RESCUE MATTERS! How to Find, Foster, and Rehome Companion Animals: A Guide for Volunteers and Organizers is a compassionate and comprehensive look at the issues that affect both pets in need and the people who work to save them. "Great changes in societies start small,” writes Sheila Webster Boneham, Ph.D., in this comprehensive guide to saving and rehoming domestic animals, "and while the rescue road is long and often dark and bumpy, we have covered considerable ground." This book offers an illuminated map to make the road lighter and smoother for individual for groups or individuals who want to know how to start, run, fund and promote rescue. But the book doesn’t stop there. Drawing on the author’s experience as a rescuer, breeder, dog-sport enthusiast, and owner of pets of several species, the book offers helpful advice for anyone who wants to help homeless animals, whether they can commit a few hours a year to help with a special event, or many hours a week to hands-on work with animals. It's for people who want to help any kind of companion animal — dogs, cats, ferrets, rabbits, chinchillas, pot-belly pigs, and even larger animals like horses, llamas, or burros. And, for adopters considering a rescued animal, it's a guide to assessing the ethics and expertise of rescue organizations.

This book will help organizers:

*          Learn the legalities of operating a rescue organization

*          Locate and work with volunteers

*          Understand the pros and cons of fostering

*          Solicit for fund raising and do promotions

*          Consider taking in an animal in need

*          Look at health and temperament concerns

*          Rehome the rescued animal

“Rescue Matters! How to Find, Foster, and Rehome Companion Animals is the definitive guide to animal rescue. Intelligent, compassionate, practical, and comprehensive, this marvelous book is a must-read for not only for novices but for experienced rescue people as well. Superb!”                                                                                 

Susan Conant

Author of All Shots and other novels

in the Holly Winter series of Dog Lover’s mysteries

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

            Award-winning writer Sheila W. Boneham, Ph.D., has been touched by some form of animal rescue all her life. She grew up surrounded by dogs, cats, horses, and more–Chihuahuas, a Scottish Deerhound, a rescued Irish Wolfhound, two Miniature Schnauzers. In the early 1990's, Sheila founded and worked with rescue programs for both Labradors and Australian Shepherds, and she has served as a volunteer for several rescue organizations and shelters, teaching in-service workshops on basic dog handling techniques and breed identification as well as public courses in basic dog care, obedience, and bite prevention. Sheila has bred highly successful Australian Shepherds, and has trained and titled Aussies and Labs in several canine sports. She speaks and writes on all aspects of responsible pet ownership.

            Sheila holds a doctorate in folklore from Indiana University, and taught for some 20 years at universities in Maryland, Washington, D.C., Indiana, Kuwait, and Tunisia (and yes, she brought a dog home from one of her overseas jaunts). She is the author of sixteen books, several of which have been named best in their categories by the Dog Writers Association of America and the Cat Writers Association, including Breed Rescue (Alpine 1998), the first book devoted to starting and running a canine rescue program.

            Sheila lives in Indiana with her husband Roger, Australian Shepherd Jay, Labrador Retriever Lily, and the ever-present spirits of her other animal friends. When she isn’t writing, speaking, or teaching, Sheila keeps busy with canine sports, painting, and gardening. Learn more at www.rescuematters.com or www.sheilaboneham.com.