Can we really "save them all”?

“Save them all” has long been Best Friends Animal Sanctuary's mantra and this is a widely held sentiment in most animal rescue circles. I mean it makes sense, if you are going to devote your time and energy to animal rescue why wouldn’t you want to save them all. The dogs, cats and other animals that have suffered at the hand of human abuse, neglect and everything in between. On the surface I wholeheartedly agree with this statement, let’s do the best we can to give as many animals as we can the best chance at a long and happy life. To raise the funds and support the rescuers the best we can to at least make a small dent in the crisis. According to the ASPCA website, “Last year, approximately 5.8 million companion animals entered shelters nationwide. 4.2 million shelter animals were adopted into loving homes in 2024, approximately the same number of animals adopted as the year before. Unfortunately, not enough animals were adopted to significantly reduce the number of dogs and cats in shelters nationwide.” There is no doubt a crisis, there are more animals needing homes than shelters can find suitable homes for. 

The hard truth is that thousands of animals are euthanized every year in the United States because shelters and rescues don’t have the infrastructure and budget to house them, let alone get them adopted out. It is a brutal reality that animals who could be social and make good pets would die because there isn’t room for them, but that is what we are facing. Knowing these statistics should make you want to get involved. Donate, foster, volunteer, share on social media. I truly believe that everyone taking one small action can help make a dent in the crisis our shelter system is facing.

 I will also say that this does not just apply to dogs that find themselves in the shelter system, I have worked with plenty of dogs that came from intentional breedings that too behave in dangerous ways. This is a reality that many will never face, but when you have, like me, been faced with a dog that is your responsibility and you are aware of how dangerous they can be. You have to face this harsh reality, not hide behind popular sentiments. 

Years ago I fostered a dog we called Hilo. Hilo lived his first year of life outside year round and on a chain. The rescue I partnered with had a committed volunteer who for months offered to take Hilo from him and give him a good home. Can you imagine being a puppy and only knowing being outside year round (we live in Colorado mind you and our winters are not gentle). It took months but this committed volunteer finally convinced the dog owner to surrender him to the rescue. The rescue didn’t have a foster home for him so they did the best they could and paid for him to be boarded at a facility that offered dog boarding and day care. In the boarding setting Hilo was not doing well, he was displaying several reactive and aggressive behaviors and the staff were starting to fear him. My training mentor heard about him and took several of her apprentices to meet him and see what they could do to help him. This is who I came to learn of Hilo. After meeting Hilo, my husband and I agreed to foster him with the training support of my mentor. In the beginning Hilo made a lot of progress with his reactive and aggressive behaviors. We trained and worked on behavior modification everyday. The first month he was with us I felt so much hope for him being able to find a new home and live a happy life. But the longer he stayed with us the more his behavior challenges came to the surface despite our best efforts to train and set him up for success. Hilo was with us for a total of 9 months, in that time, he got to know the love and comfort of a home. He got to run, play and be a dog. But as the months went on, his challenges became insurmountable. He attacked both of my other dogs, 

leaving them each with puncture wounds, he bit my husband and myself on multiple occasions. It became clear that he was not going to be safe to be adopted out and there was no way my husband and I could keep him forever. 

I went into fostering Hilo believing that love and training were going to be what he needed to live out a happy life. He got both of those things, in excess and still it wasn’t enough. I am so glad that we were able to try, that we were able to give him at least a short period of time in a real loving home. But ultimately with the advice of my mentor, the support of the rescue and hours of agonizing, we made the choice to behaviorally euthanize Hilo. Moments before he took his last breath he bit my hand one last time. Leaving me a scare as a reminder that we made the right choice for him. 

I truly hope that you never find yourself in a situation like mine. It is something that has forever changed me. It took a lot for me to work through the grief and the guilt but I had to face the brutal things that happened to Hilo in his early life that never left him. I put my family and myself at risk to try and save him. I of course want dogs that can safely live their lives out as pets to find the homes that they deserve but I can’t change what I know to be true. Not all dogs can be saved.

- Rachel

Hilo and I in 2013