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One Hundred Dogs and Counting: One Woman, Ten Thousand Miles, and A Journey into the Heart of Shelters and Rescues
After nearly a year struggling to find a home for a particular foster dog, Cara begins to wonder how the story ends—when will all the dogs be saved? Even after the one-hundredth foster dog passes through Cara’s home, the stream of homeless dogs appears endless. Seized by the need to act, Cara grabs her best friend, fills a van with donations, and heads south to discover what is really happening in the rural shelters where her foster dogs originate.
What she discovers will break her heart and compel her to share the story of heroes and villains and plenty of good dogs, in the hope of changing this world.
From North Carolina where pit bulls fill the shelters and heart-worm rages to Tennessee where dogs are left forgotten in pounds and on to Alabama where unlikely heroes fight in a state that has largely forsaken its responsibilities to its animals, Cara meets the people working on the front lines in this national crisis of unwanted animals. The dogs, the people and their inspiring stories draw her south again and again in search of answers and maybe a dog of her own.
One Hundred Dogs and Counting will introduce the reader to many wonderful dogs—from sweet Oreo to quirky Flannery—but also to inspirational people sacrificing personal lives and fortunes to save deserving animals.
Join Cara on the rescue road as she follows her heart into the places where too many dogs are forgotten and discovers glimmers of hope that the day is coming when every dog will have a home.
What she discovers will break her heart and compel her to share the story of heroes and villains and plenty of good dogs, in the hope of changing this world.
From North Carolina where pit bulls fill the shelters and heart-worm rages to Tennessee where dogs are left forgotten in pounds and on to Alabama where unlikely heroes fight in a state that has largely forsaken its responsibilities to its animals, Cara meets the people working on the front lines in this national crisis of unwanted animals. The dogs, the people and their inspiring stories draw her south again and again in search of answers and maybe a dog of her own.
One Hundred Dogs and Counting will introduce the reader to many wonderful dogs—from sweet Oreo to quirky Flannery—but also to inspirational people sacrificing personal lives and fortunes to save deserving animals.
Join Cara on the rescue road as she follows her heart into the places where too many dogs are forgotten and discovers glimmers of hope that the day is coming when every dog will have a home.
304 pages, Hardcover
First published July 7, 2020
About the author
Cara Sue Achterberg
11 books189 followersCara Achterberg writes smart women's fiction that book clubs love. She also writes memoirs about her adventures in dog rescue.
Cara is the co-founder of Who Will Let the Dogs Out, a non-profit that raises awareness and resources for homeless dogs and the heroes who fight for them. Learn more at WhoWillLetTheDogsOut.org.
Information on all her books, blogs, and upcoming appearances can be found at CaraWrites.com.
When not writing or weeding (which can sometimes be one and the same), Cara enjoys hiking, reading, visiting Virginia wineries, and growing pretty much anything, including her circle of friends.
You can keep up with Cara on Facebook (Cara Sue Achterberg, writer), Instagram (@carasueachterberg), or TikTok (@CaraSueAchterberg) and of course, at CaraWrites.com.
Cara is the co-founder of Who Will Let the Dogs Out, a non-profit that raises awareness and resources for homeless dogs and the heroes who fight for them. Learn more at WhoWillLetTheDogsOut.org.
Information on all her books, blogs, and upcoming appearances can be found at CaraWrites.com.
When not writing or weeding (which can sometimes be one and the same), Cara enjoys hiking, reading, visiting Virginia wineries, and growing pretty much anything, including her circle of friends.
You can keep up with Cara on Facebook (Cara Sue Achterberg, writer), Instagram (@carasueachterberg), or TikTok (@CaraSueAchterberg) and of course, at CaraWrites.com.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 52 reviews
August 26, 2020
One Hundred Dogs and Counting is such an amazing book any dog lover or animal lover must read. Cara's story is so touching and really brought me to tears reading her stories, what she advocates for and for her heart.
I have learned so much about how our animals and dogs in particular are mistreated and unfortunately, with the lack of funding and resources, our dogs continue and will continue to suffer consequences through abuse, malnutrition and neglect. Since there is severe lack of space, even a healthy puppy only months old can be euthanized.
I love how the book brings awareness about shelters and rescues, how to foster, volunteer in every type of avenue, donating for the cause and how to advocate for these dogs in every way possible. The book is such an amazing read that I enjoyed a lot. At times, I did need to break for the heavy topics but it did not deter me from learning more about it, and picked it back up again.
Today is as good as any time to do this for our dogs - a man's best friend. I challenge you! Pick this book up and do something positive for our dogs today.
I have learned so much about how our animals and dogs in particular are mistreated and unfortunately, with the lack of funding and resources, our dogs continue and will continue to suffer consequences through abuse, malnutrition and neglect. Since there is severe lack of space, even a healthy puppy only months old can be euthanized.
I love how the book brings awareness about shelters and rescues, how to foster, volunteer in every type of avenue, donating for the cause and how to advocate for these dogs in every way possible. The book is such an amazing read that I enjoyed a lot. At times, I did need to break for the heavy topics but it did not deter me from learning more about it, and picked it back up again.
Today is as good as any time to do this for our dogs - a man's best friend. I challenge you! Pick this book up and do something positive for our dogs today.
July 11, 2020
"Too many people are looking the other way.
Too many people believe that this is not their problem. Too many people think that saving most of the dogs is okay. It isn't.
We must save all of the dogs."
A powerful book sharing the sad, but true details behind Southern animal shelters and what it's like to foster a difficult dog.
A must read for all dog lovers and anyone who doesn't understand why foster and rescue work is so important!!
There's many sad stories, but hopeful adoption ones as well so it's balanced out. The author truly cares about these animals and it comes through with each page. I cried a lot reading this book and it's just made me more determined than ever to continue advocating for dog rescues!
Adopt! Foster! Speak out about Rescues! Save all the dogs!!
Too many people believe that this is not their problem. Too many people think that saving most of the dogs is okay. It isn't.
We must save all of the dogs."
A powerful book sharing the sad, but true details behind Southern animal shelters and what it's like to foster a difficult dog.
A must read for all dog lovers and anyone who doesn't understand why foster and rescue work is so important!!
There's many sad stories, but hopeful adoption ones as well so it's balanced out. The author truly cares about these animals and it comes through with each page. I cried a lot reading this book and it's just made me more determined than ever to continue advocating for dog rescues!
Adopt! Foster! Speak out about Rescues! Save all the dogs!!
May 2, 2020
An inspiring, call-to-action story about one woman’s dedication to the solution. Through her candid and heart-warming adventures, Achterberg proves that even small acts of kindness can save lives. Her message is a beacon that shines light directly on the path to end suffering; her journey proves that together we can end the needless suffering of millions of shelter animals across the nation. A must read for anyone with a heart for rescued animals who wants to understand the problem and be a part of the solution.
May 8, 2026
First, let me say again that I think all who are involved with dog (and cat) rescue and fostering are saints. I have communicated with the author via Goodreads and she is a great person and someone you want to have over and hang out with. I like her writing style as she tells it like it is regarding herself and experiences, as well as the challenges of fostering and of the animal shelters she visits. As always, I will be sharing quotes that I liked or that give you an idea of what is in the book.
I like how she addresses the Pit Bull label right up front:
“NOTE: Throughout this book, you will read the term “pit bull.” I want to be clear here that there is no such breed as a pit bull. You might as well call them unicorns, “Pit bull” is an umbrella term for dogs with a muscular build, large head, tiny ears, and hearts of gold. They may or may not have American Staffordshire Terrier or American Bull Dog Terrier or any number of terriers or bulldogs in their heritage. There is so much I could say about the misinformation, biased press, and complete nonsense that surrounds these dogs. They are near and dear to my heart, and I struggled with how to label them in this book. I considered putting the term in quotes, but it became confusing and awkward. So, suffice it to say, that while I use the term “pit bull” I don’t believe in it, and I am fully aware that no such “breed” exists. I truly hope that someday everyone is lucky enough to know the love of a dog erroneously labeled “pit bull.”
The book did feel a little uneven for me as the beginning chapters deal with her fostering and in particular with a dog named Gala that proved hard to find a home for. Here is a bit on that:
“Most people had stopped asking about Gala. They knew the news was never good, and if you opened up that jar, you were likely to be subjected to my long list of frustrations about Gala, my unsold writing, my filthy house, my forgotten gardens, my bucking horse, and even the awful hot weather.
The thing about Gala, though, was that deep down I knew she was a good dog. She wanted nothing more than to please us; she loved with a devotion that was clear and true. Her eyes shown with intelligence, and at times | was certain she could read my mind. So, did she know I was afraid for her? Did she sense that I worried she’d never find her home? Or had she already decided this was her home and that was the real reason she challenged Gracie and threatened visitors?
“This isn’t your house, Gala,” I told her as I got up to go back inside. “You can’t be our dog, you know that, right?”
I enjoyed hearing about when she rescued puppies or pregnant dogs where she wound up with puppies. She reminds us all of the less fun side to them:
“After they pooped (occasionally, but rarely, on the puppy pads), they ran and wrestled over and through their poop, sometimes even sleeping in it. They tracked it everywhere. I found myself scrubbing it off the walls. Toys, water bowls, and bedding had to be changed almost every hour, and just that week they'd upped the ante when they discovered that they could shred their puppy pads to create unending fun.
By default, I was becoming a bit of a puppy expert. Hounds, in particular, seem to take special joy in making messes.”
The sacrifices people do to help dogs in need of rescue are very admirable. But she really wanted to do more that help fostering more than a hundred dogs:
“I needed to do more than write a book. I needed to go down there. I needed to see this for myself. Sitting there with Willow, I began to hatch a plan. I would use my book advance money not just to tour with my book, but to rent a van, fill it with donated food and meds and supplies, and take them to the shelters. Along the way, I would write about it, using my words to shine a light on the situation.”
