A Minnesota dog rescue is nearing a significant milestone — finding forever families for 1,000 dogs.
Minnesota Sheltie Rescue (MNSR) is a nonprofit organization that helps find homes for — you guessed it — shelties.
The organization’s founder, Karen Marquardt, developed a love for shelties after college, when she lived with a roommate who owned a sheltie and sheltie-mix.
Marquardt said shelties remind some people of Lassie, the dog featured in the T.V. series of the same name that ran from 1954 to 1973.
“Like everyone, I knew Lassie, and Lassie is not a sheltie, Lassie is a collie. They are a different breed, but they have a similar look,” Marquardt said. “They are the most loving, smart, happy and loud dog (they bark a lot). I got kind of attached, so then when it was time for my first dog, it had to be a sheltie.”
Marquardt has owned seven shelties. She currently owns an 8-year-old female and a 3.5-year-old male.
Back in the early 2000s, Marquardt, along with a couple of friends, were informally helping shelties. They would hear of a sheltie that needed a new home, and work to find a good placement.
“Somewhere along the way a couple of dogs came to our attention that had more severe issues — one had been hit by a car and needed surgery, and another was heartworm-positive,” she recalled. “At that point, we (felt) that we needed to do something a little bit more formal to become a nonprofit, so when those kinds of situations came up we would have the ability to appropriately raise money to cover that kind of stuff.”
In 2003, MNSR officially earned its nonprofit status. Since inception, the organization has rescued and placed approximately 985 shelties. Marquardt said that during the 2008 housing crisis, the rescue was taking in 70 to 80 dogs a year, but that number has come down to 10 to 15 dogs a year, a much more manageable number for a small, all-volunteer organization.
MNSR is foster-based rescue organization, meaning it does not have a central shelter where dogs are housed. Instead, all of the dogs in the program live with families in temporary foster homes while they await their forever homes. The organization is highly involved in educating people about the breed.
“The thing with shelties is there is a high risk of flight. They are smart, and when circumstance in their lives change, for many of them their tendency is to bolt. We do a lot of education about that when we are working with fosters and adopters,” Marquardt explained.
In an effort to not only help its dogs, but other shelties across the state, MNSR launched the Lost Shelties MN Facebook page to help owners reunite with their runaway sheltie.
Because shelties often have unique needs and can be very shy, they often need to be in foster homes longer than some other breeds.
“We need to really understand who that dog is. When they come in, if they are worried, shy or shut down, you don’t really know what you have for a while. You need to let them develop, let them gain some trust, to know what (you) have, and then we can place that dog with a better fit.”
All of MNSR’s dogs are fully vetted prior to adoption, including spay/neuter, vaccinations, microchip and any other veterinary care they may require.
Currently, the rescue has about 16 dogs in foster homes. Of those, five of those are “forever fosters,” meaning they will spend the rest of their lives in a foster home. Those dogs are either senior dogs or have unique medical needs.
For the past couple of years, the rescue has not been able to host its annual reunion or its main fundraiser. The event will return this year, however, on May 7. The event is open to not only families who have adopted from MNSR, but anyone who loves shelties.
At the event, Circle Pines groomer Deb Molin is volunteering her time to give free nail trims to any shelties that attend. Molin owns Personal Touch Pet Grooming and actually groomed Kobe, MNSR’s first rescue, who was adopted by a Circle Pines family.
Those adopters gave Molin information about the rescue, and Molin reached out and offered her services free of charge.
“The grooming is something I can offer, and I know they appreciate it. They can spend their money on more important things,” Molin explained. “I love being able to see some of my ‘grooms’ adopted out. I hope that my services help the dogs find their forever homes.”
Marquardt said what Molin has done is extraordinary. “I take my own dogs to Deb, because she is that good and it is not cheap. It is a lot of work to groom a sheltie,” she said. “She just does the most beautiful job. She is gentle, she’s patient and she understands shelties. Grooming is not as expensive as the vet, but 20 shelties a year getting groomed, it adds up.”
Molin said she enjoys seeing the transformation of the dogs. “Sometimes I can see the before and after in the dog’s behavior and attitude before they leave my shop. You can see it in their eyes. They perk up and look proud of themselves. Warms my little groomer’s heart.”
