About Pawsitive Pooches (and cats)
The Pawsitive Pooches website was created to help capture and pass on the accumulated knowledge of the many wonderful people that comprise the St. Louis dog and cat rescue community. So many people have dedicated themselves to improving the lives of dogs and cats in the St. Louis area, and collectively we have done so much. But the job is never done! It is important that we all continue to expand our circles of influence, and help bring in a new generation of compassionate animal lovers to continue the welfare of animals in need.
Dara Ashby has pulled together most of the content on this site. She has over three decades of experience with almost every facet of animal rescue. She was a key co-organizer for the large-scale Adopt-a-Stray mega adoptathons in the St. Louis Metro area from 2000-2007, an Emergency Animal Rescue Service Disaster Relief Coordinator for 12 years spent responding to federal disasters nationally, on the board of OpSPOT for 7 years helping develop low cost spay & neuter programs, and has regularly provided support and help to rescue organizations to find homes for difficult to place dogs, as well as to individual rescuers, and dogs and cats in need of help. And in 2022, founded the Ferguson Animal Coalition, a 501c3 non-profit organization with the mission to help keep dogs and cats off the streets and out of shelters and in good homes.
Here is Dara's story:
As long as I can remember, compassion for animals has been as much a part of me as breathing. Even stuffed animals - as a small child I remember always making sure that the stuffed animals displayed on shelves in toy stores were propped up and accompanied by a fellow stuffed animal to sit next to so as not be lonely. Because of this emotional connection to animals, I vowed never to step foot into an animal shelter. I feared the pain would be too deep. My vow lasted until 1993. That was 32 years ago.
In 1993 a devastating flood struck the Midwest. The swollen riverbeds of the Mississippi and Missouri rivers consumed thousands of homes and businesses. While watching the news, pleas for sandbaggers were constant. But when I heard the plea to help flood victims of the 4-footed type I knew I had to respond. The St Charles Humane Society was now the "disaster relief center" for the animals and they were desperate for volunteers. Going by heart and not by mind, I decided to help.
I drove straight to the shelter right from my job at UPS, to sign up. Walking into the old smelly building, a tiny animal shelter, I said "I am here to help". The workers looked at me standing there in my business suit and said "to make a donation, go to that desk". I immediately replied "No, I am here to help with rescue.” To my surprise, they immediately put me to work. I changed clothes and began the rescue training. Every day for the duration of the disaster I volunteered many hours wearing rubber waders, cruising the flooded river areas in a tiny john boat, in sweltering humid weather, plucking stranded animals from rooftops, trees, and attics. My "office" had become a small John boat with a propeller motor.
Several months later and many hours of literally blood and sweat, the disaster relief center was closing down. An experienced woman from California with United Animal Nations had been called in to help organize and take charge of the giant rescue operation that had quickly overwhelmed the small shelter. She called me aside while we were finalizing the rescue operation closing. She told me that she had been observing my work during the disaster efforts and asked if I would consider taking the position of disaster relief coordinator for a new program, EARS (Emergency Animal Rescue Service). EARS was being formed under the umbrella of United Animal Nations headquartered in Sacramento, California with the sole mission of deploying volunteer teams to areas devastated by Federal Disasters. I began training with E.A.R.S. in 1994 and was sent to my first disaster that same year.
For the next 12 years, I spent my vacations being deployed to Federal Disasters across the country, acting as Volunteer Coordinator for EARS. We set up disaster relief centers for mostly domestic animal disaster victims. These centers, much like the Red Cross for people, provided rescue, medical care, shelter, food, and emotional support for the displaced animals and people while helping families reunite with their beloved pets. Eventually there were about 20 coordinators, as the organization grew. I was assigned a tan vest with a lot of pockets and a shiny official badge that I wore proudly, which permitted us to enter restricted areas that were struck by disasters. Organizing rescue operations and coordinating hundreds of volunteers to safely and efficiently save as many displaced domesticate animals as possible was my mission. With each disaster I would pack my backpack with my bare necessities, invaluable pocket knife, waders, map and sleeping bag, hop on a plane, rent an SUV and head to the appointed location of the disaster relief center, not knowing if we would have the luxuries of electricity or water, and hoping for at least an army cot and tent. It was amazingly fulfilling and also a time of much personal growth for me, helping to develop an inner strength that I didn’t know I possessed.