That’s where the book really kicks it up a notch. Who doesn’t love a good road trip for a noble cause. The descriptions of the shelters are something. Some bad and some hopeful, but almost always in need of help. Reading of the people who dedicate themselves to saving dogs is inspirational. Here is a bit on one shelter ‘Lenoir’:
“Lenoir takes in about one hundred dogs a month. It was nearly the end of August that morning and I asked how many they'd adopted out.
"We've adopted out three so far this month,” she said.”
She makes good points about no-kill shelters:
“No-kill has become the gold standard that every shelter strives to achieve—they need it to win the public’s trust and therefore support. A director may also need to achieve no-kill status for job security. I’m 100 percent behind the idea of not killing any animal unnecessarily. My beef then is with the pressure we put on shelters to achieve no-kill status without also giving them the resources, staff, facility, and budget to do it. Or with shelters thar achieve no-kill by hand-selecting which dogs to admit to the shelter, regardless of what happens to the dogs they turn away. Not to mention the shelters who achieve no-kill by allowing dogs to languish for years on their concrete floors—not dying, but not really living either.”
Thinking about the dogs that are euthanized should make any person cry. She and I liked the way one kennel put a big black X on the display for the name of the dogs that were to be put to sleep if not adopted soon:
“The more | thought about it, the more I realized that instead of angry about the X’s, I should be grateful. Why should a shelter hide the fact that they planned to kill a dog? Maybe if more shelters were as transparent the public would be outraged enough to stop the killing. There were X’s on plenty of the dogs I met at Anson; they were just kept on a list or a computer somewhere, far from the public eye.
Oconee’s X’s at least increased the urgency of the situation and hopefully the likelihood that a dog would be pulled by a rescue.”
I love how even when she knows that a lot of dogs she meets are the shelters won’t make it out, she still works to interact, appreciate, and honor the dogs. In this next bit she is referring to dogs that had attacked a farm animal and were ordered to be destroyed:
“This was the part that none of us wanted to talk about or write about or post a picture of, but I spent a few extra minutes with those big dogs, memorizing their faces, acknowledging their lives, and wishing desperately this world was different.”
I love the discussion on discussing ways to solve the issue and find homes. One factor is of cost, maybe people can be helped out there for the sake of the dog?:
“Which brought me to one of the complicating factors in all of this, and perhaps one of the reasons rural shelters were so full—cost. It costs a lot to properly care for a pet. According to Petfinder, owning a dog can cost up to $2,000 a year. Should people be denied a dog simply because they're poor? Was it possible to quantify the value of how much a dog could enrich and inspire a life? Are pets so necessary to a life that the government should subsidize their care for individuals who can’t afford it? While that is probably a question that could touch off a firestorm of political opinions, the huge increase in support animals at schools, in businesses, and on airplanes might argue that many people feel they are a necessity.”
The big question people want to know about a dog book is ‘does the dog die in the end.’ Or in this case, why would I want to read a book that would make me sad. I like how she addresses that point in this next excerpt:
“In one situation, I remarked, “I met good dogs who are dead now,” and the listener physically recoiled and said, “You can't say that.”
And it seemed I couldn't. At many signings, people would pick up my book and ask, “Will it make me cry? I can’t read it if it will make me cry.”
We don’t want to be sad. That's the bottom line. There was plenty of awful stuff happening in the world, and the last thing people wanted to hear about was good dogs dying needlessly. But if they didn’t know, nothing would change. People would keep buying dogs from puppy mills and pet stores.”
So even though this book is not all about happy dog related stories, books relating to shelters are good. It makes us aware. There are people and stories on dogs that are inspirational. Hopefully, it motivates us to help in any way possible. There are resources in the end of the book including the shelters she visited which may be a good place to start by supporting them.
I like how she addresses the Pit Bull label right up front:
“NOTE: Throughout this book, you will read the term “pit bull.” I want to be clear here that there is no such breed as a pit bull. You might as well call them unicorns, “Pit bull” is an umbrella term for dogs with a muscular build, large head, tiny ears, and hearts of gold. They may or may not have American Staffordshire Terrier or American Bull Dog Terrier or any number of terriers or bulldogs in their heritage. There is so much I could say about the misinformation, biased press, and complete nonsense that surrounds these dogs. They are near and dear to my heart, and I struggled with how to label them in this book. I considered putting the term in quotes, but it became confusing and awkward. So, suffice it to say, that while I use the term “pit bull” I don’t believe in it, and I am fully aware that no such “breed” exists. I truly hope that someday everyone is lucky enough to know the love of a dog erroneously labeled “pit bull.”
The book did feel a little uneven for me as the beginning chapters deal with her fostering and in particular with a dog named Gala that proved hard to find a home for. Here is a bit on that:
“Most people had stopped asking about Gala. They knew the news was never good, and if you opened up that jar, you were likely to be subjected to my long list of frustrations about Gala, my unsold writing, my filthy house, my forgotten gardens, my bucking horse, and even the awful hot weather.
The thing about Gala, though, was that deep down I knew she was a good dog. She wanted nothing more than to please us; she loved with a devotion that was clear and true. Her eyes shown with intelligence, and at times | was certain she could read my mind. So, did she know I was afraid for her? Did she sense that I worried she’d never find her home? Or had she already decided this was her home and that was the real reason she challenged Gracie and threatened visitors?
“This isn’t your house, Gala,” I told her as I got up to go back inside. “You can’t be our dog, you know that, right?”
I enjoyed hearing about when she rescued puppies or pregnant dogs where she wound up with puppies. She reminds us all of the less fun side to them:
“After they pooped (occasionally, but rarely, on the puppy pads), they ran and wrestled over and through their poop, sometimes even sleeping in it. They tracked it everywhere. I found myself scrubbing it off the walls. Toys, water bowls, and bedding had to be changed almost every hour, and just that week they'd upped the ante when they discovered that they could shred their puppy pads to create unending fun.
By default, I was becoming a bit of a puppy expert. Hounds, in particular, seem to take special joy in making messes.”
The sacrifices people do to help dogs in need of rescue are very admirable. But she really wanted to do more that help fostering more than a hundred dogs:
“I needed to do more than write a book. I needed to go down there. I needed to see this for myself. Sitting there with Willow, I began to hatch a plan. I would use my book advance money not just to tour with my book, but to rent a van, fill it with donated food and meds and supplies, and take them to the shelters. Along the way, I would write about it, using my words to shine a light on the situation.”
That’s where the book really kicks it up a notch. Who doesn’t love a good road trip for a noble cause. The descriptions of the shelters are something. Some bad and some hopeful, but almost always in need of help. Reading of the people who dedicate themselves to saving dogs is inspirational. Here is a bit on one shelter ‘Lenoir’:
“Lenoir takes in about one hundred dogs a month. It was nearly the end of August that morning and I asked how many they'd adopted out.
"We've adopted out three so far this month,” she said.”
She makes good points about no-kill shelters:
“No-kill has become the gold standard that every shelter strives to achieve—they need it to win the public’s trust and therefore support. A director may also need to achieve no-kill status for job security. I’m 100 percent behind the idea of not killing any animal unnecessarily. My beef then is with the pressure we put on shelters to achieve no-kill status without also giving them the resources, staff, facility, and budget to do it. Or with shelters thar achieve no-kill by hand-selecting which dogs to admit to the shelter, regardless of what happens to the dogs they turn away. Not to mention the shelters who achieve no-kill by allowing dogs to languish for years on their concrete floors—not dying, but not really living either.”
Thinking about the dogs that are euthanized should make any person cry. She and I liked the way one kennel put a big black X on the display for the name of the dogs that were to be put to sleep if not adopted soon:
“The more | thought about it, the more I realized that instead of angry about the X’s, I should be grateful. Why should a shelter hide the fact that they planned to kill a dog? Maybe if more shelters were as transparent the public would be outraged enough to stop the killing. There were X’s on plenty of the dogs I met at Anson; they were just kept on a list or a computer somewhere, far from the public eye.
Oconee’s X’s at least increased the urgency of the situation and hopefully the likelihood that a dog would be pulled by a rescue.”
I love how even when she knows that a lot of dogs she meets are the shelters won’t make it out, she still works to interact, appreciate, and honor the dogs. In this next bit she is referring to dogs that had attacked a farm animal and were ordered to be destroyed:
“This was the part that none of us wanted to talk about or write about or post a picture of, but I spent a few extra minutes with those big dogs, memorizing their faces, acknowledging their lives, and wishing desperately this world was different.”
I love the discussion on discussing ways to solve the issue and find homes. One factor is of cost, maybe people can be helped out there for the sake of the dog?:
“Which brought me to one of the complicating factors in all of this, and perhaps one of the reasons rural shelters were so full—cost. It costs a lot to properly care for a pet. According to Petfinder, owning a dog can cost up to $2,000 a year. Should people be denied a dog simply because they're poor? Was it possible to quantify the value of how much a dog could enrich and inspire a life? Are pets so necessary to a life that the government should subsidize their care for individuals who can’t afford it? While that is probably a question that could touch off a firestorm of political opinions, the huge increase in support animals at schools, in businesses, and on airplanes might argue that many people feel they are a necessity.”
The big question people want to know about a dog book is ‘does the dog die in the end.’ Or in this case, why would I want to read a book that would make me sad. I like how she addresses that point in this next excerpt:
“In one situation, I remarked, “I met good dogs who are dead now,” and the listener physically recoiled and said, “You can't say that.”
And it seemed I couldn't. At many signings, people would pick up my book and ask, “Will it make me cry? I can’t read it if it will make me cry.”
We don’t want to be sad. That's the bottom line. There was plenty of awful stuff happening in the world, and the last thing people wanted to hear about was good dogs dying needlessly. But if they didn’t know, nothing would change. People would keep buying dogs from puppy mills and pet stores.”
