about Mutt Haven Pet Rescue visit its website at www.mutthavenpetrescue.org or email Lindi Williamson at mutthavenpetrescue@yahoo.com. Updates are also available at the rescue’s Facebook page www.facebook.com/mutthaven.

Photos by Crystal Nelson

Mutt Haven Pet Rescue founders and mother-daughter duo Sandy Jenkins and Lindi Williamson hold 1-week-old lab puppies from their newest litter. Mother dog Cinder is pictured between them. Mutt Haven Pet Rescue is a non-profit organization dedicated to rescuing pregnant dogs that otherwise would be euthanized and place them and their puppies into forever homes.

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Black lab Cinder nurses her litter of 11 puppies.

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BRIGHTON — At Mutt Haven Pet Rescue a mother-daughter duo from Brighton have teamed up to give second chances to pregnant dogs. Lindi Williamson and her mother, Sandy Jenkins, share a passion for dogs and learned through fostering dogs that there was a real need for a rescue that takes in pregnant female dogs.
    “A lot of these mothers are dumped off by their owners because they’re pregnant. They don’t want to deal with puppies, so that’s how a lot of these guys end up in the shelters,” Williamson said. “They are the first ones to be put to sleep or the first ones to be euthanized because there’s no room in the shelter for a litter of puppies.”
    After fostering dogs for shelters over the last couple years, Williamson decided she wanted to operate a rescue on her own terms.
    “I like the fact that mom and I really get to choose who we get to take. That was the important thing,” she said.
    Williamson said they get calls on a daily basis from shelters across the country asking them to take in pregnant mother dogs but that they have to be selective about the moms they are able to take so they can adopt them out as well.
    The rescue is currently being operated out of Williamson’s home, and she has converted their laundry room into a puppy room so the dogs have their own space.
    “They’re born here in the home,” she said. “I help all the moms deliver their babies so they’re not having them in a cold shelter,” she said, adding the home-based rescue is different from a shelter setting because the animals get more one-on-one attention.
    Because the rescue operates out of Williamson’s home, she is only able to care for two litters at one time. Jenkins said a barn is being built on her property to enable them to accept up to six litters at a time.
    “Once we can do it financially, and also as long as we do it with the space we have, well try to take as many as we can,” she said.
    Since opening the rescue in January, the duo has been able to save 27 dogs and expect to save “hundreds” this year.  Jenkins said the response from the community has been “overwhelming” so far, even though the amount of donations supporting their efforts hasn’t risen to comparable levels.
    After eight weeks, the puppies and the mother dogs are put up for adoption through Mutt Haven Pet Rescue’s website, www.mutthavenpetrescue.org. Williamson said the rescue utilizes professional photographer Kelly Borgman, whose photos of the puppies go online when the puppies are 4 to 5 weeks old so people can fill out an adoption application online.
    The applicant will be able to meet the puppy or the mom after meeting the application’s requirements, and a home visit may be required to ensure the dog is going to a good home.
    According to Williamson, the dogs are adopted out at a fee that covers the cost of caring for them and the adoptions include spay or neuter, microchip, vaccinations, de-worming and 30 day pet insurance. The mother dogs are available for $175 and the puppies are available for $250.
    Williamson said they’re looking for foster homes for puppies or the moms that are over 8 weeks old and need a little more time to get adopted. The non-profit is also looking for volunteers and grant writers along with monetary donations and Pedigree puppy food.