We are not a shelter; we are a network of fosters. All of our adoptable pets are in foster homes. We have adoption events every other Saturday from noon to 4 p.m. at the Beaverton PetSmart (Cedar Hills Blvd & Walker Rd) where you can meet our dogs and speak to their fosters. We do not adopt straight from the store and are not first come first served, rather we take applications and select for the most compatible home for the particular dog. Our goal is that each adoption is permanent and that requires a good match between the pet and its new family.
You can also inquire about a dog by answering the compatibility questions listed on the dog's petfinder.com page. It will take you a few minutes to fill out the answers, but this is the most efficient method. Send the answers to the questions to that pet's adoption counselor. The email address of the dog's adoption counselor can be found at the bottom of the pet's petfinder.com page at the link entitled, "Email Indigo Rescue." Or you may send the email with answers to info@indigorescue.org and the email will be forwarded to that pet's adoption counselor. If, along with your answers, you have questions about the pet, please be specific. We want to answer your questions, but it is difficult to respond to vague inquiries like "please tell me more about this dog." If the dog is compatible with your needs, we will figure out a time and place for you to meet with the dog and foster family. We try to get back to people quickly, but we have jobs and other responsibilities, too. Also, we often need to contact the foster family to discuss compatibility and get answers to your questions before getting back with you.
We have little or no history on most of our adoptable pets. Most of them come from the county shelter and were relinquished by their owners or got lost and weren't claimed by their owners. Often people that relinquish their pets pretend they found the pet to avoid the shame and the surrender fee so we get no history whatsoever. The typical reasons for relinquishment are: 1) we're moving and it is too inconvenient to take the pet or we decided to move to housing that does not allow pets; 2) we're too busy to care for the pet because we had a baby or change in job schedule; 3) the dog, after being left alone in our backyard for one year with little human contact or exercise or stimulation is starting to bark / dig / chew / escape; and 4) we bought a puppy because it was cute, but now that it is about 1 year old and we didn't train it and don't exercise it, it is difficult to handle. We don't see the lack of history as a problem. We get a more reliable assessment from learning the dog's personality and needs in foster care.
Thank you for planning to adopt a rescued pet! Deaths due to overpopulation can be eliminated if we 1) reduce breeding (by spaying and neutering, by not breeding, and by not purchasing dogs from breeders), 2) increase adoptions and 3) keep our commitments to our pets by caring for them for their entire lives.
Indigo Rescue is 501(c)3 non-profit organization whose mission is to end animal abandonment and pet overpopulation.
We are not a shelter and cannot accept animals from the public. We foster and find homes for pets from Washington County Animal Services (also known as Bonnie L. Hays Small Animal Shelter). We take in as many foster dogs as we can when the shelter is full. We also take in pets from the shelter who are injured, sick or too scared at the shelter. We offer consultation services to individuals who wish to place animals that they have found or rescued.
Volunteer Email List: If you'd like to know about volunteer opportunities - from stuffing envelopes to fostering a homeless pet to building fences to helping out at a dog wash or jewelry sale - please sign up for our volunteer email list by sending an email to volunteerindigo-subscribe@yahoogroups.com. This is the main way we communicate with our volunteers. You will receive an average of two emails per week with announcements about volunteer opportunities including notifications of pets in need of foster homes.
Support our Boarding and Training Business: Support the boarding and training business we've launched to give Indigo Rescue the financial support it needs: Oregon Canine University at Indigo Ranch (or simply, OCU at Indigo Ranch). OCU at Indigo Ranch offers free roam boarding in a beautiful ranch setting. Dog-friendly dogs spend their days romping with other dogs in larged fenced areas on our 16 acre property in Vernonia. Inside time is spent in a large doggie dormitory where dogs can play or simply lounge around on doggie couches and doggie pillows. Dogs are generally only crated at meal time and, if the owner requests, at night. All of this doggie-fun is supervised by our caretaker, Sam, who lives on the property. Sam has two years of experience working at a doggie daycare in downtown Portland. Shuttle service to Vernonia is available. OCU at Indigo Ranch is also developing training programs. We'll offer obedience, agility, search and rescue, and educational seminars covering such things as nutrition and massage. Please visit OregonCanineUniversity.org for more information! Remember - all proceeds go to help Indigo Rescue help homeless pets. Your dog can have a fabulous time while you support your dog's less fortunate, homeless cousins!
