Placing an Animal at Olympic Animal Sanctuary

Click here for reptile placement.

We apologize to everyone who has been trying to reach us and has not received a response. We have been overwhelmed with requests to take animals and unable to respond to them. All of our staff and volunteer resources are being used to care for the animals we already have, so again, we apologize.

We are currently accepting very few animals for placement, and we have significantly narrowed our criteria. At this time we are only considering the following:

• Feral dogs or severely under-socialized dogs (such as puppy mill or hoarded animals) that ARE NOT leash trained and cannot be touched or handled
• Wild species, such as wolves or coyotes, and their hybrids
• Trained law enforcement or military working dogs that are unable to work due to behavior issues and are too dangerous for adoption to the public
• Dogs that have been declared dangerous or vicious by an animal control authority for reasons not pertaining to breed

There has been some confusion on what constitutes a dog that has been declared dangerous/vicious, and a number of people have asked how to get a declaration. If you do not already have a written declaration, your dog has not been declared and does not qualify for our program. Dogs are typically declared dangerous by law enforcement after they have seriously injured a person or seriously injured or killed an animal. The declaration usually requires that the dog be registered, kept in a secure facility, and that a liability insurance policy be purchased to protect against any future damages. A dangerous dog declaration is not something you try to obtain; it is something you try to avoid.

If you have one or more animals meeting one of these criteria, please send the following information to placement@olympicanimalsanctuary.org:

• Your name
• The name of each animal
• The city where the animal(s) is/are located
• Each animal's species or breed (if known; if not purebred, just say "mixed breed")
• The sex, approximate age, and approximate weight of each animal
• Which of the above criteria each animal meets

IN ADDITION, we require one of the following:

• If you are in possession of the animal(s) you must guarantee in writing that the animal(s) will not be harmed.
• If you are not in possession of the animal(s) and do not have decision making authority, you must tell us who has that authority and you must guarantee that you will do everything in your power to save the animal(s).

We will not discuss animal placement with you unless we have your unconditional guarantee.

Please do not provide more information than is requested above; we are unable to read long emails. Short emails get a faster response, and we can ask you more questions later if we need to.

Please DO NOT send photos unless we request them.

IMPORTANT: Often there are a number of people involved in the rescue of an animal; if that is the case, please choose one person to be our point of contact, and ask all others to direct any questions or comments through that person. Please make sure the contact person checks email regularly; we prefer email to phone calls.

ALL OTHER ANIMALS: We have a simple system for saving dogs' lives that works well, and requires only a dedicated advocate to commit to the animal(s) being saved. Here is what we suggest:

If the dog lives with you and poses a danger to you, your family, or your neighbors, we are happy to suggest safety protocols to make your situation manageable until you can find placement for the animal. Be advised that no factual statement or suggestion we give you should be relied upon without further investigation on your part sufficient to satisfy you in your independent judgment of its accuracy. In other words, if you do what we suggest and it doesn't work out, don't sue us. If you would like safety suggestions, please follow the same instructions provided for placement above, but type the words "Safety Advice" in the subject line of the email. In place of the specific criterion your dog meets, you may give a very brief description of his/her behavior issue.

If the dog is in danger at a local shelter the best thing you can do is immediately get the dog out and place him/her in a boarding facility while you search for other options. Boarding isn't cheap, but with social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, it has become much easier to raise money for boarding fees. If the shelter refuses to let the dog go, we may be able to help. Email us following the same guidelines provided above, with the words "Pulling Help" in the subject line.

A word about boarding kennels: Some are better than others, so do your research. Talk to the owner and staff, and if anything worries you, look elsewhere. We also suggest being very careful about kennels that offer training. Unless you are completely comfortable with the training style being offered, we suggest avoiding those facilities. Even if you are not paying for training, staff will use those same methods when handling your dog, often with disastrous results. We have seen this happen many, many times, so please be careful.

And speaking of trainers, you will hear a lot of excuses for different styles of training, with people saying that what works for one dog doesn't work for every dog, thus every style has its place. Another way to say it is that some dogs are more tolerant of abuse than others, and can make it through an inhumane training program without being badly damaged. The truth is that sound methods work with virtually every dog, so if you decide to consult with a trainer, do so with caution. Any technique that is corrective in nature, or that uses pain, discomfort, intimidation, or fear to control a dog's behavior, even if it doesn't seem like much, should be avoided at all costs. Please do your research and learn as much as you can, so that you can make an informed decision.

Once the dog is safe, you must be persistent and follow every lead until you find placement. In our experience, the commitment level of the person trying to save the dog is the single most important factor in whether that dog lives or dies. People who vow to do whatever it takes will succeed. People who set deadlines or other restrictions on the process will fail and the dogs will die. We ask you to please make a commitment and do not give up.