Homeward Bound Dog Rescue of Minnesota

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How can I Help?

Matching Gifts
Foster a dog, puppy, kitten or cat temporarily!
Sponsor a cat or a dog
Wish List
Purchase Items from iGive.com
Fund Raisers
Volunteer
Support Companies that Donate to Homeward Bound!
Spread the Word

Homeward Bound is a non-profit, 501(c) 3-tax exempt, dog rescue and placement organization based in Minnesota (see http://apps.irs.gov/app/pub78). We receive no government support and depend solely on adoption fees and donations to operate. Because we are a nonprofit organization, your gift may be tax deductible! For details, please check with your tax advisor or see http://www.irs.gov/publications/p526/index.html.

Here at Homeward Bound, we have a space in our hearts for everyone of every breed/mix, size, age, health, etc. Because of this, we have extremely high vet bills, particularly for the special needs dogs. Please - any monetary donations that you can contribute to Homeward Bound will be greatly appreciated and will help us to continue to rescue animals in need. Please send donations to Homeward Bound at: PO Box 1056, Monticello, MN 55362. Donated money will help pay for vet bills for all of the animals we rescue, including spaying and neutering costs, vaccinations, dentals (if needed), surgeries (if needed), and Heartworm treatment (if needed). Please help us to continue to rescue dogs and cats in need! If you would like to make a donation to help these dogs in need, please donate via our printable online form or in person at one of our pet adoptions. Thanks!

MATCHING GIFTS -- Your gift could be matched dollar for dollar! Many Minnesota companies and foundations are currently matching their employees' gifts to non-profit organizations such as Homeward Bound Rescue. Through corporate matching gift programs, cash gifts from a company's eligible employees are matched with company or corporate foundation funds. It all adds up to a great way to increase your contributions and receive more benefits at no additional cost to you! If you have questions about your company's matching gift program, please contact your human resources department. Once you have determined that your company matches donations made to Homeward Bound; please obtain the appropriate form from your human resources office, complete the entire donor portion of the form, and send it with a copy of your gift receipt (if available) to the address below:

Homeward Bound Rescue Gift Match
c/o S. Besaw
5725 47th Ave N
Crystal, MN 55422

If you have any questions, please email Sherri at sweeperjunkies@comcast.net.

FOSTER A DOG, PUPPY, KITTEN, OR CAT TEMPORARILY!
We are forced to turn away homeless and abandoned dogs and cats because we do not have enough people willing to foster animals in their houses. Fostering is an involved process... you have to commit to keeping the dog indoors as part of the family, bringing the dog to all Saturday pet adoptions by 11, returning it to us if it needs vet care (they have all been vetted already, but in case of emergency), leaving a "security deposit" check, filling out a foster home agreement, and giving the scared dogs time, love, and attention. This can be anywhere from 1 week to several weeks. However, you are repaid by the knowledge that you have prepared a dog to be adopted into a loving home. It is helping save an animal, and the sense of accomplishment you feel is rewarding. We are ALWAYS in need of puppy foster homes. We have a whole page devoted to foster care information which will answer the questions we are most often asked about being a foster parent.

SPONSORING A HOMEWARD BOUND DOG OR CAT!

$4-15 will provide a fun toy or toys.
$10+ will provide a bag of tasty rawhide bones.
$15-75 will provide a trip to the groomers (price depends on the size of the dog and the how extreme the cases are). We can't afford to bring dogs to the groomers except in the most extreme cases, such as dogs rescued from puppy mills or some pounds, and boy do those dogs look happy and proud after their filthy, matted coats are shaved down!
$18 will provide a heartworm/lymes disease test
$35-45 will provide vaccinations for dogs over the age of 6 months (Rabies, Distemper Hepatitis, Parainfluenza, ParvoVirus, & CoronaVirus)
$45 will feed roughly one dog for 1-2 weeks, depending on the size of the dog as well as how thin s/he is (malnourished dogs must eat a lot of food to gain that much needed weight)
$150+ (weight of dog enters into the cost) will cover the basic neutering costs & $165+ will help pay for one spay.
$100-$150 will pay for one large wire kennel.
$350+ will pay for one heartworm treatment.