The final disaster I worked at was Hurricane Katrina in Slidell, Louisiana, August, 2005. After suffering a severe heat stroke, working the typical 14-hour day in baking heat, I made the difficult decision to give up my coordinator position and badge. Age had actually made the decision for me...maybe spending my future vacations basking in the sun in a hammock on a nice beach might not be so bad. But that didn't happen.
In the midst of my disaster work, on December 31, 1999, I received a phone call from a kind, very outspoken man. He had heard of me and my work as coordinator for EARS and called me with desperation in his voice. "Can you help bring in a crew of volunteers to overhaul an abandoned shelter, packed full of dogs & cats, in bad shape?” This small, forgotten shelter in Granite City, IL had been abandoned by its shelter manager, leaving behind hundreds of dogs and cats to fend for themselves and he was the first to discover this horror. I could not turn my back on such an atrocity. Working with Bob Tillay (director of Dirk's Fund) and Tracy Quackenbush (director of Open Door Animal Sanctuary), and a handful of other wonderful people we rounded up as many volunteers as possible and began the horrifying, sad rehab of the sick, ill, cage-crazed animals. Dead animals were found in the freezer and all of the dogs had mange. Many were pacing back and forth or going in circles, un-socialized and desperate for food. The cage floors were covered with 6 inches of packed feces. The outside dogs had no doghouses or even covering over their heads, in the brutal, cold winter. Our work was most definitely cut out for us!
During the many weeks of the rescue mission - many, many volunteers spent long hours shoveling out feces & scrubbing down pens & cages, major socializing of near feral animals, vaccinating, dipping all the dogs multiple times for mange (skin condition induced by stress & malnutrition), spaying & neutering - I began to search in my mind for a way to find homes for this staggering number of severely mentally & physically damaged dogs that so desperately needed out of this dreadful environment. Then it came to me - An ADOPTATHON!! And since these dogs were sentenced to being locked up in cages , some up to 10 years, this adoptathon would be cage free!
And so the first adoptathon without cages began. I planned to have each dog assigned their very own volunteer handler for the day of the event at the park. What a concept! People thought I was crazy. “WHAT?”, they said? “There will be loose dogs running wild at the park and fighting for sure!” Oh how wrong the doubters were!
The "Pick-a-Pooch" adoptathon was set for April 29, 2000 on Saturday from noon to 4 at Creve Coeur Park in St Louis. Each dog was professionally groomed the day before the event by some amazing groomers who donated their time! Upon arrival at the park, as the crates were unloaded out of the transport trucks, each dog looked quite proud as they stepped out of their crates, wearing their bright yellow kerchief around their necks. Each pooch was greeted by their assigned volunteer handler, each wearing matching yellow t-shirts. The park was roped off and dogs relaxed at the park with their volunteer person, lying on the grass (many feeling the soft grass under their paws for the first time in years), enjoying the beautiful day. Not one bark nor dog feud. All 50 of the dogs went home with a loving family of their own on that wonderful day! Many happy tears were shed!
Several more "Pick-a-Pooch" events were held... all at Creve Coeur Park, and all wonderful for the pups! The next included all 3 no-kill shelters in the St. Louis Metro Area and the 3rd and very best was just for "Special Needs" dogs that were doomed to be shelter-lifers due to a flaw in their body or spirit...cat dislikers, must be the only dog-dogs, fearful dogs, senior dogs, duo dogs that had to stay together, and dogs with medical conditions. Each group had their own section of the park with signage so the perfectly matched family could easily find the pooches suitable for their situations. Many more tears flowed that happy day!
So, even though I swore to get in, clean up the shelter and be done, I could not stop helping Granite City APA dogs. The moment we emptied the shelter at the "Pick-a-Pooch" adoptathons, it was full of needy dogs soon thereafter. And so I began to hold monthly adoption events at local PetSmart stores. I learned a lot about finding good homes for dogs; prescreening, home visits, good contracts, etc.
