The business of rescuing bassets

The basset hound may be a somewhat mopey-looking breed, but these long-faced pooches have nothing to brood about. At least not in Petaluma, where basset hounds are being rescued by the hundreds.

Golden Gate Basset Rescue (GGBR) is a Petaluma-based nonprofit organization founded by Gloria Tannehill-Carlsen, specializing in finding new homes for unwanted, abandoned basset hounds. Since 2005, GGBR has rescued about 100 dogs each year, often from abusive homes, overcrowded shelters and the prospect of euthanasia.

“We are overpopulated with dogs as a country,” said Addy Dawes, one of Golden Gate Basset Rescue’s volunteers, and the organization’s secretary and treasurer since 2007. “Several million a year die.”

Tannehill-Carlsen’s rescue work began when she became a member of the Northern California Basset Hound Rescue of America. The organization had a small rescue branch at the time, and over the course of several years, Tannehill-Carlsen came to take primary responsibility for the organization’s rescue efforts.

“I was working 20 to 30 hours a week for the rescue,” she explained. “And that was on top of a full-time job.”

When the Northern California Basset Hound Club of America cut off its rescue branch, Tannehill-Carlsen began her own nonprofit rescue, one that now covers territory from as far south as Monterey to as far north as the Oregon border. Golden Gate Basset Rescue also conducts basset hound recoveries as far east as Reno, Nev.

“Our dogs come from all over and our adopters come from all over,” said Dawes.

Practicing a strictly “no kill” policy, GGBR saves basset hounds from shelters, breeders and owners who may not have the resources to care for them and keep them alive.

While most of the basset hounds that Golden Gate Basset Rescue deals with are pure bred, the dogs are usually not as well bred as some. “Quality doesn’t matter,” said Dawes. “We just don’t want the dogs to die.”

GGBR finds and rescues basset hounds of all ages, placing them in foster homes, and then putting them up for adoption. Once a dog is “rescued,” it is spayed or neutered, vaccinated, microchipped with a 24PetWatch.com microchip, and then cared for in a foster home until a permanent family can be found. Over this time, each dog is carefully assessed so that potential adopters can choose a dog that suits their lifestyle.

“Some of our dogs are really active,” said Dawes. “And some are real couch potatoes.”

When potential adopters come to GGBR in search of a new dog, the families fostering the bassets, Tannehill-Carlsen explained, are in charge of interviewing potential adopters and determining whether the family and the dog would be a good fit.

Golden Gate Basset Rescue boasts an almost perfect adoption rate, due at least in part to the organization’s unique and extensive matchmaking approach.

Adoption fees, or “adoption donations,” vary according to a dog’s age, but puppies - fully vetted, fixed and implanted with a microchip - are priced at about $400. Elderly dogs are adopted at a rate of $150. Pure-bred basset hounds, Dawes said, often sell for $1,200 without the added cost of veterinary bills.

“The adoption donation is not a reflection of how much it costs to put a dog through rescue,” she said. It actually costs much more.

On average, each dog costs about $1,000 to rescue, between travel and medical needs. “About 99 percent of what we make goes back into the dogs,” said Tannehill-Carlsen.

Most of the organization’s costs come in the form of veterinary bills, as GGBR provides more than just routine veterinary treatment. Recently, GGBR covered the cost of a $4,000 heart surgery for a 2-year-old basset hound, and also performed orthopedic surgery on a couple of puppies who needed their legs straightened.

“They were probably dumped because their legs were so bad,” said Tannehill-Carlsen.

GGBR runs solely on donation, bringing in around $100,000 every year to offset these costs.

“Every year now we have an excess amount of money,” said Tannehill-Carlsen. “And we’ve never gotten to the point where we have to say no to accepting a new dog.”

GGBR is not a shelter, but an expansive network of volunteers who all do their part in a widespread rescue mission. The organization keeps a list of about 140 families who function as potential foster parents - they are emailed every time a new dog is recovered from a shelter or from an overburdened “backyard breeder,” said Dawes.

Dog lovers are encouraged to become a part of this network, and to provide support when they can.

When shelters are able to hand off incoming animals to rescues focusing on a specific breed, they cut back on numbers and save resources. The dogs are also more likely to be adopted when they are not lost in the mix with many other shelter animals, and are able to escape the fate of euthanasia or long-term shelter life.

“These dogs don’t like to be alone,” said Dawes. “They like family.”

There are currently 13 basset hounds ready and available for adoption through Golden Gate Basset Rescue, all featured on the organization’s website.

To learn more about adoption opportunities, or to become a volunteer at Golden Gate Basset Rescue, visit ggbassetrescue.org or call Tannehill-Carlen at 765-2690.

(Contact Heidi Hirvonen at argus@arguscourier.com)

ONLINE: See a gallery of cute canine photos from the Golden Gate Basset Rescue online at petaluma360.com