My name is Winter!

Good morning, and happy #GivingTuesday!

On this day of giving, there are so many worthy causes looking for your donations. So why support us?

Your donations go directly to help neglected dogs like Winter in our community who need urgent medical care and a safe place to land until they find permanent homes.

Last week we got a text from one of our local animal control contacts. Someone had shown up to the already full shelter with Winter, needing to give her up immediately. Though we were already pretty full, we said yes instantly.

Winter came with no vet records, 5 years old and had not been spayed, and that’s about all the info we got on her. She is at least 10lbs underweight, should be at least 30-35lbs once filled out. She’s missing most of her hair on the back half of her body as a result of longterm flea infestation which could have easily been prevented with $10/month flea medication. The remaining hair was matted and urine stained.

We aren’t sure of her breed mix, maybe a mini doodle of some sort, or Westie or schnauzer mix or some other kind of terrier. We aren’t sure what her life was like before, but it couldn’t have been good. She was terrified and just curled up sleeping in her bed for the first few days, but in foster she’s now opening up and getting happy and playful. She immediately saw our vet for full bloodwork and a fecal which showed no other underlying reason for her emaciation besides a lack of food. She will be spayed, vaccinated, and get everything she needs to return to good health and eventually find a screened forever home that will make sure she never ends up unwanted and neglected again.

We wish we could tell you Winter’s story was unique, but it’s not. All winter, spring, summer, and fall, we continue to get calls to help dogs in our community like Winter. Our mission is simple: get dogs out of bad situations and into better ones. Every Tuesday including Giving Tuesday, we visit a local busy inner city animal control we partner with to see who we can help. We take, or find safe placement with other rescues, almost every small dog that comes through their doors, regardless of age, breed, health, and temperament. We network other larger breeds with rescue partners to help them get out of bad situations and into better ones too. We are small, but we are reliable and dedicated to making a difference every day, every month, every year for the last several decades. We literally live, breathe, eat, sleep, and dream dogs.

Winter’s future is bright thanks to our team of volunteers, veterinary staff, fosters, and supporters. We suspect before the end of the day we will have more new arrivals to introduce you to as well.

Your continued support allows us to continue to say yes to dogs like Winter who need some extra medical care to help them recover from being let down by other humans, and help them on the road to new and better lives.

If you are interested in adopting Winter, email njwoof@cs.com to meet her in Northern NJ. And please consider any donation toward our rescue to help whatever other dogs may cross our path in need.

Since COVID-19, we are no longer holding our Sunday adoption events until further notice, but we are scheduling meet and greet appointments with a specific dog or dogs at our meeting spots in Northern NJ. To streamline adoptions, all communication before, during, and after the adoption process is done through email only: we have limited volunteers able to return phone calls. Submit an application from our website www.secondchance.petfinder.com to speed up the adoption process and email any questions to us at njwoof@cs.com. Please check your email regularly for next steps. All our dogs reside in foster care in Northern NJ until adoption and we do not have a central shelter location. We are a small all-volunteer organization focused on rescuing local dogs from area shelters, as well as accepting some surrenders and puppy mill rescues.