DOG LOVERS WHO WISH TO HELP

 

A new sign-up website dogsnose.org launched on Monday 10 November 2008 bringing a people-for-rescues interface to find dog lovers willing to help canine rescues and welfare bodies anywhere.

 

Creator and dogsnose.org founder, Gillian Kaloyeropoulos lives with her husband and three rescue dogs in Cheshire, England. A life-long dog lover, Gillian has previously volunteered for her local branch of the RSPCA and is now a free-lance home checker and general volunteer for any dog rescue seeking her help in the South Cheshire region. She also volunteers for Animal Lifeline in nearby Stoke-on-Trent, where two of her rescue dogs came from.

Gillian, whose passion for canine characters is well known amongst her family, friends and the local doggy fraternity, recognised the need for dogsnose.org after leaving the RSPCA and visiting web sites crying out for rescue helpers. She says, "It became clear to me that although there are some very good national dog forums on the Internet - where rescues posted for solutions to transporting dogs, having home visits done hundreds of miles from their base, seeking extra people for fundraisering and much more - all these sites demand almost constant online checking of postings by volunteers.

 

Also I became aware of the number of instances of people saying "Yes, I can help!" in one way or another, but that these posts can so easily be "lost" in pages of entries. Trying to find people via this route is so hit and miss, and fraught where deadlines may be critical."

 

If people had the opportunity to register their first name, email address and a select number of areas where they could help rescues, as well as adding adding country, county/state, town/city, Gillian realised a database of helpers across the world could be easily created by dog lovers such as herself. In turn, dog rescues registered with dogsnose.org could benefit, being able to search that database for their local, regional or national helper needs, contacting signed up individuals directly.

 

As well as the database on the web site, which operates via the HELP DOGS! page title, there are also dog rescue link pages and a forum for rescues and dog lovers alike. The introduction to the web site points out that dogsnose.org is not a rehoming vehicle and does not feature dogs in rescue.

 

Five other animal lover volunteers in the same English county (though one moves to Canada soon), provide administration, site creation and maintenance, forum moderation and undertake dogsnose.orgawareness projects. The dogsnose team would like to thank everyone consulted during the creation phase and for their positive feedback and support. They stretch around the globe from North America to the United Kingdom and to Australia.

 

"dogsnose.orgis important for the dog rescue community everywhere but can only succeed if large numbers of people sign up to help. Dog rescues should, when registering to be listed on the site, bear in mind that it may be a while before the volunteer database reaches its optimum potential.", says Gillian.

 

Volunteers willing to sign up and rescues can find this web site at www.dogsnose.org