![\"The](\"http:\/\/www.sittingforacause.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Shelter_Sign.png\")
<\/a>The rescue is located at the Montgomery County Animal Shelter<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n \u201cThe [rescue\u2019s] main goal is to care for and get the dogs adopted out of the shelter,\u201d said Gretchen Distler, who has been a volunteer for the past five years and recently joined the rescue board. \u201cThe group also fundraises money to get the dogs medical care. We have a foster program, so our group pays supplies, medical bills and food to the foster families. It\u2019s a good thing.\u201d<\/p>\n My friends and I had an amazing experience when we visited the shelter. We got to meet and walk a few of the dogs, some of whom were strays while others were given up and had been staying there for months.<\/p>\n While a lot of the younger dogs were active like a young beagle named Tony, others were a little more subdued and just needed somebody to sit and spend time with them, like Carl, an older boxer and hound mix.<\/p>\n Tony is ready for a day of exercise<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n \u201cWe have older dogs that we often sit with in the kennel,\u201d said Sandra Muse, who has also been volunteering for five years. \u201cIf they\u2019re scared or if they just got here and you don\u2019t know what kind of dog it is yet, whether it\u2019s social enough to go out, you observe it to determine what its personality is like. Some of the older dogs we sit with just so they know they\u2019re loved because some of them unfortunately come in with diseases or things that are more terminal, so we try to make their lives better for them with the time they have.\u201d<\/p>\n A total of 36 dogs were available to walk when we visited. According to Muse, the shelter no longer experiences a slow day when it comes to volunteers. From Christiansburg locals to students from Virginia Tech (who live in the neighboring city of Blacksburg), the rescue enjoys a lot of help in walking the dogs and giving them attention.<\/p>\n \u201cBefore, Saturday was the only day you could get dogs out,\u201d said Marilyn Wheaton, a current employee and former volunteer. \u201cIf you wanted to adopt during the week, you had to walk in, say \u2018I want that one\u2019 and adopt it without meeting it.\u201d<\/p>\n Opportunities for adopters and volunteers have opened up since then. Now, dogs can be walked through out the week, not including Sundays.<\/p>\n \u201cWe know the dogs a lot better, \u201c said Wheaton. \u201cWe\u2019re able to evaluate them a lot better. We\u2019re able to council adopters a lot better. Overall, everything is working to the benefit of the adopters and the dogs.\u201d<\/p>\n Gretchen (left), Whitney (middle) and Sandra (right): The lovely Friends of Animal Care and Control<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n After getting to know a few of the dogs and seeing how passionate the rescue was about making their lives better, I asked Wheaton why adopting was so important.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you\u2019re just looking for a companion, we have plenty of perfectly nice dogs here,\u201d said Wheaton. \u201cThey\u2019re perfectly good pets, whereas if you\u2019re not looking for a specific function for your dog, I\u2019m not sure why you would spend the money buying a purebred when there\u2019s plenty of dogs who could lose their lives or spend months in a kennel if nobody adopts them when they\u2019re perfectly nice pets.<\/p>\n Meet Sango, a very energetic Rottweiler and Siberian husky mix.<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n Along with volunteering and fostering opportunities, the rescue is involved in other activities to promote adoption, such as taking the dogs to festivals, the local farmer\u2019s market and downtown Blacksburg.<\/p>\n On top of that, the rescue has even hosted its own festival.<\/p>\n \u201cLast year we put on our first Fur Fest,\u201d said Distler. \u201cIt was an event to promote adoption and responsible pet ownership. We had about 300 people. We had food trucks and bands and local rescue groups from around. Our second one this year is going to be on April 23.\u201d<\/p>\n Since 2005, the employees and volunteers of the rescue\u00a0have made a lot of progress in improving dogs\u2019 lives, and they aren’t showing any signs of stopping. From dog walking to hosting festivals, the rescue\u00a0is dedicated to helping dogs and getting the community involved.<\/p>\n For more information on volunteering, adopting or donating, you can visit their website.<\/a><\/p>\n You can also check out their dogs on Petfinder<\/a> or their Facebook page<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Welcome to Featured Rescue Friday! This week we are featuring the Montgomery County Friends of Animal Care and Control, a rescue operating in Christiansburg, Virginia that I was fortunate enough to visit last weekend with some friends. The rescue has been working at the Montgomery County Animal Shelter since 2006. Not only have volunteers and employees given their love and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":368,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5,4],"tags":[325,18,89,326],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sittingforacause.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sittingforacause.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sittingforacause.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sittingforacause.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sittingforacause.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=360"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.sittingforacause.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":369,"href":"https:\/\/www.sittingforacause.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360\/revisions\/369"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sittingforacause.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/368"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sittingforacause.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sittingforacause.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sittingforacause.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a><\/a><\/a>