So even though this book is not all about happy dog related stories, books relating to shelters are good. It makes us aware. There are people and stories on dogs that are inspirational. Hopefully, it motivates us to help in any way possible. There are resources in the end of the book including the shelters she visited which may be a good place to start by supporting them.
June 29, 2020
One Hundred Dogs & Counting is such an important story to read.
@carasueachterberg has fostered so many sweet pups and brings important awareness to the importance of fostering, rescuing, donating, helping with transport, and being vocal about the importance of dog adoption.
Unfortunately dogs in the South are dumped and surrendered more than anywhere else in the US due to them “just being a dog,” instead of a part of the family. There is sadly lack of funding, resources, and space for these sweet babies, which means that a 6 month old puppy found as a stray can be euthanized.
She brings awareness to the black cloud around “bully breeds.” You follow her through dark times in shelters with dogs living is kennels outside, with lack of volunteers, not enough funding for spay or neutering, for flea or heartworm treatment and it is devastating.
This book brings awareness to: advocating for shelters and rescues, foster, volunteer, donate, being a voice for these dogs, teaching children to interact with dogs appropriately, and loving the hell out of your dog.
It also reiterates the importance of 𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 & 𝐧𝐞𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 your dogs. Heartworm prevention and flea/tick prevention.
Operation Paws for Homes (www.ophrescue.org/donate)
This is the organization working to help bring some of these dogs from the south to the north to try to be adopted.
My sweet babies Leo and Hazel were both rescued from Maryland and were fostered by the greatest rescue and I couldn’t appreciate them more @thefosterfarmfamily ! They go above and beyond and are funded solely by donations.
So if you love animals as much as me, and you want to help, look into your local shelters and rescues and see what you can do. 🐾
#100dogsandcounting @100dogsandcounting #dogmom #foster #donate #bookstagram #books #bookcommunity #dogs
@carasueachterberg has fostered so many sweet pups and brings important awareness to the importance of fostering, rescuing, donating, helping with transport, and being vocal about the importance of dog adoption.
Unfortunately dogs in the South are dumped and surrendered more than anywhere else in the US due to them “just being a dog,” instead of a part of the family. There is sadly lack of funding, resources, and space for these sweet babies, which means that a 6 month old puppy found as a stray can be euthanized.
She brings awareness to the black cloud around “bully breeds.” You follow her through dark times in shelters with dogs living is kennels outside, with lack of volunteers, not enough funding for spay or neutering, for flea or heartworm treatment and it is devastating.
This book brings awareness to: advocating for shelters and rescues, foster, volunteer, donate, being a voice for these dogs, teaching children to interact with dogs appropriately, and loving the hell out of your dog.
It also reiterates the importance of 𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 & 𝐧𝐞𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 your dogs. Heartworm prevention and flea/tick prevention.
Operation Paws for Homes (www.ophrescue.org/donate)
This is the organization working to help bring some of these dogs from the south to the north to try to be adopted.
My sweet babies Leo and Hazel were both rescued from Maryland and were fostered by the greatest rescue and I couldn’t appreciate them more @thefosterfarmfamily ! They go above and beyond and are funded solely by donations.
So if you love animals as much as me, and you want to help, look into your local shelters and rescues and see what you can do. 🐾
#100dogsandcounting @100dogsandcounting #dogmom #foster #donate #bookstagram #books #bookcommunity #dogs
May 16, 2020
I am already a huge dog lover who consistently encourages others to adopt, but this book taught me so much more about the problems our world is facing. I knew there were many dogs dying and living in terrible conditions, but I have not witnessed them in person yet, so this book really opened my eyes and helped show me what was going on in vivid details. The author's journey is incredible and she does so much to help dogs, so I was hooked throughout every chapter to the story. It's true that a lot of people just don't know the truth about this topic, so I hope more people will read this book and choose to adopt and help dogs in need more than ever.
June 12, 2020
In 2019 Cara Achterberg set out to learn the reality of animal rescue in parts of America where even people often struggle to make a good life. Her hope in writing her second dog book, One Hundred Dogs and Counting: One Woman, Ten Thousand Miles, and A Journey into the Heart of Shelters and Rescues, is that the stories will stimulate people to foster dogs, volunteer at their local shelters and do whatever is in their power to improve the lives of dogs who, for what ever reason, find themselves without humans of their own. Cara fosters dogs for OPH, Operation Paws for Homes, a foster-based rescue in Chesterfield, Virginia.
One Hundred Dogs and Counting is filled with heroic characters, hopeless situations, and wonderful dogs, many of whom have no chance at a good life in a loving home. It is a detailed collection of personal experiences derived from Cara’s journeys to visit dog rescues, shelters and, yes, pounds in some of the most economically depressed regions in America. One Hundred Dogs and Counting asks the important, serious question. Do dogs in rural animal shelters suffer and die “…because [people] don’t care or because they don’t know?”
~~~
The most basic question the book seeks to answer is “how do dogs end up in shelters?” There is a variety of reasons, but it’s often just because the dog’s people aren’t up to the job. Not all dogs are “good dogs” right away. Training a dog needs patience, optimism and time — and sometimes a professional. As Cara writes, “So many people want a “turnkey” dog, one that requires very little of them. A dog who is housebroken, crate-trained, good on a leash, loves everyone, listens perfectly, doesn’t chase cats or deer or squirrels, one that, effectively, doesn’t act like a regular dog. Turnkey dogs are rare. And they don’t happen without a lot of work.”
In One Hundred Dogs and Counting Cara paints a vivid picture of the effect of human poverty on domestic animals. Still, human poverty is not the only driver leading dogs to be abandoned. “Much of [what I was seeing in these shelters] was a culture problem. I was learning that many people in rural, poor areas simply did not value their pets. Dogs were more like livestock…they weren’t as much pets as property. ‘It’s just a dog/cat’ was a phrase we heard again and again.”
Poverty, culture, and something more; gentrification.
Visiting a sad shelter in Shelbyville, Tennessee, Cara asked a deputy sheriff why he thought so many dogs ended up there.
“He offered an interesting perspective I hadn’t considered. He said that the history of dogs in rural areas was that people owned large pieces of land and the dogs roamed freely, but as development came to Shelbyville, open, unoccupied spaces filled up as neighborhoods and businesses came in. Yet many people continued to allow their dogs to roam free as they always had. More run-ins with people, more contact with other (unsterilized) dogs led to more Animal Control calls, more dogs seized, and more unwanted puppies…there never seemed to be an end or even a slow-down. When would all the dogs be safe?” One Hundred Dogs and Counting
~~~
As bleak as many of these stories are, One Hundred Dogs and Counting focuses on the success stories and positive steps to change the dark, nearly overwhelming, situation in these shelters — or shelters anywhere — where dogs languish in filth and disease waiting for death.
Cara writes, “…an animal shelter is a service to the community.” Mixed among the many stories of over-crowded shelters where dogs suffer until they’re euthanized or, miraculously, adopted, Cara writes about the magic effected by Kristin Reid, a passionate woman in Tennessee. The Cheatham County Animal Control “…is an open-intake shelter with a tiny budget of only $60,000 a year, yet for all intents and purposes, Kristin [the director] has managed to turn it into a no-kill shelter, even if she doesn’t have that status officially. She works hard to move dogs out through rescues, which allows her to work with some of the harder to place dogs longer.”
What Cara describes is amazing.
“After tackling the shelter building, animal care, and staffing, Kristin set her sights on rebuilding the respect and support of her community. Instead of focusing on what she didn’t have—volunteers, money, community support, or a fancy building—she instead looked at what she did have—plenty of land in a beautiful part of the country. The shelter sits on one side of the Cumberland River and most of its community is on the other side. To reach the shelter, you have to drive over one of the bridges and follow the long, winding road that Nancy and I had just traveled. Kristin needed something to draw the people to the shelter.
[Kristin set to work creating trails through their woods and began a rock- painting program. The staff and fledgling volunteer program began painting and placing rocks with positive messages on the trails. Then they invited the public to come and hike, paint a rock and place it, or find a rock and take it home. She enlisted the local high-school students to create storyboards and post them along the trails, giving young families even more incentive to come to the shelter. The only price for using their beautiful, interactive trails? Walking an adorable, adoptable shelter dog! Talk about a win-win. I loved it and was fast becoming a member of the Kristin Reid fan club.” One Hundred Dogs and Counting
~~~
One of the keys to saving dogs, as Cara has written persuasively and demonstrated in her own life, is fostering. Fostering dogs takes them out of shelters leaving room for more dogs to be taken off the streets and placed where they might get some of the help and care they need.
People who are able to invite dogs into their homes and lives until the dog finds its people are unusually big-hearted and emotionally brave. “…people fostering dogs all over our country [are] connected by an invisible web spun from our shared passion…All these dog-hearted people, working together, [is] the only way it was possible to save so many lives.”
Maybe every dog owner has a favorite breed, and Cara’s heart goes out to pit bulls, though, she insists, there is no such breed and she’s right. It’s a “look” with a bad reputation. She describes one encounter at a high-kill shelter that marked the kennel cards of dogs who were to be euthanized with a large “X.”
“I lingered outside the kennel of Sheba, a cute black puppy with a white nose. She was friendly and eager and grateful for the treats I passed through the fence. I looked past the enormous X scrawled across her kennel card and read that she was six months old and picked up as a stray and had no bite history. And then I saw her crime. She was a pit bull mix. …Ultimately, OPH would save Sheba. She would…prove to be a delightful foster dog and get adopted faster than most. But would we have been as convicted to save Sheba if she didn’t have an X on her kennel card?” One Hundred Dogs and Counting
This is not an easy book to read, and it shouldn’t be. “…Words were my only weapon in this war to save dogs, and what I saw each day of the tour only sharpened my sword," write Cara. This passionate, conversational, anecdotal, heart-felt look at the hard condition in which many abandoned animals end up (through no fault of their own) is important reading for any person -- or entity -- involved in or interested in -- improving the lives of animals.