Homeward Bound is starting a sponsorship program! Are you looking to help out a dog in our program, but don't think you can open your home or don't have the time to give to a dog? Well, sponsoring a dog just might be what you are looking for. Knowing that your funds are going to a certain dog to help with a spay/neuter, heartworm treatment, shots, surgery, or daily upkeep is especially rewarding and is very much appreciated. To sponsor a dog, just send in your donation, make note of which dog(s) you are interested in sponsoring, if there is anyone you'd like the sponsor in honor of, if you want your name to appear on our web site, or if you wish to remain anonymous. It's as simple as that! If you have any questions, you can email Jackie at jackiesinger@comcast.net. You may send tax-deductible donations to P.O. Box 1802, Maple Grove, MN 55311.

WISH LIST!

We are always in need of dog and cat supplies! Our current WISH LIST is listed below. The best place to drop donations off is at one of our pet adoptions. Garage sales/ thrift stores are always great places to get most of them items from so the next time you see dog/cat stuff please keep us in mind!

For our DOGS, we need:

Blankets, comforters, sleeping bags, heavy bedspreads, towels, & baby blankets!!! The crates are uncomfortable and lonesome without blankets to line them, not only at their foster homes, but also for the crates in the vans we use to transport the dogs, and at pet adoptions.
Bones / Rawhides!! This is the number one request from the dogs! You can buy rawhides in bulk at www.shop.rawhidedistributors.com/. They can also be found at Petco, Petsmart, Target, Mills Fleet Farm, Walmart, Pet Supplies Plus, Chuck and Don's, Costco, Menards, Sam's Club, etc.
Brushes and other grooming supplies. We always need shedding blades, nail clippers, and good quality grooming clippers/scissors.
Collars - all sizes, though medium sized collars are needed most often!
Dog Beds
Dog Crates (wire). The Midwest brand is our favorite since those are durable. We also use Petmate and Precision kennels, although we are happy with any brand so long as it is collapsible and folds flat.
Dog Food - IAMS^® (preferably containing chicken) or any brand recommended on our What cat or dog food do you recommend? page
Dog Leashes, preferably 6 ft. or longer (leather or nylon) with bolt snaps as opposed to spring snaps (which often open while the dog is on the leash). Our absolute favorite bolt snap leashes can be found at www.petco.com/Shop/Product.aspx?familyid=6316. We always, always, always need dog leashes!
Dog Sweaters!, All sizes, especially those for Beagle-sized dogs!
Dog Toys! The dogs particularly LOVE playing with Kongs, tennis balls, & other non-destructible toys!
Gas Cards! - we have to drive long distances to the pet adoptions every week, not to mention transports.
Gift Cards to Petco or other pet supply stores
Igloo Dog Houses!! - Homeward Bound does house all the dogs indoors, but during the day some of the dogs like to hang out in the yard during playtime. We are asking for large and medium sized Igloo doghouses for a variety of reasons.... 1) we donate them to people who need housing for their pets and come to us for help. 2) we use them ourselves so new dogs who are shyer have a "hide away" at their foster homes during outside times. 3) the dogs enjoy having them in their play areas to climb on and go into. Please keep your eyes open for slightly used houses at garage sales or from friends, we can always use dog house donations! In stores Igloo houses tend to cost $65 for the tiny ones and $150+ for large ones. We can only take plastic dog houses - the wooden ones tend to harbor fleas and other parasites.
Newspapers (some of our puppy foster homes use newspaper instead of puppy pads)
Puppy Pads (puppy potty training pads)
Rugs We use these to line the crates.
Shampoo
Laundry detergent (I know this seems strange but we go through so much laundry detergent! Just imagine just many dog blankets we have to wash each week!)
Printer Ink - We go through 2-3 ink cartridges a week!
Tie Outs/Cables with vinyl coating.

