One of the many lucky angels rescued by Ruff & Ready. [Photo: CAPE]

Buy our fun romantic fiction “Small Change” to help us donate more to Ruff & Ready and Last Chance at Life!

by Katerina Lorenzatos Makris

Many adorable dogs land in overwhelmed shelters, waiting in vain for forever homes unless they are lucky enough to enter programs like Ruff & Ready. [Photo: CAPE]

“Rescue is hard work,” Diva recently observed to a longtime, fellow rescuer friend. “What motivates you? What keeps you going?”

Shelley Frost’s answer was simple, eloquent, and resonant: “Saving a life fills us up.”

We’ve known Shelley for about three decades, and can vouch for the fact that she lives by those words. She and another longtime friend and rescuer, JP Novic, are celebrating 26 years of saving animals through their Center for Animal Protection and Education (CAPE), an organization the two co-founded.

In 2015, they added to CAPE’s broad repertoire a new program called Ruff & Ready, to find loving families for dogs at risk of being euthanized at shelters for lack of space.

Rescue Diva can’t resist noting that while some folks sit comfortably at their keyboards launching criticism from afar against overwhelmed shelters, Shelley and JP roll up their sleeves to pitch in and do something to help.

This week, in the interview below, we check in with Shelley to learn more about Ruff & Ready, to which a certain adorable fellow named Alfie owes his life. Because Alfie serves as the handsome cover model for Diva’s new short fiction fundraiser story “Small Change,” we thought we ought to find out how Shelley and JP helped him plus an additional 209 dogs so far. 

PLEASE NOTE:  ALL PROFITS from sales of Diva’s short fiction story “Small Change” will go to Ruff & Ready/CAPE and Last Chance at Life. To start things off on the right paw, Rescue Diva has donated $100 to both groups.  So please don’t forget to buy your copy—just $2—and share this link to help us sell more… and therefore donate more!

INTERVIEW WITH SHELLEY FROST, CAPE CREATIVE DIRECTOR

Rescue Diva: Why did you start Ruff & Ready (R&R)?

Dogs entering the Ruff & Ready program are evaluated and given whatever veterinary and emotional/behavioral support they need. [Photo: CAPE]

Shelley Frost: To expand our dog rescue program that primarily takes place in Santa Cruz. In our new community of Grass Valley where we moved in 2012, we began to see that many shelters were overwhelmed with animals while others had empty kennels and ready homes. To help save lives, Ruff & Ready was created to transport dogs from overcrowded shelters to those with space.

Diva: What is R&R’s mission?

Frost: We work closely with animal shelters and animal protection organizations to evaluate and transfer dogs from overcrowded shelters to shelters with ready adopters. CAPE provides needed medical care and spay and neuter services to dogs brought into this program.

Diva: How is it funded?

Frost: Donations to CAPE’s general fund.

Diva: How often do you do the R&R rescues?

Frost: They are not scheduled on a regular basis. It depends on when we are notified that a shelter is overcrowded and is euthanizing for space OR if we learn that a shelter partner has empty kennels.

Diva: Where do the dogs come from? Front Street Animal Shelter in Sacramento; ARF rescue in Fresno; Yuba County Animal Control; Solano County Animal Control; Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter, Mexico (Compassion Without Borders).

Ruff & Ready ‘saves lives AND saves shelter staff from having to euthanize one more animal,’ says program co-founder Shelley Frost. [Photo: CAPE]

Diva: How do you decide which ones to take into the R&R program?

Frost: Each dog is evaluated for behavior, health, age.

Diva: Describe the process and logistics of rescuing them? For example you often go pick them up yourself, right?

Frost: Yes, JP is our primary evaluator. I am the documenter (photos/video). We will go to a shelter, evaluate, determine if the dog needs to be spayed/neutered, load the dog(s) into the CAPE truck, take them either to our shelter partner OR to Muttopia, a shelter for rescued dogs we co-founded with Compassion Without Borders in Santa Rosa. There the dogs will be further evaluated. Then at a later date, we will transport them to one of our shelter partners.

Diva: Does the experience that you and JP gained during the years while you worked in shelters such as Peninsula Humane Society help in your partnerships with shelters on R&R? For example does it give you extra sensitivity and understanding about the challenges that shelters face?

Frost: Yes, our experience working at PHS gave us an inside understanding and empathy for the difficult duties required of kennel staff, such as euthanasia. R&R saves lives and saves shelter staff from having to euthanize one more animal.

R&R arranged for a behaviorist/trainer to help Dino learn good manners around other dogs before he got adopted. [Photo: CAPE]

Diva: Describe your feelings while you are transporting the dogs during your rescue trips.

Frost: Exhilaration!