One Hundred Dogs and Counting is filled with heroic characters, hopeless situations, and wonderful dogs, many of whom have no chance at a good life in a loving home. It is a detailed collection of personal experiences derived from Cara’s journeys to visit dog rescues, shelters and, yes, pounds in some of the most economically depressed regions in America. One Hundred Dogs and Counting asks the important, serious question. Do dogs in rural animal shelters suffer and die “…because [people] don’t care or because they don’t know?”
~~~
The most basic question the book seeks to answer is “how do dogs end up in shelters?” There is a variety of reasons, but it’s often just because the dog’s people aren’t up to the job. Not all dogs are “good dogs” right away. Training a dog needs patience, optimism and time — and sometimes a professional. As Cara writes, “So many people want a “turnkey” dog, one that requires very little of them. A dog who is housebroken, crate-trained, good on a leash, loves everyone, listens perfectly, doesn’t chase cats or deer or squirrels, one that, effectively, doesn’t act like a regular dog. Turnkey dogs are rare. And they don’t happen without a lot of work.”
In One Hundred Dogs and Counting Cara paints a vivid picture of the effect of human poverty on domestic animals. Still, human poverty is not the only driver leading dogs to be abandoned. “Much of [what I was seeing in these shelters] was a culture problem. I was learning that many people in rural, poor areas simply did not value their pets. Dogs were more like livestock…they weren’t as much pets as property. ‘It’s just a dog/cat’ was a phrase we heard again and again.”
Poverty, culture, and something more; gentrification.
Visiting a sad shelter in Shelbyville, Tennessee, Cara asked a deputy sheriff why he thought so many dogs ended up there.
“He offered an interesting perspective I hadn’t considered. He said that the history of dogs in rural areas was that people owned large pieces of land and the dogs roamed freely, but as development came to Shelbyville, open, unoccupied spaces filled up as neighborhoods and businesses came in. Yet many people continued to allow their dogs to roam free as they always had. More run-ins with people, more contact with other (unsterilized) dogs led to more Animal Control calls, more dogs seized, and more unwanted puppies…there never seemed to be an end or even a slow-down. When would all the dogs be safe?” One Hundred Dogs and Counting
~~~
As bleak as many of these stories are, One Hundred Dogs and Counting focuses on the success stories and positive steps to change the dark, nearly overwhelming, situation in these shelters — or shelters anywhere — where dogs languish in filth and disease waiting for death.
Cara writes, “…an animal shelter is a service to the community.” Mixed among the many stories of over-crowded shelters where dogs suffer until they’re euthanized or, miraculously, adopted, Cara writes about the magic effected by Kristin Reid, a passionate woman in Tennessee. The Cheatham County Animal Control “…is an open-intake shelter with a tiny budget of only $60,000 a year, yet for all intents and purposes, Kristin [the director] has managed to turn it into a no-kill shelter, even if she doesn’t have that status officially. She works hard to move dogs out through rescues, which allows her to work with some of the harder to place dogs longer.”
What Cara describes is amazing.
“After tackling the shelter building, animal care, and staffing, Kristin set her sights on rebuilding the respect and support of her community. Instead of focusing on what she didn’t have—volunteers, money, community support, or a fancy building—she instead looked at what she did have—plenty of land in a beautiful part of the country. The shelter sits on one side of the Cumberland River and most of its community is on the other side. To reach the shelter, you have to drive over one of the bridges and follow the long, winding road that Nancy and I had just traveled. Kristin needed something to draw the people to the shelter.
[Kristin set to work creating trails through their woods and began a rock- painting program. The staff and fledgling volunteer program began painting and placing rocks with positive messages on the trails. Then they invited the public to come and hike, paint a rock and place it, or find a rock and take it home. She enlisted the local high-school students to create storyboards and post them along the trails, giving young families even more incentive to come to the shelter. The only price for using their beautiful, interactive trails? Walking an adorable, adoptable shelter dog! Talk about a win-win. I loved it and was fast becoming a member of the Kristin Reid fan club.” One Hundred Dogs and Counting
~~~
One of the keys to saving dogs, as Cara has written persuasively and demonstrated in her own life, is fostering. Fostering dogs takes them out of shelters leaving room for more dogs to be taken off the streets and placed where they might get some of the help and care they need.
People who are able to invite dogs into their homes and lives until the dog finds its people are unusually big-hearted and emotionally brave. “…people fostering dogs all over our country [are] connected by an invisible web spun from our shared passion…All these dog-hearted people, working together, [is] the only way it was possible to save so many lives.”
Maybe every dog owner has a favorite breed, and Cara’s heart goes out to pit bulls, though, she insists, there is no such breed and she’s right. It’s a “look” with a bad reputation. She describes one encounter at a high-kill shelter that marked the kennel cards of dogs who were to be euthanized with a large “X.”
“I lingered outside the kennel of Sheba, a cute black puppy with a white nose. She was friendly and eager and grateful for the treats I passed through the fence. I looked past the enormous X scrawled across her kennel card and read that she was six months old and picked up as a stray and had no bite history. And then I saw her crime. She was a pit bull mix. …Ultimately, OPH would save Sheba. She would…prove to be a delightful foster dog and get adopted faster than most. But would we have been as convicted to save Sheba if she didn’t have an X on her kennel card?” One Hundred Dogs and Counting
This is not an easy book to read, and it shouldn’t be. “…Words were my only weapon in this war to save dogs, and what I saw each day of the tour only sharpened my sword," write Cara. This passionate, conversational, anecdotal, heart-felt look at the hard condition in which many abandoned animals end up (through no fault of their own) is important reading for any person -- or entity -- involved in or interested in -- improving the lives of animals.
May 2, 2023
3.5 stars
May 25, 2020
A little bit of a ramble, a lot of passion and even more heart, One Hundred Dogs and Counting takes us on a journey to shelters in the American South and examines the harsh conditions many abandoned animals in our country experience.
Our Book Club read Cara Sue Achterberg’s eye-opening story of sheltering and fostering dogs and came away with a new respect for pet Foster Families and what it takes to care for abandoned dogs in our Country.
We did not realize is how poverty and a lack of respect effects the treatment of pets. That was remarkably interesting and brought much more understanding of how shelter overcrowding happens and how these attitudes contribute to the overwhelming situation in some regions.
The positive side of shelters and fostering is what Cara Sue highlights in the book, though there is so much on the negative side, it seems more productive to find the good, find what works and focus on that.
That was a favorite part of the book; how the success stories can inspire us and create a desire to foster animals. Focusing on the villains does stir an emotion, but usually it is vitriol toward the perpetrator and not always channeled into positive action. The telling of Kristen Reid’s Tennessee Shelter story, -how she has made a difference- inspires us absolutely. Even the author herself is a study in what positivity can accomplish
One Hundred Dogs and Counting has changed the way I look at shelters, good and bad. I have gained so much respect for the families that foster dogs and how that impacts their lives. The book definitely makes me want to take in many dogs, short term, until they find a home.
Many thanks to GalleyMatch and Pegasus books for providing an ARC for this honest review.
#GalleyMatch
#onehundreddogsandcounting
#thebookclubcookbook
#bookclub
#Pegasusbooks
#whowillletthedogsout
#carasueachterberg
Our Book Club read Cara Sue Achterberg’s eye-opening story of sheltering and fostering dogs and came away with a new respect for pet Foster Families and what it takes to care for abandoned dogs in our Country.
We did not realize is how poverty and a lack of respect effects the treatment of pets. That was remarkably interesting and brought much more understanding of how shelter overcrowding happens and how these attitudes contribute to the overwhelming situation in some regions.
The positive side of shelters and fostering is what Cara Sue highlights in the book, though there is so much on the negative side, it seems more productive to find the good, find what works and focus on that.
That was a favorite part of the book; how the success stories can inspire us and create a desire to foster animals. Focusing on the villains does stir an emotion, but usually it is vitriol toward the perpetrator and not always channeled into positive action. The telling of Kristen Reid’s Tennessee Shelter story, -how she has made a difference- inspires us absolutely. Even the author herself is a study in what positivity can accomplish
One Hundred Dogs and Counting has changed the way I look at shelters, good and bad. I have gained so much respect for the families that foster dogs and how that impacts their lives. The book definitely makes me want to take in many dogs, short term, until they find a home.
Many thanks to GalleyMatch and Pegasus books for providing an ARC for this honest review.
#GalleyMatch
#onehundreddogsandcounting
#thebookclubcookbook
#bookclub
#Pegasusbooks
#whowillletthedogsout
#carasueachterberg
July 7, 2020
Another amazing book by a very talented author! Cara’s books are a must read for everyone, but especially for all the dog lovers who are unaware of the many beautiful, precious souls unnecessarily euthanized in so many of the overcrowded shelters, especially in the rural South and probably most of rural America. Cara has a beautiful, kind heart and a loving family, #Team Cara, who supports her rescue missions! She knows the joys and challenges of fostering: “I let my heart break a little so that theirs won’t ever have to break again.”
I was especially moved by the following paragraph in her book: “Feeling something—happiness, sadness, fear, joy, anything—makes us human; it propels us from spectator to participant in our world. I wanted to make a difference. I wanted to save dogs, and I never for a second imagined that wouldn’t require pain on my part. The pain made me stronger and it only deepened my commitment to this mission.”
I was especially moved by the following paragraph in her book: “Feeling something—happiness, sadness, fear, joy, anything—makes us human; it propels us from spectator to participant in our world. I wanted to make a difference. I wanted to save dogs, and I never for a second imagined that wouldn’t require pain on my part. The pain made me stronger and it only deepened my commitment to this mission.”