Donations: Donations help us continue our work to assist abandoned animals in our community. Visit our website, IndigoRescue.org, to make an online donation. You can also mail a check to our PO box. Donations are tax-deductible.
Order Scrip: Ordering scrip from Indigo Rescue is a fun and free way to raise money for us. It's easy - you order a gift card through us (for example, Home Depot, Panera Bread Co., Domino's Pizza, New Season's) and the store donates a percentage of the sale to us. It costs you nothing - you get a gift card for the exact value you pay. (For example, you pay $10 for a $10 Panera Bread Co. gift card and Panera gives us 8%). These small percentages really add up when our entire network of supporters orders scrip through us! You can order gift cards to give as gifts or to use for your regular shopping. We take and distribute orders each month. For more information, including a list of participating vendors, visit Indigo Rescue Scrip Program.
Fostering: We are always searching for foster homes for the dogs and cats we help. Here's how it works for fostering dogs. When the county shelter is full and is forced to make space by euthanizing adoptable dogs they call us and ask us to take the dogs that would otherwise be euthanized. We then call our network of fosters and/or send an S.O.S. email to our volunteer list. At this point we have limited information about the dogs in need. We might have a breed or breed mix guess, an age estimate and might have some indication of whether the dog would be good with cats. We try to match foster families with foster dogs that will work with them. If you have older, small dogs we won't match you with a young lab. If your female dog doesn't like females, we wouldn't match you with a female foster dog. We can also ask the shelter to do a "cat test" to see whether the dog is a cat-hunter. Given this information, our fosters step up and volunteer to save a life. We coordinate getting the dog to you. The dogs are often wound up or scared or dirty from being at the shelter. The foster dogs usually settle in after a day or two. We expect the fosters to deal with some challenges, but if things are absolutely not working out we will move the foster dog to a new foster home. If the dog needs any medical attention like spay/neuter Indigo Rescue schedules the vet visit and pays the bill. The foster family usually buys food, toys, etc... We require foster families to keep the foster dog safe - inside and crated if necessary, but not left unattended in the back yard. This is how dogs escape - especially in a new environment - and we don't want that to happen. We will post the dogs on petfinder.com with the input of the foster family who can tell us about the dog's personality. We ask that the foster family tries to bring the foster dog to our adoption events every other Saturday for at least two hours. This is how the potential adopters meet the dog. If a potential adopter inquires about the dog we may work with you to coordinate another time to do a meet. Indigo Rescue does all of the screening of potential adopters and delivers the dog to the new home. We are relatively 'picky' about adoptive homes and look for families that are prepared to meet the specific needs of the dog and that have been good to the other companion animals they've owned. The foster family does have input in helping us decide which home/situation is best for the dog. Fostering is extremely rewarding. Fosters save lives. In addition, fostering brings awareness to the need for spay/neuter and adoption. Everyone you know will be exposed to the plight of so many wonderful dogs waiting at shelters. Fostering is a big commitment of time, energy and love, but the satisfaction and joy of taking a dog from death row to a loving home is immeasurable.
Adoption Events: Our adoptable pets are all in foster homes. To give potential adopters a chance to meet our foster dogs, we bring them to an adoption event every other Saturday at the Beaverton PetSmart (Cedar Hills Blvd & Walker Rd) from noon to 4 p.m.. We can always use extra help at these adoption events! We need volunteers to sit with the adoptable dogs, walk them around he store and outside for potty, and answer questions from potential adopters. To help in this capacity you must be strong enough to handle a dog on leash and know enough about dog interactions to be able to tell when two dogs aren’t getting along and should sit apart from one another. Don’t worry - we’ll only have you handle a dog that is appropriate for your experience level and comfort level. You can also come early and help us set up or stay late to help us pack up.
We launch and maintain programs that assist county and state-level agencies in enforcing and deterring violation of our state law against animal abandonment.
We continue to develop and launch convenient and practical spay/neuter programs designed to encourage people to have their pets altered.
We develop new programs to discourage the surrender of companion animals to our shelters, and increase the likelihood of permanent placement.
Our efforts include offering consultation, resources, and support to individuals from our community who are making the effort to help the abandoned animals of our community to find a permanent home.
Indigo Rescue
PO Box 554
Beaverton
OR
97075
Phone: 503.626.7222
Email:
info@indigorescue.org
Web site: http://www.indigorescue.org
Click Here to See our Pets for Adoption