Much I learned the very, very hard way. In 2001, a wonderful dog named Dusty paid the biggest price for MY mistake. His life. Dusty was a happy go lucky Dalmatian/lab mix with a lot of playful energy. What I THOUGHT was a good home turned out to be Dusty's worst nightmare...and mine as well. At a PetSmart adoption event, a woman came in (appeared to be normal) and adopted Dusty for her 3 sons and husband. The first giant animal rescue mistake I made: I didn't insist on meeting the entire family. Months later, Dusty was bludgeoned to death over the course of 3 long torturous hours, by the husband with a sledge hammer and a baseball bat while consuming a 6-pack of beer. From that painful moment that I was told that Dusty had been brutally murdered, my entire being was changed. Caution was now my motto.
So life in rescue continued as I cautiously kept helping place dogs and cats in loving homes, learning a lot with each adoption. In 2002 I was approached by a gentle, determined man, Richard Camp, who had a dream of hosting very large adoption events. He heard about my "Pick-a-Pooch" events and wondered if I might help organize a larger one. So began our team work organizing the Adopt-a-Stray adoptathons, the largest adoptathons in the USA back then. From A-Z, covering every base possible, 9 events were held during the course of 7 years, with over 700 wonderful volunteers and over 28 different rescue groups and shelters working together for one cause; to find loving homes for thousands of deserving dogs and cats.
In 2022, we founded Ferguson Animal Coalition, a 501c3 non-profit organization with the goal being to help keep dogs and cats in good homes and out of packed shelters. We provide lots of education and help with all sorts of challenges that the families are experiencing such as dogs that jump fences, trolley systems or temp fences for dogs without a fenced yard, dog and cat food, toys, beds, spays & neuters, behavior help for issues the home may be having with their pets.
Through the many years in rescue work, and with the wonderful hard and emotionally work of so many incredible volunteers and rescue groups, we as a community have helped thousands of dogs and cats by: rescuing & rehabbing them, finding loving homes, educating families about the commitment needed when bringing a new dog or cat home, helping dogs and cats stay in good homes once placed, and organizing large adoption events. We decided to develop this "Pawsitive Pooches" website to share our many years of accumulated experience in animal rescue, with the hopes that these tips, do's and don'ts and how-to's will help YOU succeed in your efforts to make a difference in the life of a dog or cat in need.
Dara Ashby has pulled together most of the content on this site. She has over three decades of experience with almost every facet of animal rescue. She was a key co-organizer for the large-scale Adopt-a-Stray mega adoptathons in the St. Louis Metro area from 2000-2007, an Emergency Animal Rescue Service Disaster Relief Coordinator for 12 years spent responding to federal disasters nationally, on the board of OpSPOT for 7 years helping develop low cost spay & neuter programs, and has regularly provided support and help to rescue organizations to find homes for difficult to place dogs, as well as to individual rescuers, and dogs and cats in need of help. And in 2022, founded the Ferguson Animal Coalition, a 501c3 non-profit organization with the mission to help keep dogs and cats off the streets and out of shelters and in good homes.
Here is Dara's story:
As long as I can remember, compassion for animals has been as much a part of me as breathing. Even stuffed animals - as a small child I remember always making sure that the stuffed animals displayed on shelves in toy stores were propped up and accompanied by a fellow stuffed animal to sit next to so as not be lonely. Because of this emotional connection to animals, I vowed never to step foot into an animal shelter. I feared the pain would be too deep. My vow lasted until 1993. That was 32 years ago.
In 1993 a devastating flood struck the Midwest. The swollen riverbeds of the Mississippi and Missouri rivers consumed thousands of homes and businesses. While watching the news, pleas for sandbaggers were constant. But when I heard the plea to help flood victims of the 4-footed type I knew I had to respond. The St Charles Humane Society was now the "disaster relief center" for the animals and they were desperate for volunteers. Going by heart and not by mind, I decided to help.
