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Dancer’s injury proved a lifesaver for dogs on brink of euthanasia
Meet the woman behind Rosie's Animal Adoption service
Mike Boone
The Gazette
Friday, November 14, 2008
Anne Dubé with her rescued dog Rosie. (The Gazette)
More dogs are alive because Anne Dubé stopped dancing.
And that’s a good thing – or at least Dubé and I think so.
We are dog lovers. She has three of them; I’m down to one after my daughter decamped with her basset hound.
There are two kinds of people in this world: those who love dogs and those who don’t deserve to live. I’ll grant a grudging exemption for allergy-sufferers ... but there are medications, you know!
For Dubé, 59, an infatuation that began with the house pets her father always insisted on having when she was growing up in Lachine has turned into Rosie Animal Adoption. Two suburban altruists, Dubé and Leanne Turner, run a network of more than 40 mostly female volunteers who rescue dogs that are in danger of being euthanized.
The dogs receive thorough veterinary care: vaccinations, defleaing, deworming, spaying/ neutering, hospitalization if necessary to counter kennel cough and other ravages of overcrowding at dog pounds. Once the animals are healthy, they’re placed in foster homes with families that have dogs, and are put up for adoption on a website: www.rosieanimaladoption.org.
Applicants fill out questionnaires that determine their suitability as dog owners. An adoption costs $300.
Not cheap. But it’s paying for the vet attention the pet has received, and the price tag helps weed out dilettantes.
No one at Rosie Animal Adoption draws a salary for this labour of love. They have rescued 140 dogs this year and more than 1,300 since Dubé decided she needed a new hobby.
“I was a ballroom dancer who did a lot of gardening, went to the Y all the time and weighed 105 pounds,” Dubé recalled wistfully. “Then I herniated a disc, had back surgery and spent five months in bed.
“There was permanent damage to a sciatic nerve. I couldn’t bend to do my gardening and could never dance again. But I’m a very active person, and I got into animal rescue.”
Less tango, more TLC.
Dubé – whose day job is a warranty administrator – and her husband live on a quiet street in Baie d’Urfé.
There’s a dog sculpture under a spruce tree in the front yard, two “Beware of Dog” signs in the windows and a decal beseeching firefighters to rescue pets.
As I walked in, I was surrounded by a barking welcoming committee: Ally, Brandy and, of course, Rosie. Seven years ago, the dog who started it all was about to be euthanized by the
SPCA.
Rosie was 2 months old. Dubé took her to a vet, Alan Gilmore at the Animal Health Clinic in N.D.G., who said her eye had to be removed.
“When I went to pick her up and asked how much,” Dubé recounted, “he said: ‘It’s on us. Just find her a good home and please call her Rose (which later became Rosie) because that’s what my daughter has been calling her.’
“So I tried to find her a home – sort of. Then we went out west for our 25th wedding anniversary and we were sitting in Banff looking at the Rockies and I
announced to my husband that Rosie wasn’t going anywhere. It wasn’t a great dinner after that.”
Dubé had two dogs already, so Rosie – with her left eyelid sewn shut – brought the total to 12 paws and five eyes.
They don’t know what kind of dog she is, but will soon. Dubé collected saliva swabs “like on CSI” and sent them to a company in Toronto that will establish Rosie’s DNA for $65. Then, she’ll run a Guess Rosie’s Breed contest on the website.
“My husband says, ‘Don’t talk about the DNA test because people will think we’re crackpots,’ ” Dubé laughed. She emphatically denies being an animal-rescue fanatic or nutbar. She just believes dogs are great, loyal pets and deserve loving homes.
Dubé met Leanne Turner at the
SPCA. They began to collaborate on an ad-hoc basis, working networks of friends to find homes for dogs that were about to be put down.
“We had no office, no phone number, no nothing,” Dubé said.
But seven months later, in March 2002, they launched Rosie Animal Adoption and registered it as a non-profit enterprise. A year later, it became a charity.
Volunteers – almost all of whom have full-time jobs – help on nights, weekends, whenever they can find time.
When an animal is in jeopardy of being euthanized, the animal shelter or dog pound contacts Rosie Animal Adoption, which then starts emailing and phoning for foster and, ultimately, permanent homes. There’s no overhead in an all-volunteer organization, but vet care is expensive and Rosie Animal Adoption sails close to the wind, money-wise. It is in dire need of a transport vehicle.
Just check out the photos on the Rosie website. Guaranteed there won’t be a dry eye – or nose – in the house.
To find out more, call 514-217-DOGS, or visit: www.rosieanimaladoption.org
mboone@thegazette.canwest.com