OUR MISSION
Always Loyal Dog Rescue’s mission is to support the deserted elderly and special needs dogs housed in marginal shelters and transfer them to enriched environments, fosters and adopters, offering them a chance to find loving homes.
beginnings: our first focus shelter
Since 2018, our first focus shelter has been Semper Fidelis Domus (“SFD”) in Butimanu, Romania. Why Romania? This part of the story is not a pretty one. In the 1980s the dictator Ceauşecu’s notorious communist regime forced thousands of Romanians from the countryside into crowded city tenements. Pets and working dogs alike were abandoned in the streets and forests, where they fought for survival and bred unchecked. Since that time, these forgotten dogs have been chased, abused, captured and killed. Legislation to protect them has been routinely ignored or has led to thousands of animals left indefinitely in public shelters where they often die from injuries, disease or starvation. Even euthanasia is rarely humane. And despite its many dog lovers, Romania continues to be a “throwaway dog” culture in which even household pets are often turned out to fend for themselves simply because they are old, ill or pregnant.
We know there are many needy dogs in our own communities right here at home and around the world. By all means, please do what you can to help them. But the elderly and special needs dogs at SFD do not stand a chance without our help - the help of a community of caring people. Because compassion knows no borders.
their STORY. our story.
The story of SFD begins in 2009 with one compassionate woman, “Doamna B” (“Mrs. B”). While driving from her Bucharest home to her country property, she could not ignore the plight of deserted puppies and dogs she passed on the way. She took home one, and then another, and another. In time she abandoned her plan to retire on the property and instead built kennels and founded a Romanian registered charity. The dogs at SFD are well fed and receive basic care, vetting, and spay/neuter. But their lives are constrained: They are confined to paddocks with concrete floors and wooden houses. There is no opportunity for outdoor exercise and little interaction with humans or even other dogs. Doamna B is now older and has exhausted her personal resources. Like many such private shelters, SFD faced a series of crises that threatened its existence. If it failed, its dogs would go to public shelters. Because many are already old or have medical or behavioral challenges, they would soon have been executed.
Always Loyal Dog Rescue was incorporated in the U.S. in November 2018 and approved as a 501(c)(3) U.S. charity in August 2019. Our work is carried out through partnership with deprived shelters and other organizations and individuals. Through these partnerships, dogs have been transferred out of Romania to other countries, well-managed shelters, fosters, and adopters offer them a more enriched life and a chance to find a loving home. Through September 2022, 89% of the SFD dogs transferred are now in “forever homes” - an impressive number when you realize many dogs need weeks or months of socialization before they are ready for family life. From inception through September 2022, Always Loyal Dog Rescue has funded preparation and transportation costs for over 200 dogs travelling from Romania to a better life, and has made vital contributions to the shelter’s food, labor and maintenance costs.