August 17, 2020
This is a call to action for dog lovers everywhere. A follow up to the author’s first book, this book details her travels to rescues, shelters, and pounds in the South. She details some truly horrific situations Southern shelters face, and the dogs within them. However, there are glimmers of hope. There are people making a difference down there, but it’s clear that a culture shift is necessary to make a true difference. As I looked at my sweet Clara, a rescue from OPH, who is pit bull, mastiff, and who knows what, it was really heartbreaking to think that without a huge run of luck, she would probably have been destroyed. Thank you to the dog pullers who have such hard jobs deciding who to take and who to leave. Thanks for taking a risk on a beautiful, big “bully” dog with everything going against her. She’s wonderful.
July 8, 2020
If you love dogs and/or well-written first-person narratives, this is a fantastic choice. If you like them both together, then you're in luck - this book is filled with honesty, humility, vulnerability, humor and passion.
Achterberg knows she doesn't have all the answers for solving the overflow of dogs needing rescue, but she's doing what she can by spreading the word on her blog and through this book. There are also just enough daily adventures with foster dogs to inspire readers to look into whether it could fit into their lifestyle.
As a frequent reader of canine-centered nonfiction, "One Hundred Dogs and Counting" stands out as a shining example of how it should be done.
Achterberg knows she doesn't have all the answers for solving the overflow of dogs needing rescue, but she's doing what she can by spreading the word on her blog and through this book. There are also just enough daily adventures with foster dogs to inspire readers to look into whether it could fit into their lifestyle.
As a frequent reader of canine-centered nonfiction, "One Hundred Dogs and Counting" stands out as a shining example of how it should be done.
July 3, 2020
This is the second book that Cara writes about her life of fostering dogs.
Her first Another Good Dog: One Family and Fifty Foster Dogs
The book starts with a story of a challenging foster dog that she has had for a long time. She explains as the foster mom the things that you would go through, the happy times and the trying times. After fostering 100 dogs, she tries to understand why there are still so many “foster dogs needing homes” and why so many keep coming! She decides to set out and take a trip to visit the shelters, that her fosters had come from. Along the way she meets lots of dedicated people that are trying to save dogs just like her!
In this book, 100 DOGS & COUNTING, Cara tries to explain some hurtles that shelters have to overcome; money, people’s value of a dog and doing things the same as always and how we can help these unwanted dogs. She gives you hope, and show us, that there is a system that can help all the shelters become no-kill shelters! And in the end foster dogs do find homes, just some dogs take longer to find their perfect fit!
If you are interested in helping the unwanted dogs, this book could help you find your way to help or volunteer to do just that!
Cara says, "The problem exists not because people don't care, but rather that they just don't know about it".
Her first Another Good Dog: One Family and Fifty Foster Dogs
The book starts with a story of a challenging foster dog that she has had for a long time. She explains as the foster mom the things that you would go through, the happy times and the trying times. After fostering 100 dogs, she tries to understand why there are still so many “foster dogs needing homes” and why so many keep coming! She decides to set out and take a trip to visit the shelters, that her fosters had come from. Along the way she meets lots of dedicated people that are trying to save dogs just like her!
In this book, 100 DOGS & COUNTING, Cara tries to explain some hurtles that shelters have to overcome; money, people’s value of a dog and doing things the same as always and how we can help these unwanted dogs. She gives you hope, and show us, that there is a system that can help all the shelters become no-kill shelters! And in the end foster dogs do find homes, just some dogs take longer to find their perfect fit!
If you are interested in helping the unwanted dogs, this book could help you find your way to help or volunteer to do just that!
Cara says, "The problem exists not because people don't care, but rather that they just don't know about it".
September 2, 2025
As someone deeply involved in animal rescue and fostering, I know firsthand how devastating the shelter crisis is to many pets and the people trying to help. Cara delivers hope in every story, every paragraph. She toured some of the most challenging places and still found a glimmer of light to share with readers. Cara is a powerhouse of thoughtfulness and problem solving that shows up in her writing.
June 23, 2020
I read several books each month and have never before written a review about any of them. This book touched me so deeply that I just had to do whatever I could to help get this information in front of the animal loving public
ONE HUNDRED DOGS & COUNTING: One Woman, Ten Thousand Miles, and A Journey into the Heart of Shelters and Rescues is Cara's second work about the world of dog rescue. Her first book, "Another Good Dog" looked primarily at the joys and heartbreaks of fostering these dogs (providing temporary homes until permanent homes can be found).
One of her fosters, Gala, was a particularly frustrating and difficult one, and led Cara to wonder why the flow of these dogs from southern shelters never seemed to lessen. This led Cara to combine her book tour for "Another Good Dog" with a road trip around the south, visiting many of the animal shelters and 'dog pounds' there. (She made multiple trips south researching this subject.)
What she found was both shocking and heartbreaking, but also fixable. Animals were not the problem. Money alone wouldn’t fix the problem. Management, knowledge and attitudes had to change.
This book, ONE HUNDRED DOGS & COUNTING, is Cara's 1st effort to shine some light on the problem of the discarded and unwanted dogs (and cats) that end up in the animal shelters, mainly in the south, with far too many of them being destroyed. Education, she believes, is the beginning of the answer to this seemingly never-ending problem.
If you are an animal lover, this book (and her first) are must-reads. As Cara says, "The problem exists not because people don't care, but rather that they just don't know about it". Please help spread the word.
Remember (as Bob Barker always reminded us) "Have your dogs and cats spayed or neutered".
#100Dogs #100dogsandcounting #animalrescue #foster/adopt/volunteer
ONE HUNDRED DOGS & COUNTING: One Woman, Ten Thousand Miles, and A Journey into the Heart of Shelters and Rescues is Cara's second work about the world of dog rescue. Her first book, "Another Good Dog" looked primarily at the joys and heartbreaks of fostering these dogs (providing temporary homes until permanent homes can be found).
One of her fosters, Gala, was a particularly frustrating and difficult one, and led Cara to wonder why the flow of these dogs from southern shelters never seemed to lessen. This led Cara to combine her book tour for "Another Good Dog" with a road trip around the south, visiting many of the animal shelters and 'dog pounds' there. (She made multiple trips south researching this subject.)
What she found was both shocking and heartbreaking, but also fixable. Animals were not the problem. Money alone wouldn’t fix the problem. Management, knowledge and attitudes had to change.
This book, ONE HUNDRED DOGS & COUNTING, is Cara's 1st effort to shine some light on the problem of the discarded and unwanted dogs (and cats) that end up in the animal shelters, mainly in the south, with far too many of them being destroyed. Education, she believes, is the beginning of the answer to this seemingly never-ending problem.
If you are an animal lover, this book (and her first) are must-reads. As Cara says, "The problem exists not because people don't care, but rather that they just don't know about it". Please help spread the word.
Remember (as Bob Barker always reminded us) "Have your dogs and cats spayed or neutered".
#100Dogs #100dogsandcounting #animalrescue #foster/adopt/volunteer
August 17, 2020
A must-read for all dog lovers!
I can't say enough great things about this book. I've read Achterberg's first non-fiction book about dog fostering, Another Good Dog, as well as several of her fiction books and, simply put, she's a phenomenal writer. Achterberg's compelling and informative prose is infused with heart and candor, and she's chosen to use her gifts as a writer to spread the word about an extremely important topic that is also near and dear to my own heart: dog rescue.
Acting on the premise that, with regard to dogs in need, it's not that people don't care, it's that they don't know, Achterberg aims to shed a light on the plight of dogs in our country--particularly in the rural south--that are struggling to survive in harsh, often inhumane conditions. Achterberg maintains that in a dog-loving country such as ours--where Americans spend billions of dollars each year on our pets--that this is a fixable problem. And I tend to agree. But to solve the problem, we, as a nation, must first be aware that the problem exists.
I challenge any dog-loving person to read this book--that is as heartbreaking as it is inspiring--and not be spurred to action. By the time I turned the last page, I'd already created a mental list of ways in which I can help. If every person did just one thing, big or small--whether it's volunteering at a local shelter, donating money or supplies, spreading the word about this book and this need, or even fostering or adopting a dog--we, as a nation, would be well on our way to solving this fixable problem.
I can't say enough great things about this book. I've read Achterberg's first non-fiction book about dog fostering, Another Good Dog, as well as several of her fiction books and, simply put, she's a phenomenal writer. Achterberg's compelling and informative prose is infused with heart and candor, and she's chosen to use her gifts as a writer to spread the word about an extremely important topic that is also near and dear to my own heart: dog rescue.
Acting on the premise that, with regard to dogs in need, it's not that people don't care, it's that they don't know, Achterberg aims to shed a light on the plight of dogs in our country--particularly in the rural south--that are struggling to survive in harsh, often inhumane conditions. Achterberg maintains that in a dog-loving country such as ours--where Americans spend billions of dollars each year on our pets--that this is a fixable problem. And I tend to agree. But to solve the problem, we, as a nation, must first be aware that the problem exists.
I challenge any dog-loving person to read this book--that is as heartbreaking as it is inspiring--and not be spurred to action. By the time I turned the last page, I'd already created a mental list of ways in which I can help. If every person did just one thing, big or small--whether it's volunteering at a local shelter, donating money or supplies, spreading the word about this book and this need, or even fostering or adopting a dog--we, as a nation, would be well on our way to solving this fixable problem.
June 25, 2020
Cara Achterberg has written a very personal and poignant account of what life is like when rescuing homeless animals. While there are many rewards to fostering, One Hundred Dogs & Counting brings to light the ongoing challenges and struggles facing many animal shelters. Achterberg is to be commended for peeling back the onion on a topic to which society often turns a blind eye. Solving the homeless animal problem is achievable through education and the dedication of selfless people, such as Achterberg.