I drove straight to the shelter right from my job at UPS, to sign up. Walking into the old smelly building, a tiny animal shelter, I said "I am here to help". The workers looked at me standing there in my business suit and said "to make a donation, go to that desk". I immediately replied "No, I am here to help with rescue.” To my surprise, they immediately put me to work. I changed clothes and began the rescue training. Every day for the duration of the disaster I volunteered many hours wearing rubber waders, cruising the flooded river areas in a tiny john boat, in sweltering humid weather, plucking stranded animals from rooftops, trees, and attics. My "office" had become a small John boat with a propeller motor.
Several months later and many hours of literally blood and sweat, the disaster relief center was closing down. An experienced woman from California with United Animal Nations had been called in to help organize and take charge of the giant rescue operation that had quickly overwhelmed the small shelter. She called me aside while we were finalizing the rescue operation closing. She told me that she had been observing my work during the disaster efforts and asked if I would consider taking the position of disaster relief coordinator for a new program, EARS (Emergency Animal Rescue Service). EARS was being formed under the umbrella of United Animal Nations headquartered in Sacramento, California with the sole mission of deploying volunteer teams to areas devastated by Federal Disasters. I began training with E.A.R.S. in 1994 and was sent to my first disaster that same year.
For the next 12 years, I spent my vacations being deployed to Federal Disasters across the country, acting as Volunteer Coordinator for EARS. We set up disaster relief centers for mostly domestic animal disaster victims. These centers, much like the Red Cross for people, provided rescue, medical care, shelter, food, and emotional support for the displaced animals and people while helping families reunite with their beloved pets. Eventually there were about 20 coordinators, as the organization grew. I was assigned a tan vest with a lot of pockets and a shiny official badge that I wore proudly, which permitted us to enter restricted areas that were struck by disasters. Organizing rescue operations and coordinating hundreds of volunteers to safely and efficiently save as many displaced domesticate animals as possible was my mission. With each disaster I would pack my backpack with my bare necessities, invaluable pocket knife, waders, map and sleeping bag, hop on a plane, rent an SUV and head to the appointed location of the disaster relief center, not knowing if we would have the luxuries of electricity or water, and hoping for at least an army cot and tent. It was amazingly fulfilling and also a time of much personal growth for me, helping to develop an inner strength that I didn’t know I possessed.
The final disaster I worked at was Hurricane Katrina in Slidell, Louisiana, August, 2005. After suffering a severe heat stroke, working the typical 14-hour day in baking heat, I made the difficult decision to give up my coordinator position and badge. Age had actually made the decision for me...maybe spending my future vacations basking in the sun in a hammock on a nice beach might not be so bad. But that didn't happen.
In the midst of my disaster work, on December 31, 1999, I received a phone call from a kind, very outspoken man. He had heard of me and my work as coordinator for EARS and called me with desperation in his voice. "Can you help bring in a crew of volunteers to overhaul an abandoned shelter, packed full of dogs & cats, in bad shape?” This small, forgotten shelter in Granite City, IL had been abandoned by its shelter manager, leaving behind hundreds of dogs and cats to fend for themselves and he was the first to discover this horror. I could not turn my back on such an atrocity. Working with Bob Tillay (director of Dirk's Fund) and Tracy Quackenbush (director of Open Door Animal Sanctuary), and a handful of other wonderful people we rounded up as many volunteers as possible and began the horrifying, sad rehab of the sick, ill, cage-crazed animals. Dead animals were found in the freezer and all of the dogs had mange. Many were pacing back and forth or going in circles, un-socialized and desperate for food. The cage floors were covered with 6 inches of packed feces. The outside dogs had no doghouses or even covering over their heads, in the brutal, cold winter. Our work was most definitely cut out for us!
During the many weeks of the rescue mission - many, many volunteers spent long hours shoveling out feces & scrubbing down pens & cages, major socializing of near feral animals, vaccinating, dipping all the dogs multiple times for mange (skin condition induced by stress & malnutrition), spaying & neutering - I began to search in my mind for a way to find homes for this staggering number of severely mentally & physically damaged dogs that so desperately needed out of this dreadful environment. Then it came to me - An ADOPTATHON!! And since these dogs were sentenced to being locked up in cages , some up to 10 years, this adoptathon would be cage free!
And so the first adoptathon without cages began. I planned to have each dog assigned their very own volunteer handler for the day of the event at the park. What a concept! People thought I was crazy. “WHAT?”, they said? “There will be loose dogs running wild at the park and fighting for sure!” Oh how wrong the doubters were!
