Today we’d like to introduce you to Lin Eckland.
Hi Lin, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
When my son was 12 he asked for a Shih Tzu because several of his friends had one. I researched the breed and we adopted one, Shimi. I fell in love with the breed and soon was volunteering with another rescue.After transport and temp fostering with them, I adopted a mill dog from them. She was very ill, and had never been in a home before. We nursed her back to health and she became quite the family dog.
I wanted to make more of an impact with mill dogs, I received the 501 c papers in 2012 for the rescue and we took in our first rescue in Janurary of 2013. At that time the breeders bred the dogs as long as they had puppies, and kept them in terrible conditions. The dogs were kept in wire cages and many came with medical needs. We recruited foster homes to give these dogs the love and care they had never received, and worked with local veternarians to treat them. Thankfully, through tireless work by rescue organizations like ours and national ones like Bailing Out Benji the public awareness of puppy mills has been raised, and more people than ever are adopting dogs from rescues instead of buying puppies from pet stores.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
The main struggle was with vet bills, these dogs had terrible dental disease, which costs a lot! Raising funds to cover these bills became challenging when COVID hit. Another struggle was finding foster homes whi were willing to take on the challenges of working with these dogs – housetraining, earning their trust, and leash walking. Vet bills are an ongoiing challenge.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I worked full time in an office with independent contractors, managing inventories, workload, and invoicing. I was able to carve out time during the day wot spend time on the rescue.
So, before we go, how can our readers or others connect or collaborate with you? How can they support you?
The more our rescue name gets out there, the more support we garner. We use Facebook, Instagram, and we have a wbsite for people to go to if they wish to help by fostering or volunteering with us. we are a very friendly and inclusive organization. We also ask people to talk to others about the importance of adoption vs buying a puppy, Always ask to see the parents!
Pricing:
- Based on age of the dog.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://northstarshihtzurescue.org
- Instagram: @northstarshihtzurescue
- Facebook: search for NorthStar Shih Tzu Rescue