June 24, 2020
As a dog lover, this book pulled back the curtain of the rescue world and unending supply of dogs. The author did a great job sharing her life as a foster and advocate as well as the successes and failures in the shelter systems. In a world of #MeToo and #BlackLivesMatter, I hope others will read and be ready for #DogsMatter.
July 7, 2020
This author was sweet enough to reach out to me offering an advanced readers edition of her novel. Of course when I saw it was about her experience fostering dogs, I knew I had to check it out!
“A challenging foster dog inspires an experienced foster mama to explore where the endless stream of unwanted dogs is coming from—and how things could change.”
I really enjoyed this book! If you are a dog lover, especially a dog lover with a heart for rescuing, I would recommend this book to you. Both of my dogs, Lucy and Sheba, are rescues. In the book, Cara takes us to some shelters in the South and gives us a glimpse into their every day life. Some of the conditions are horrific, to put it lightly. I found myself getting emotional numerous times while reading, especially knowing that both of my dogs came from Southern shelters (Lucy was rescued from a shelter that would have euthanized her). I would encourage rescue supporters and non-rescue supporters to read this book because I don’t think many people are aware of some of the conditions dogs experience in our country- to no fault of their own.
“A challenging foster dog inspires an experienced foster mama to explore where the endless stream of unwanted dogs is coming from—and how things could change.”
I really enjoyed this book! If you are a dog lover, especially a dog lover with a heart for rescuing, I would recommend this book to you. Both of my dogs, Lucy and Sheba, are rescues. In the book, Cara takes us to some shelters in the South and gives us a glimpse into their every day life. Some of the conditions are horrific, to put it lightly. I found myself getting emotional numerous times while reading, especially knowing that both of my dogs came from Southern shelters (Lucy was rescued from a shelter that would have euthanized her). I would encourage rescue supporters and non-rescue supporters to read this book because I don’t think many people are aware of some of the conditions dogs experience in our country- to no fault of their own.
July 8, 2020
In her follow up to Another Good Dog: One Family and Fifty Foster Dogs, Cara Sue Achterberg presents truth that is not pretty but is necessary. She provides information to educate readers about a serious problem in a way so personal, they will feel like they have just visited her puppy room and are sitting in her kitchen having coffee. In addition, she offers a wealth of knowledge valuable to any pet parent. 100 Dogs & Counting: One Woman, Ten Thousand Miles, and a Journey into the Heart of Shelters and Rescues is an important read for any dog lover. It is a book you will remember, and in some way, even a small one, will call you to action.
September 9, 2020
Cara sees the problem with dog pounds and doesn't just lament about it. She sets out to do something about it and to inspire others as well. A committed true dog lover! This is an important read.
September 7, 2022
A heartbreaking book to read about abandoned dogs, but Cara really is trying and succeeding to make a difference!!
February 21, 2025
This book took me into the world of working with a rescue organization and fostering dogs pulled from shelters, usually located in the American south, where resources are less. This book was both hopeful and despairing.
She starts out with her foster, Gala, who has a penchant for getting out and not coming when called. This can be problematic, when the farm has animals that can be a danger to an enthusiastic dog. She tells of the time when she pestered a horse that wasn't having it, and getting kicked in the jaw. You hear her agonizing over Gala, until she realizes that the dog needs another foster. Cara realizes that she cares too much, as if that is a flaw in herself. Gala eventually thrives with the other foster, and finds her forever home. But like a parent, Cara wonders how she is doing. But that is part of fostering: you work with a dog, and then they move on to their forever home, but they never leave your heart.
As an author, one of the things required is to do a book tour. She is determined that part of her tour in promoting 'Another Good Dog' , as she visits bookstores in the American south, she wants to visit shelters from which her rescue group, Operation Paws for Homes (OPH), pulls dogs for rescuing in the northern states. What she sees are some well funded shelters like those in Nashville, Tennessee, and some innovative ones, like the one she visited that was one that was on riverfront property with trails that invited potential adopters to take a dog for walks on its trails.
And then again, in parts of Tennessee (ad other areas) "they use the word 'pound' in the truest sense of the word. The dogs are impounded until their owners claim them, and if they are not claimed they were destroyed as the public nuisance they are assumed to be either by a veterinarians' needle or a dogcatcher's gun." Some heartbreaking shelters she visited were run by truly good people constrained by the local governments' lack of funds or lack of interest. One shelter she visited was located near the town dump, and was a ramshackle building with no heating or AC (in horrible temperatures). Sadly, in the South, the attitude towards dogs was one that they were disposable. Even if low cost spaying and neutering was available, most were not interested.
---------------
"I'd asked a question of Kim that afternoon, and she'd said, people don't care. It's just a dog."
Those were the same words I'd heard a few months ago in South Carolina. Was there a line somewhere between North and South like the Mason-Dixon line, where people stopped caring about animals? Where dogs were regarded as a nuisance rather than pets? Where you couldn't be bothered to spay or neuter or even vaccinate them? Where you only fed them garbage and didn't worry about exercise or enrichment? Where when you got tired of them or they became too much work, you dumped them on a local rescue or took them to the pound and left them to be euthanized?
At the same time, it was also hard to imagine anyone doing the things that Kim and Anne and Trisha and Tabi and Amber did to save dogs. Why was this work left to them? They were soldiers in this battle against apathy and cruelty that should not exist. That didn't have to be.
But how do you make people care? Why can they look the other way when these dogs were abandoned in a locked, lonely barbed-wire place all alone to stave to death, only to be eventually dumped at the vet to be killed, or worse yet, shot to death by the hands that should be caring for them?
If I hadn't been there seeing it with my own eyes, running my hands over the bones of these dogs, looking into their desperate eyes, I wouldn't believe it."
--------------------------------
Some of the nicest dogs she met were unlucky to be classified as pit bulls. Unfortunately, that classification often meant death, regardless of the temperament of the animal.
The takeaway from this book is to support humane organizations that work with fosters to give rescued dogs a better chance at finding their forever homes.
-------------
"It was Gandhi who said, 'The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way in which its animals are treated.'
Maybe it speaks volumes that in this country some dogs sleep on $200 memory foam beds and eat organic raw dog food while others starve and die on concrete floors.
I think we are better than that. And I believe in my soul that it doesn't have to be. I remain convinced that thousands of dogs are suffering in our shelters not because people don't care, but because they don't know.
Help me tell them."
She starts out with her foster, Gala, who has a penchant for getting out and not coming when called. This can be problematic, when the farm has animals that can be a danger to an enthusiastic dog. She tells of the time when she pestered a horse that wasn't having it, and getting kicked in the jaw. You hear her agonizing over Gala, until she realizes that the dog needs another foster. Cara realizes that she cares too much, as if that is a flaw in herself. Gala eventually thrives with the other foster, and finds her forever home. But like a parent, Cara wonders how she is doing. But that is part of fostering: you work with a dog, and then they move on to their forever home, but they never leave your heart.
As an author, one of the things required is to do a book tour. She is determined that part of her tour in promoting 'Another Good Dog' , as she visits bookstores in the American south, she wants to visit shelters from which her rescue group, Operation Paws for Homes (OPH), pulls dogs for rescuing in the northern states. What she sees are some well funded shelters like those in Nashville, Tennessee, and some innovative ones, like the one she visited that was one that was on riverfront property with trails that invited potential adopters to take a dog for walks on its trails.
And then again, in parts of Tennessee (ad other areas) "they use the word 'pound' in the truest sense of the word. The dogs are impounded until their owners claim them, and if they are not claimed they were destroyed as the public nuisance they are assumed to be either by a veterinarians' needle or a dogcatcher's gun." Some heartbreaking shelters she visited were run by truly good people constrained by the local governments' lack of funds or lack of interest. One shelter she visited was located near the town dump, and was a ramshackle building with no heating or AC (in horrible temperatures). Sadly, in the South, the attitude towards dogs was one that they were disposable. Even if low cost spaying and neutering was available, most were not interested.
---------------
"I'd asked a question of Kim that afternoon, and she'd said, people don't care. It's just a dog."
Those were the same words I'd heard a few months ago in South Carolina. Was there a line somewhere between North and South like the Mason-Dixon line, where people stopped caring about animals? Where dogs were regarded as a nuisance rather than pets? Where you couldn't be bothered to spay or neuter or even vaccinate them? Where you only fed them garbage and didn't worry about exercise or enrichment? Where when you got tired of them or they became too much work, you dumped them on a local rescue or took them to the pound and left them to be euthanized?
At the same time, it was also hard to imagine anyone doing the things that Kim and Anne and Trisha and Tabi and Amber did to save dogs. Why was this work left to them? They were soldiers in this battle against apathy and cruelty that should not exist. That didn't have to be.
But how do you make people care? Why can they look the other way when these dogs were abandoned in a locked, lonely barbed-wire place all alone to stave to death, only to be eventually dumped at the vet to be killed, or worse yet, shot to death by the hands that should be caring for them?
If I hadn't been there seeing it with my own eyes, running my hands over the bones of these dogs, looking into their desperate eyes, I wouldn't believe it."
--------------------------------
Some of the nicest dogs she met were unlucky to be classified as pit bulls. Unfortunately, that classification often meant death, regardless of the temperament of the animal.
The takeaway from this book is to support humane organizations that work with fosters to give rescued dogs a better chance at finding their forever homes.
-------------
"It was Gandhi who said, 'The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way in which its animals are treated.'
Maybe it speaks volumes that in this country some dogs sleep on $200 memory foam beds and eat organic raw dog food while others starve and die on concrete floors.
I think we are better than that. And I believe in my soul that it doesn't have to be. I remain convinced that thousands of dogs are suffering in our shelters not because people don't care, but because they don't know.