For our CATS, we need:

Brushes
Cat Beds
Cat Carriers for small to medium sized cats
Cat Climbing Trees
Cat Food, dry or canned. Science Diet food or any brand recommended on our What cat or dog food do you recommend? page are greatly appreciated.
Cat Treats
Cat Litter
Cat Toys
Collars
Gift Cards to Petco or other pet supply stores
Litter Boxes
Window Beds!

= badly needed items

PURCHASE ITEMS FROM IGIVE.COM!
Save Gas. Save Time. Raise Money! With over 700 stores in the iGive Mall and access to hundreds of exclusive coupons, free shipping deals, and sales, iGive is the smart way to shop. You'll find everything from daily necessities to special occasion and holiday gifts, at stores you know and love. So save a trip to the mall, and avoid the long lines. You'll never pay more when you reach a store through iGive, and up to 26% of each purchase benefits Homeward Bound Rescue! Start iGiving at www.iGive.com/HBRescue. Shopping Budget Down the Drain? You can raise money every time you search the web, at http://isearch.igive.com/ . Make it your homepage and use it to find everything from news on the economy, to mood-lifting jokes (we recommend the latter). Homeward Bound Rescue gets a penny (or more!) every time you search. Believe it or not, it adds up quickly and best of all, it costs you NOTHING! Start iGiving at http://isearch.igive. com/index.cfm?b=7501.

FUND RAISERS DATES/ACTIVITIES: MALL OF AMERICA SUPER SAVINGS BOOK: Are you a fan of the Mall of America? Do you like to save money? If so, we've got just the thing for you! We are selling Super Savings Books for the Mall of America for only $7.00. These books have coupons in them for numerous stores, restaurants, and entertainment. All proceeds will go directly to Homeward Bound. If you have questions are/or would like to purchase a booklet, please call Cheri at 612-759-8982.

YAPPY HOUR: On Monday, July 5th from 4-7pm there will be a pup-focused 'Yappy Hour' at Pairings Food and Wine Market located at 6001 Shady Oak Road, Minnetonka, MN 55343. You are invited to bring dogs (leashed) and eat/drink on the patio. If you donate to Homeward Bound (either a physical item or monetary), they will offer discounted beer/wine for pairings. Bone Adventure will also give you a coupon if you donate to Homeward Bound. If you have questions, please call Cheri at 612 - 759 - 8982.

SARAH BETH PHOTOGRAPHY: Homeward Bound has been selected as the Rescue of the Month, which means that throughout the month of July, www.sarahbethphotography.com will donated 10% of all pet session fees to Homeward Bound. If you've adopted from Homeward Bound, you'll get 50% off your session during July. If you've adopted from Any rescue, you always get 20% off your session.

'PAWS ON GRAND' - AUG 1ST: On Sunday, August 1st we'll be having a mini adoption at the Frattallone's Ace Hardware located in St. Paul on 1676 Grand from 12-4. Everyone adopting that day gets a $50 gift card from Mike Frattallone! On the same day, we'll be having a warm water dog wash held at a different Frattallone's location - the Summit Hill store is located at 650 Grand Ave in St. Paul. If you have questions, please call Cheri at 612-759-8982.

YAPPY HOUR - AUGUST 2ND: On Monday, August 2nd from 4-7 pm there will be a pup-focused 'Yappy Hour' at Pairings Food and Wine Market located at 6001 Shady Oak Road, Minnetonka, MN 55343. You are invited to bring dogs (leashed) and eat/drink on the patio. If you donate to Homeward Bound (either a physical item or monetary), they will offer discounted beer/wine for pairings. Bone Adventure will also give you a coupon if you donate to Homeward Bound. If you have questions, please call Cheri at 612 - 759 - 8982.

