Rescue, Commit, Inspire: Secondhand Hounds

Welcome to Featured Rescue Friday, where we highlight an amazing animal rescue. This week we are featuring Secondhand Hounds, a pawesome organization in Minnesota that is our newest referral network partner!

Secondhand Hounds was founded in July of 2009 by Rachel Mairose. With a love for animals and a desire to make a difference, Rachel started Secondhand Hounds in her basement. Since it’s inception, Secondhand Hounds has saved over 15,000 animals.

Secondhand Hounds rescues dogs from kill shelters around the Midwest and from owners who can no longer provide care for their dogs. We rescue cats from local shelters and owners who can no longer provide care for their cats.

By creating innovative programs, Secondhand Hounds consistently accomplishes their mission to save lives. Some of these programs include:

• Fighter Fund – Providing veterinary and emotional help to animals who are victims of abuse, neglect, bad breeding, or accidents in order to help them find furever homes.
• Forever Loved Hospice Program – A foster program designed to give senior and terminally-ill dogs live out their lives in a loving foster home.
• Secondhand Hope – Offers companion pet visits to assisted living communities and other facilities throughout Minnesota.
• SHH International – A rescue program to help dogs internationally, be it from the meat market trade, natural disasters, street dogs, and more.

Secondhand Hounds has many memorable rescue stories, some of which you can follow on Facebook! From Quasi the Great to Secondhand Hermione to Cooper to Winnie and Beans, these pups will brighten your day and emphasize the phenomenal, life saving work Secondhand Hounds puts in day in and day out.

This is what we are about: The ones who are hopeless. The ones who are scared. The ones who are injured. The ones who have known nothing but a concrete floor. And you know what? They are now filled with hope. They are confident. They are healthy. They know a warm bed and they know love. – Rachel Mairose

One of the things that makes Secondhand Hounds amazing is that the animals they save go into foster homes around the Twin Cities. They have created a pawesome foster network that many of their foster pawrents recommend:

We have fostered with SHH for a couple years and can’t say enough good things. They give loving homes to animals from all over who deserve the world. And they make fostering very smooth and easy for foster families so don’t be afraid to try it! –Nikki Wilkie

This strategy pays off big time when it comes time for their adoptable animals to go into their furever homes. With a basic understanding of house rules and some training, the transition goes much more smoothly not just for the pet but for their family too:

We adopted a puppy from SHH recently and are so happy we went with them! Everyone we spoke with was so nice. We can really tell the foster parents put a lot of time and care into making sure the puppy was well socialized and had a good start with training. They really seem to care about the animals and making sure they all go to a good home! –Cristine Simpler

To stay up to date on the latest news at Secondhand Hounds, you can follow them on Facebook. If you’d like to donate to help support their life saving efforts, you can visit their donation page or make them your designated referral network so the donations we make from the service fee profits from the jobs you book through our Sitting for a Cause go to them.