Help me tell them."
August 14, 2020
As a huge animal lover with a special place in my heart for stray and shelter dogs, this is one of the most important books I've ever read. I have to admit that before I'd even read the first word, I'd steeled my emotions, prepared to have my heart torn to shreds. But to my great surprise, it wasn't necessary. Instead of delving right into the heart of rural southern shelters, Cara Sue Achterberg begins the book by bringing the reader into her life as a fosterer, sharing the story of a hard-to-place dog named Gala as well as stories of many of her other foster dogs. Her writing is fluid and descriptive, and the compassion she feels for dogs, particularly the large dogs and so-called bully breeds so often found languishing in shelters, is evident. So by the time she brought me along on her heart-breaking journey into the animal shelters of our rural South, I already knew that as a reader I was in Cara's good, compassionate and very capable hands.
She writes about her experiences (and includes some amazing photos) in a way that, while not sparing the details of what's happening to dogs in these shelters, doesn't dwell exclusively on the negative. Because, believe it or not, there are positive things happening in some of these places. There are shelters who've found ways to stop killing dogs, ways to obtain funding for improvements to their facilities, creative ways to become a place where people in their communities want to go, and better ways to move their dogs into rescues or forever homes. They're the exception, yes. But one of the main points of the book is that they could be the norm, if enough people knew about the situation in our country's rural shelters and cared enough to do something about it.
When I'd read the last word and reluctantly closed the book, I was angry about the conditions in the majority these shelters, about the lives of beautiful dogs being needlessly lost in them. But I wasn't mired in despair; instead, I felt hopeful. Hopeful that, together, we can actually do something to change the situation, a situation that should absolutely not exist in this country. I felt such a deep admiration for Cara and for those running the under staffed, under funded shelters and pounds, for the individuals doing everything they can, often with their own money and on their own time, to save the dogs in these places, and for the rescues who pull from them and the foster families who foster them until they find their forever home.
Cara makes it clear that the situation is not going away, and won't go away until laws are created to ensure that dogs being adopted from public shelters are being spayed and neutered and that shelters in our rural areas have access to the veterinary care to support that legislation. It won't go away until people are educated on how to care for dogs, until minds are changed about dogs being worth the time and money to properly care for them. It won't go away until there are resources, both financial and human, to provide what dogs need to remain physically healthy and keep from breaking down emotionally in the shelter environment.
I learned a lot from this book, both about the extent of the problem and about what we can do about it. Cara provides a helpful set of actionable items: We can advocate for shelter dogs, we can foster them, we can adopt them. We can volunteer at our local shelter, providing the human contact shelter dogs are so desperate for. We can offer other skills to shelters, too - marketing, volunteer coordination, grant-writing, photography, social media skills, fundraising, program development, education. Name a skill, they can probably use it.
I used to think I was doing my part by adopting dogs from my local shelter and/or rescuing them myself from the street or the beach. And I made a difference for each of those dogs. No doubt about it. But because of this book, I know I can do more. I must do more. I will do more. This is a book that every dog lover, shelter volunteer, ACO, rescue worker/volunteer, and dog fosterer should read. You may see some of your own work and experiences in Cara's stories, and you may find your eyes opened, as I did. One of the most important points the book makes is that it's not that people don't care about what's going on in rural shelters. It's that they don't know. I hope that every person who reads this book tells other people about it, and that they tell others. Word of mouth is a powerful thing, in whatever way you choose to do it. We may not all be able to foster, or make financial contributions. But we can all read this book, share what we've learned by reading it, and recommend it to someone else.
She writes about her experiences (and includes some amazing photos) in a way that, while not sparing the details of what's happening to dogs in these shelters, doesn't dwell exclusively on the negative. Because, believe it or not, there are positive things happening in some of these places. There are shelters who've found ways to stop killing dogs, ways to obtain funding for improvements to their facilities, creative ways to become a place where people in their communities want to go, and better ways to move their dogs into rescues or forever homes. They're the exception, yes. But one of the main points of the book is that they could be the norm, if enough people knew about the situation in our country's rural shelters and cared enough to do something about it.
When I'd read the last word and reluctantly closed the book, I was angry about the conditions in the majority these shelters, about the lives of beautiful dogs being needlessly lost in them. But I wasn't mired in despair; instead, I felt hopeful. Hopeful that, together, we can actually do something to change the situation, a situation that should absolutely not exist in this country. I felt such a deep admiration for Cara and for those running the under staffed, under funded shelters and pounds, for the individuals doing everything they can, often with their own money and on their own time, to save the dogs in these places, and for the rescues who pull from them and the foster families who foster them until they find their forever home.
Cara makes it clear that the situation is not going away, and won't go away until laws are created to ensure that dogs being adopted from public shelters are being spayed and neutered and that shelters in our rural areas have access to the veterinary care to support that legislation. It won't go away until people are educated on how to care for dogs, until minds are changed about dogs being worth the time and money to properly care for them. It won't go away until there are resources, both financial and human, to provide what dogs need to remain physically healthy and keep from breaking down emotionally in the shelter environment.
I learned a lot from this book, both about the extent of the problem and about what we can do about it. Cara provides a helpful set of actionable items: We can advocate for shelter dogs, we can foster them, we can adopt them. We can volunteer at our local shelter, providing the human contact shelter dogs are so desperate for. We can offer other skills to shelters, too - marketing, volunteer coordination, grant-writing, photography, social media skills, fundraising, program development, education. Name a skill, they can probably use it.
I used to think I was doing my part by adopting dogs from my local shelter and/or rescuing them myself from the street or the beach. And I made a difference for each of those dogs. No doubt about it. But because of this book, I know I can do more. I must do more. I will do more. This is a book that every dog lover, shelter volunteer, ACO, rescue worker/volunteer, and dog fosterer should read. You may see some of your own work and experiences in Cara's stories, and you may find your eyes opened, as I did. One of the most important points the book makes is that it's not that people don't care about what's going on in rural shelters. It's that they don't know. I hope that every person who reads this book tells other people about it, and that they tell others. Word of mouth is a powerful thing, in whatever way you choose to do it. We may not all be able to foster, or make financial contributions. But we can all read this book, share what we've learned by reading it, and recommend it to someone else.
December 31, 2020
[Discussion] Book report: Another Good Dog and One Hundred Dogs and Counting
I just finished reading (binging) Cara Sue Achterberg’s two books about dogs. *Another Good Dog* is about how she became a serial dog foster for a rescue that brings dogs north from the South, while in *One Hundred Dogs and Counting* she leaves her home in Pennsylvania and takes several road trips to the Southern and rural shelters where her foster dogs come from. Here are my thoughts at the end.
I live in the South and volunteered for a long time at a shelter, so I can confirm a lot of what she says about overcrowding, difficult choices, and a seemingly endless stream of intake. I appreciate, though, that she talks about organizations who really have their act together, like the [awesome job at Nashville Humane](https://nashvillehumane.org/), but I recognize that private, urban shelters anywhere don’t look like public, rural shelters. Basically her recommendation is that shelters everywhere need to funded like public works: just like clean water and garbage pickup are expected, so too should be the minimum of humane conditions (protection from elements, vaccinations and spay/neuter) for dogs in every county in America. That seems reasonable and I like that she pulls back on just saying “people in the South are irresponsible and cruel to dogs.”
It annoys me when I hear sanctimonious northerners say things like “People in [the South] just don’t care about their dogs” (a literal quote from an animal control officer I had come guest lecture to my classroom full of Texan students. Let me tell you that nothing gets a Texan to stop taking a Colorado transplant seriously than to be told by a stranger how *they feel* about their pets), but I do understand that “pet culture” changes wildly in geography as well over time. My dad’s generation would have never “trapped” a dog inside the house all day, letting Rover rove, and saw unwanted pregnancies and fatal car accidents as just part of dog ownership. Similarly, I do recognize that the rural/Southern/Mexican/whatever other dog cultures may roll their eyes at Northern dog Halloween costumes and dog birthday cakes and dog strollers. But it seems like we all ought to be able to move towards a basic standard of care and comfort.
What can we do?
* Political involvement does matter. Perhaps even more than personal financial donations, local government advocacy can have a huge impact on shelters. Learn about your local shelters. Because most government shelters are very local (city- and county-level), you have relatively easy access to the folks, elected and appointed, in charge of them. Send a couple email or show up at a candidate’s meet-and-greet and express your concern for shelter conditions and policies you don’t like.
* Obvi, fostering, supporting fosters, and supporting shelter/rescue adoption helps. I like that Cara doesn’t downplay the difficulty and inconvenience in *Another Good Dog* of fostering. She loses shoes, she walks in the rain, she cleans up a lot of poop, but it’s good work that helps pups.
* Money, money. Well, donations of all kinds. Money is best, but many shelters take old towels and blankets. My local city shelter even takes cardboard shipping boxes for their cat and kitten rooms. Call or visit their website for donation suggestions.
* Volunteer. I was a volunteer for a loooooong time because I couldn’t have a dog of my own, but loved dogs. My shelter let my use my specific skills (as a runner and with spreadsheets) to help them and the dogs.
Anyway, a couple great dog books that are a good read, but remind you of all the good work people are doing and what’s left to be done.
I just finished reading (binging) Cara Sue Achterberg’s two books about dogs. *Another Good Dog* is about how she became a serial dog foster for a rescue that brings dogs north from the South, while in *One Hundred Dogs and Counting* she leaves her home in Pennsylvania and takes several road trips to the Southern and rural shelters where her foster dogs come from. Here are my thoughts at the end.