Diva: Love the name Ruff & Ready! How did you choose it?

Frost: There is a town above Grass Valley called Rough & Ready, so it is a play on that name.

Diva: Can you tell us about particular pooches who were among R&R’s more challenging rescue/re-homings?

Frost: Dino was a dog we rescued from Front Street Animal Shelter. We brought him to a shelter partner (El Dorado Animal Shelter) but his behavior proved to be a problem for them—he was challenging other dogs. We picked him up and arranged for his to stay with a professional dog behaviorist/trainer who we often use in these cases. After staying with her and learning his manners, he was placed into a wonderful home where he is today.

Joe was rescued from the Front Street Animal Shelter. Placed into a CAPE foster home. Started having seizures. Veterinarian examined him, treated, medicated. He stayed with our foster for quite awhile until we had his health under control. Today Joe is with a wonderful family.

Sabrina was rescued from Front Street Animal shelter in Sacramento, brought to Muttopia for evaluation as she was an older dog. She began having seizures. CAPE covered medical costs of having her evaluated and provided with medication. She was later brought to a CAPE foster home in Grass Valley then adopted to a wonderful family who absolutely loves her.

Joe, who suffered from seizures, held by CAPE cofounder JP Novic.  After a long stay in a foster home, receiving lots of vet care and TLC, Joe is now doing great in a loving forever home. [Photo: CAPE]

Diva: So CAPE devotes the time and money that’s needed to help each animal. What were the costs for those three you just mentioned, for example?

Frost: Once a dog enters the R&R program, CAPE covers all the costs from medical, dental, spay/neuter, behavior. The resulting costs from Dino, Joe and Sabrina were several thousand dollars.

Diva: What’s the most fulfilling or gratifying part of your work on R&R?

Frost: When we learn about the families who have adopted R&R dogs.

Diva: The most challenging or difficult part? Evaluating them to be sure that they are healthy and behaviorally sound. We see so many dogs who have “shut down” because of the stressful shelter environment. Sometimes it can be hard to see their true personalities in these situations.

Diva: Rescue is hard work. What motivates you and keeps you going?

Frost: Saving a life fills us up

Diva: Any particular goals you’d like to meet in the coming years?

Frost: Growing our partnerships with other shelters who would like our help to either help reduce their population or bring them dogs for their ready adopters.

Senior citizen Sabrina also needed a lot of veterinary care, all covered by the R&R program, but now enjoys being adored by her adopters. [Photo: CAPE]

Diva: Anything on your wish list that readers could help fulfill?

Frost: PLEASE ALWAYS SPAY AND NEUTER YOUR ANIMALS!

HELP US SAVE ANIMALS — just $2 ! Rescue Diva depends on sales of our romantic fiction to help create real-life happy endings like those of Claire, of Noble, Granger, and Raza, and of Rhea and her Earthquake Puppies.

Enjoy a fun read, spice up your life, and help replenish our rescue fund!  🙂

Try our fiction story “Small Change,” about a bitter woman who is transformed by a visit to an animal shelter. ALL PROFITS go to CAPE’s Ruff & Ready program and another great group, Last Chance at Life.

Rescue Diva proudly sponsors needy animals in the U.S. and around the world. For example:

~ We help Kefalonia Animal Trust (KATs) in Greece provide free spay/neuter for hundreds of animals per year, which is one of the best ways to prevent the abandonment and misery of puppies like Noah and Kyla.

~ We donate to Center for Animal Protection and Education (CAPE), Praying for Paws, Southern California Siamese Rescue, Aniplant (Cuba) and many other groups.

Buy our fun romantic fiction — just $2 for easy, safe digital download! ALL PROFITS go to animal rescue!

~ We do in-the-trenches rescues of angels like Robin, Chance, and Tiger, with help from San Diego Animal Support Foundation, and of Marisol and Lisa, with help from Last Chance at Life.

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Katerina Lorenzatos Makris is a career journalist, author, and editor. Her fiction includes 17 novels for Simon and Schuster, E.P. Dutton, Avon, and other major publishers (under the name Kathryn Makris), as well as a teleplay for CBS-TV, and a short story for The Bark magazine. She has written hundreds of articles for regional wire services and for outlets such as National Geographic Traveler, The San Francisco Chronicle, Travelers’ Tales, NBC’s Petside.com, Animal Issues Reporter.com, and Examiner.com (Animal Policy Examiner).

Together with coauthor Shelley Frost, Katerina wrote a step-by-step guide for hands-on, in-the-trenches dog rescue, Your Adopted Dog: Everything You Need to Know About Rescuing and Caring for a Best Friend in Need (The Lyons Press), coming soon in digital format!