The "Pick-a-Pooch" adoptathon was set for April 29, 2000 on Saturday from noon to 4 at Creve Coeur Park in St Louis. Each dog was professionally groomed the day before the event by some amazing groomers who donated their time! Upon arrival at the park, as the crates were unloaded out of the transport trucks, each dog looked quite proud as they stepped out of their crates, wearing their bright yellow kerchief around their necks. Each pooch was greeted by their assigned volunteer handler, each wearing matching yellow t-shirts. The park was roped off and dogs relaxed at the park with their volunteer person, lying on the grass (many feeling the soft grass under their paws for the first time in years), enjoying the beautiful day. Not one bark nor dog feud. All 50 of the dogs went home with a loving family of their own on that wonderful day! Many happy tears were shed!
Several more "Pick-a-Pooch" events were held... all at Creve Coeur Park, and all wonderful for the pups! The next included all 3 no-kill shelters in the St. Louis Metro Area and the 3rd and very best was just for "Special Needs" dogs that were doomed to be shelter-lifers due to a flaw in their body or spirit...cat dislikers, must be the only dog-dogs, fearful dogs, senior dogs, duo dogs that had to stay together, and dogs with medical conditions. Each group had their own section of the park with signage so the perfectly matched family could easily find the pooches suitable for their situations. Many more tears flowed that happy day!
So, even though I swore to get in, clean up the shelter and be done, I could not stop helping Granite City APA dogs. The moment we emptied the shelter at the "Pick-a-Pooch" adoptathons, it was full of needy dogs soon thereafter. And so I began to hold monthly adoption events at local PetSmart stores. I learned a lot about finding good homes for dogs; prescreening, home visits, good contracts, etc.
Much I learned the very, very hard way. In 2001, a wonderful dog named Dusty paid the biggest price for MY mistake. His life. Dusty was a happy go lucky Dalmatian/lab mix with a lot of playful energy. What I THOUGHT was a good home turned out to be Dusty's worst nightmare...and mine as well. At a PetSmart adoption event, a woman came in (appeared to be normal) and adopted Dusty for her 3 sons and husband. The first giant animal rescue mistake I made: I didn't insist on meeting the entire family. Months later, Dusty was bludgeoned to death over the course of 3 long torturous hours, by the husband with a sledge hammer and a baseball bat while consuming a 6-pack of beer. From that painful moment that I was told that Dusty had been brutally murdered, my entire being was changed. Caution was now my motto.
So life in rescue continued as I cautiously kept helping place dogs and cats in loving homes, learning a lot with each adoption. In 2002 I was approached by a gentle, determined man, Richard Camp, who had a dream of hosting very large adoption events. He heard about my "Pick-a-Pooch" events and wondered if I might help organize a larger one. So began our team work organizing the Adopt-a-Stray adoptathons, the largest adoptathons in the USA back then. From A-Z, covering every base possible, 9 events were held during the course of 7 years, with over 700 wonderful volunteers and over 28 different rescue groups and shelters working together for one cause; to find loving homes for thousands of deserving dogs and cats.
In 2022, we founded Ferguson Animal Coalition, a 501c3 non-profit organization with the goal being to help keep dogs and cats in good homes and out of packed shelters. We provide lots of education and help with all sorts of challenges that the families are experiencing such as dogs that jump fences, trolley systems or temp fences for dogs without a fenced yard, dog and cat food, toys, beds, spays & neuters, behavior help for issues the home may be having with their pets.
Through the many years in rescue work, and with the wonderful hard and emotionally work of so many incredible volunteers and rescue groups, we as a community have helped thousands of dogs and cats by: rescuing & rehabbing them, finding loving homes, educating families about the commitment needed when bringing a new dog or cat home, helping dogs and cats stay in good homes once placed, and organizing large adoption events. We decided to develop this "Pawsitive Pooches" website to share our many years of accumulated experience in animal rescue, with the hopes that these tips, do's and don'ts and how-to's will help YOU succeed in your efforts to make a difference in the life of a dog or cat in need.
