About SCARS

Second Chance Animal Rescue Society (SCARS) is dedicated to reducing the number of homeless animals in Northern Alberta, Canada

We believe that there is a suitable home for all homeless animals: young or old; large or small.

As a volunteer-run, registered charity, we care for these animals by providing veterinary care and foster homes for animals in need until a permanent home is found. These private foster homes provide the animals with warm shelter, food, exercise, and tender loving care (something that so many of the animals we receive have never experienced).

SCARS does not practice selective intake procedures and operates in a triage manner: taking the animal in most medical need first. As a result our medical expenses are enormous. Please consider donating to our rescue efforts.


Look At Us Now!

To date, SCARS has rescued and rehomed over 3,000 animals.

Because these animals live in our homes, we deveop a very deep bond with our fosters. Many of the adoptive families keep us updated on how well their new companions are thriving in their new homes.

To all the wonderful foster homes, all the tireless volunteers, all the compassionate furever-homes: we say a heartfelt thank-you!

Please support your local rescue society and consider adoption as opposed to buying your new friend.


Thursday 30 October 2008

Pumpkin and Maggie

Hello SCARS!
I wanted to give you an update on Pumpkin and Maggie.

We adopted Pumpkin 4 years ago as a very timid and malnourished little girl. She was found at a gas station at Wandering RIver and was 28 pounds (and had puppies) when we adopted her (she now weighs 35 pounds). She didn't know how to walk up and down stairs, was terrified of men, cats and the fridge turning on. I took her to dog obedeince classes for almost a full year to just sit and watch because she was so terrified of everything. After a year, she was physically well enough to enter Obedience classes, and from there we went on to Agility. She has just started competing in Agility this year. I get a lot of laughs when I line up with Pumpkin Pie at the agility trials when she is surrounded by dogs named Zoom, Swifty, and Rocket! Pumpkin has no problem stopping during a run to give me heck with her husky 'wooo wooo' howl when I've done something wrong, much to the delight of everyone!! She has gained a lot of confidence from when we first got her, but she is still timid, gentle and shy. Her new big sister Maggie has given her a lot of confidence and they play for hours.

Maggie, our big orange dog, was found in the ditch by Dave out by Parkland. Dave told us he stopped to pick up the dog, and was amazed to see puppy after puppy in the ditch- Maggie had 7 puppies in total. Maggie was found in December, 2007 and now almost a year later she is, as I call her, 60 pounds of love. The best description of Maggie was what Dave wrote about her: goofy. We needed a dog that liked cats as we have one cat who is deaf, and Mggie fit the bill perfectly. Maggie was used as an assessment dog at our daycare to see if other dogs had a suitable temperment to attend daycare. She loves small dogs and puppies, and she is left with them at daycare to mother them the entire day. Maggie is a ball of energy and she should be finished her agility training this spring, with the hopes of competing this summer. She is the baby of the family and is very spoiled.

I am so thankful and grateful to SCARS for saving these two dogs. They are members of our family and we are blessed to have them in our lives.
Kind regards,
Patrick and Penny

Autumn

Hi my name is Stephanie , I adopted Autumn (she is your Miss September in your calender) almost a year ago now.


She is the best dog I have ever had, we absolutely adore her. I took some great pictures of her and thought you might like to see how she is doing and what she grew up to be. She gets along great with all the other animals on our farm, the picture of her with the calf, that is her best friend, he was an orphan and grew up thinking he was a dog as Autumn was always with him.


Thank you for being there and giving these wonderful dogs a second chance. Steph

Wednesday 8 October 2008

Jeckyl

Hello Friends at SCARS,

Just wanted to give you guys an update on how fantastic it has been since Jeckyl came into our lives! We adopted Jeckyl (after much begging and pleading on my end) on May 27th, 2008 and he has been spectacular ever since!

He is ridiculously high energy but that couldn’t have been better because it has forced us into a healthier lifestyle change that is full of 3-5 walks a day! He is always entertaining and actually just finished a huge adventure with me. Every Friday morning to Sunday night for 6 week-ends in a row the two of us would fly out to Kelowna to be trained by Brad Pattison so that I could become a Certified Educator Trainer for dogs and their families. Jeckyl was absolutely the BEST “textbook” I ever could have asked for because although he challenged me every step of the way he helped me to learn so very much. The changes I have seen since our 6 week-ends in Kelowna is amazing. He is a calmer and much more respectful dog! He became so well rounded with our trips out to Kelowna every week-end! The airports loved him and the moment they would see his big ears walking towards the “Oversized Backage” area I could hear people yelling “IT’S JECKYL, JECKYL’S BACK!” and they are all so excited to be able to hang out with him until we would board our plane.

My husband and I have also just bought a house with a nice big backyard for Jeckyl and Darren makes fun of me all the time saying we bought a bigger house to accommodate our big dog! And that is partially true but I think when you love something like your pet so much you will go out of your way to accommodate them! Darren who was so apposed to a dog in the beginning absolutely LOVES Jeckyl and every now and then I catch them cuddling together on the floor both asleep!

Jeckyl’s picture has also made the world wide web and can be seen on Brad’s website below:
http://www.bradpattison.com/edmonton/sara-klapstein.html

We are very thankful for the foster family that had Jeckyl before us as they did an unbelievable job preparing him for us. We couldn’t have asked for a better dog and hope that every dog placed with SCARS finds a loving home.

Thank-you so much!


Love,


Sara, Darren and Jeckyl