I live in the South and volunteered for a long time at a shelter, so I can confirm a lot of what she says about overcrowding, difficult choices, and a seemingly endless stream of intake. I appreciate, though, that she talks about organizations who really have their act together, like the [awesome job at Nashville Humane](https://nashvillehumane.org/), but I recognize that private, urban shelters anywhere don’t look like public, rural shelters. Basically her recommendation is that shelters everywhere need to funded like public works: just like clean water and garbage pickup are expected, so too should be the minimum of humane conditions (protection from elements, vaccinations and spay/neuter) for dogs in every county in America. That seems reasonable and I like that she pulls back on just saying “people in the South are irresponsible and cruel to dogs.”
It annoys me when I hear sanctimonious northerners say things like “People in [the South] just don’t care about their dogs” (a literal quote from an animal control officer I had come guest lecture to my classroom full of Texan students. Let me tell you that nothing gets a Texan to stop taking a Colorado transplant seriously than to be told by a stranger how *they feel* about their pets), but I do understand that “pet culture” changes wildly in geography as well over time. My dad’s generation would have never “trapped” a dog inside the house all day, letting Rover rove, and saw unwanted pregnancies and fatal car accidents as just part of dog ownership. Similarly, I do recognize that the rural/Southern/Mexican/whatever other dog cultures may roll their eyes at Northern dog Halloween costumes and dog birthday cakes and dog strollers. But it seems like we all ought to be able to move towards a basic standard of care and comfort.
What can we do?
* Political involvement does matter. Perhaps even more than personal financial donations, local government advocacy can have a huge impact on shelters. Learn about your local shelters. Because most government shelters are very local (city- and county-level), you have relatively easy access to the folks, elected and appointed, in charge of them. Send a couple email or show up at a candidate’s meet-and-greet and express your concern for shelter conditions and policies you don’t like.
* Obvi, fostering, supporting fosters, and supporting shelter/rescue adoption helps. I like that Cara doesn’t downplay the difficulty and inconvenience in *Another Good Dog* of fostering. She loses shoes, she walks in the rain, she cleans up a lot of poop, but it’s good work that helps pups.
* Money, money. Well, donations of all kinds. Money is best, but many shelters take old towels and blankets. My local city shelter even takes cardboard shipping boxes for their cat and kitten rooms. Call or visit their website for donation suggestions.
* Volunteer. I was a volunteer for a loooooong time because I couldn’t have a dog of my own, but loved dogs. My shelter let my use my specific skills (as a runner and with spreadsheets) to help them and the dogs.
Anyway, a couple great dog books that are a good read, but remind you of all the good work people are doing and what’s left to be done.
July 15, 2021
The author of this book is an excellent writer. She draws you into the emotional ups and downs of the shelters in southern states. You keep turning pages to learn what she will see at her next stop. In the end, she wraps up the process with a positive outlook and many suggestions of what individuals can do to make a difference for canine inmates at kill shelters.
The downside to this book is that you can skip the first 68 pages and still read the story of southern shelters. The cover blurb says this is a book about the southern shelters that the author has visited, yet she spent the first 68 pages stressing over a particularly difficult foster dog that lived with her for a year and worsened under her care. Those pages are a constant circling through her failure, her guilt, and the deterioration of the foster dog that she eventually rehomed with a different foster mother. Not until page 69 does she take you to the southern shelters.
As the story unfolds about her trips and the foster dogs she took in, I wondered about her learning curve. Even at the very end of the story, she talks about yet another pair of sandals that her current foster dog chewed up. Many other damaged footwear items had already been described throughout the book, and I have to wonder why she and her family never learned to dog-proof their house by putting out of reach anything that was not a dog chew toy. We all make mistakes, but to not learn from them is a real shame.
So, I am of two opinions about this book. I’m very positive about the quality of the writing and the message conveyed. I blame the author, her editor, and publisher for not insisting on shortening the opening tale about a difficult dog and the associated guilt. A page or two of that would be enough for the reader to “get it.”
The downside to this book is that you can skip the first 68 pages and still read the story of southern shelters. The cover blurb says this is a book about the southern shelters that the author has visited, yet she spent the first 68 pages stressing over a particularly difficult foster dog that lived with her for a year and worsened under her care. Those pages are a constant circling through her failure, her guilt, and the deterioration of the foster dog that she eventually rehomed with a different foster mother. Not until page 69 does she take you to the southern shelters.
As the story unfolds about her trips and the foster dogs she took in, I wondered about her learning curve. Even at the very end of the story, she talks about yet another pair of sandals that her current foster dog chewed up. Many other damaged footwear items had already been described throughout the book, and I have to wonder why she and her family never learned to dog-proof their house by putting out of reach anything that was not a dog chew toy. We all make mistakes, but to not learn from them is a real shame.
So, I am of two opinions about this book. I’m very positive about the quality of the writing and the message conveyed. I blame the author, her editor, and publisher for not insisting on shortening the opening tale about a difficult dog and the associated guilt. A page or two of that would be enough for the reader to “get it.”
September 28, 2020
📚I am in absolute awe of Cara Sue Achterberg. She, and other dog rescuers like her around the country, are absolute angels on earth. They are the voice for the countless stranded dogs in our nation and are warriors in what seems to be a never-ending battle to rescue these helpless, abandoned animals. Ms. Achterberg's book is enlightening and chock-full of resources and information to make a change in how our society views and treats dogs (and cats).
📚The journey Cara em"bark"ed on (couldn't resist😜) was one of sadness brimming with hope, and one that underscores the importance of knowledge and compassion in any crisis. There are shocking revelations of underfunded dog shelters and success stories of efficacious rescue organizations begun by people willing to make a difference. It was a story of wonder, with regard to both the misinformation that many people have about dogs, as well as the people attempting to change the shelter landscape. It's a book that will leave you recognizing our duty as humans to care for the voiceless companions that bring so much joy if only given the opportunity.
📚This book was so well-written and engaging and I highly recommend it to all you animal-lovers out there, as well as to any of you wanting to learn more about a very worthy cause.
For more of my reviews, check out mamasgottaread.blogspot.com or follow me @mamasgottaread on Insta!
📚The journey Cara em"bark"ed on (couldn't resist😜) was one of sadness brimming with hope, and one that underscores the importance of knowledge and compassion in any crisis. There are shocking revelations of underfunded dog shelters and success stories of efficacious rescue organizations begun by people willing to make a difference. It was a story of wonder, with regard to both the misinformation that many people have about dogs, as well as the people attempting to change the shelter landscape. It's a book that will leave you recognizing our duty as humans to care for the voiceless companions that bring so much joy if only given the opportunity.
📚This book was so well-written and engaging and I highly recommend it to all you animal-lovers out there, as well as to any of you wanting to learn more about a very worthy cause.
For more of my reviews, check out mamasgottaread.blogspot.com or follow me @mamasgottaread on Insta!
July 14, 2020
After reading Another Good Dog, by Cara Sue Achterberg, I knew this book, 100 Dogs and Counting, would be a must read for me – and for all dog loving humans! As a supporter of dog rescue and adoption, I enjoyed reading about Cara’s family’s adventures fostering dogs. In 100 Dogs and Counting, Cara continues with her stories of fostering, but also addresses the reasons why so many rescued dogs are brought up north from shelters in the South, and why the need is so great there. I admit to being one of those people who have to turn their eyes away from shelter commercials on TV. It’s difficult to see, and I was a little worried that this difficult topic would be upsetting to read. However, Cara has managed to clearly depict what is really going on in these Southern shelters in a compassionate and hopeful way. She shares her experiences with some very amazing and inspiring people who have already made a difference to these good dogs. She also introduces you to some pretty awesome dogs! While there are truly unthinkable things happening in so many places, her passion and determination to save dogs leaves you believing that this problem can, and must, be fixed, and that we can all be part of saving more good dogs.
August 28, 2024
Wow! Very enlightening read into the world of animal rescue. Being involved in animal rescue myself and knowing most of what goes on (on paper), this book had me in tears with the reality of how bad it is...especially in the south. Over half of the animals in the shelters where I work are pulled from the south and while I understood the difference between the south and most other parts of the country...I was always searching for the "whys." This book helped me understand that there is clearly a different culture where many feel a dog is "just a dog" and don't prioritize spaying/neutering compared to where I work where animals are treated like a part of the family. I have fostered over 100 animals in my home (and could relate to many of the foster stories) and this fueled me to want to do more...beyond fostering, to advocate for more awareness, transparency, and education. We have a long way to go but I have met so many people on my journey that put their whole heart into rescue. The animals are worth it.
* I am writing this on the day I received a message about my hardest foster to date. He is thriving in his adopted home and I am thrilled that I worked through the challenges of fostering him. He is right where he belongs...in a patient, loving, home.
* I am writing this on the day I received a message about my hardest foster to date. He is thriving in his adopted home and I am thrilled that I worked through the challenges of fostering him. He is right where he belongs...in a patient, loving, home.
March 21, 2021
While I feel like this book was written with the best of intentions, it feels incredibly under-researched. What would be better would be this same book, more focused on three or four example shelters, paired with research of the history of those shelters, the status of bills and initiatives designed to help, and what ordinary people can do to help.
Right now, this book has too many names (of people, dogs, and places) without enough different concrete detail or research behind them. This really stood out to me near the end of the book, where the author “proposes” a program to help reduce vet loans by pairing new vets with shelters, apparently without knowing about VMLRP through the Department of Agriculture which has done exactly that for decades.
I wouldn’t mind seeing a third book by this author, but I do hope that she either pairs with a researcher or learns to ask these research questions herself.
Right now, this book has too many names (of people, dogs, and places) without enough different concrete detail or research behind them. This really stood out to me near the end of the book, where the author “proposes” a program to help reduce vet loans by pairing new vets with shelters, apparently without knowing about VMLRP through the Department of Agriculture which has done exactly that for decades.
I wouldn’t mind seeing a third book by this author, but I do hope that she either pairs with a researcher or learns to ask these research questions herself.
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