During the pandemic and its resulting shutdowns, Cane Rosso Rescue had no trouble finding people to adopt a dog, but now that the economy has reopened, some of the homeless dogs they thought had been placed in forever housing are being returned.
“As people are going back to work or wanting to travel, unfortunately, they are surrendering their pets back and after hunting season people dump hunting dogs that didn’t perform as well as they wanted,” said Jordan Miller, manager of Cane Rosso Rescue in Carrollton. “Then of course there is an extreme overpopulation of stray dogs and cats just pretty much everywhere.”
The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) of Texas found that in the Dallas/Ft. Worth metroplex some 200,000 abandoned dogs and cats are euthanized in animal shelters annually and Dallas is among the top 5 U.S. markets for euthanizing animals at 32 for every 100,000.
Cane Rosso Rescue takes in many stray dogs from kill shelters when they have run out of time and are about to be put to sleep, Miller said.
“We also have a great community here in DFW based in a Facebook group where there are various rescue groups that people reach out to if they need to get a dog taken out of a kill shelter and we get dogs from all over the area, even from like Oklahoma and Louisiana sometimes, or if there’s a dog hoarding situation on specific properties,” she said. “Sometimes people just find stray dogs out and about on the street and we have taken in dogs like that as well.”
Their Facebook group is called Cane Rosso Rescue Foster/Adopter/Volunteer Community. It’s used to track dogs who have been adopted and to find rescue dogs a safe home.
“If anyone is interested in rescuing a dog, now is a great time to go to your local shelter or come to us, of course, to adopt a dog because there are so many dogs in need of homes and have some great dogs here who would love to find their forever home,” Miller told Dallas Express.
While Cane Rosso Rescue dog fostering began in 2012, Cane Rosso Rescue was formally founded in 2014 by Jay Jerrier who also owns pizza restaurants, Cane Rosso in Deep Ellum, White Rock, Carrollton, Frisco @ The Star, Arlington and Fort Worth as well as Zoli’s New York Pizza Tavern in Addison and Fort Worth.
“His passion for dogs and dog rescue, specifically pointers, inspired him to open the rescue here,” Miller said in an interview. “We don’t only do pointers. We do mostly sporting breed dogs and hunting dogs. Jay wanted to support dogs that needed rescue and so he opened this up and we’re still going strong.”
Because Cane Rosso Rescue spends about $500 to $600 per dog and up to $15,000 to $20,000 if the dog has medical issues, the group accepts donations and volunteers to help on the premises.
“We do take a percentage of the proceeds from the restaurants, but we also have a great community of people who are so, so generous and are willing to donate,” Miller said. “We also get donations of supplies and not just money. People drop off dog food, dog beds and all sorts of things. We mostly thrive on the generosity and donations of the community.”