PROEX On Sunday, August 8th from 10-3 we-ll be having a mini pet adoption at the Eden Prairie Proex Portrait Studio. It is located at 574 Eden Center Drive, Ste 100 Eden Prairie. If you bring a bag of of food, a $50 sitting fee is complimentary, so all you have to pay for are the prints! If you have questions, please call Cheri at 612 - 759 - 8982. Read about other fundraisers...

MOA WISHING WELL - AUGUST: Thank you MOA (Mall of America) for selecting Homeward Bound to receive proceeds from the wishing well for the whole month of August! If you have questions, please call Cheri at 612 - 759 - 8982.

BORDERS BENEFIT DAYS - AUGUST 14 - 15TH: Do you like to read? If so, start compiling your wish list of books because on August 14-15th, Borders/Waldenbooks has provided us with a valuable voucher to benefit Homeward Bound. A percentage of the net sales raised from this coupon will be donated to Homeward Bound. We'll post the voucher on the site shortly. In the meantime, get those lists started! And thank you Borders! If you have questions, please call Cheri at 612 - 759 - 8982.

2ND ANNUAL WAGGALOT DOG LOVER'S WEEKEND: GUNFLINT LODGE: When - October 7 - 10, 2010. Where: 143 S. Gunflint Lake Grand Marais, MN 55604. 1-800-328-3325. Register at: www.gunflint.com $395 per person which includes luxury cabin accommodations for you and your dog, meals and activities. $50 per person that attends will be donated to Homeward Bound Dog Rescue of Minnesota. The weekend includes: Dog Training, Tracking & TTouch, Canine Olympics - Up North Style On Site Photographer, Hikes & Socials with Your Dog, Dog Treat Baking Class, and Doggie Gift Baskets in All Cabins. You and your dogs will have a tail waggin' good time!

BECOME A VOLUNTEER:
Help us in the areas of your interest! We are always in need of people 18 years old or older who are willing to help walk or care for the dogs on Saturdays, especially in the summer. We also need volunteers to help our at our fund raising events (listed above). Due to insurance reasons, we cannot allow children under the age of 18 to volunteer at adoptions. Kids of foster parents are allowed to help out once their parents have been volunteering with us for quite some time, but only if the kids are ages 14 and up and are strong enough to handle large, bouncy dogs. All volunteers must sign a volunteer agreement and waiver (which basically says I understand that this is at my own risk and I hereby forever release, discharge and agree to hold harmless and indemnify Homeward Bound from all claims, demands, actions, causes of action or liability of any kind whatsoever arising as a result of doing volunteer work with Homeward Bound). When you first start volunteering with Homeward Bound, it is probably best to come to the adoption sometime after 12:00 or so since adoptions are always pretty chaotic once the adoptions begin at 11:30! Once you've been volunteering with us for awhile, please, please, please either help us carry in/set up all of the crates or take down the crates. We also need people to help us clean up after adoption events (not very fun, we know, but needs to be done!). Most core volunteers are at adoptions from 10:15-5:30. If you can't stay that long we certainly understand and are happy for any and all help that comes our way. As we said adoptions tend to be chaotic (in a fun way though) and a bit overwhelming at first but once you get used to it they are fun, fun, fun! Feel free to ask adult volunteers if you ever have any questions or are wondering what you can do to help. We apologize in advance if we forget to thank you at the end of the day (it gets busy at the end of the day when we are trying to load the dogs, finish up paperwork, take down the crates, etc)! Know though that we very much do appreciate your help. The dogs do too! You may email Sherri at sweeperjunkies@comcast.net with questions about volunteering with Homeward Bound.

SUPPORT COMPANIES THAT DONATE TO HOMEWARD BOUND!
Maggie's Light Pet candles by Nelli Designs: Maggie's Light Pet Candles are a thoughtful and clever way to honor pets in life and in death. They are available in 2 sizes (12.5 and 21 ounces) and the candles come with a choice of leather, suede or hair-on-hide calf collars, and with tags. These candles were recently featured in the Star Tribune - read the article at www.startribune.com/ lifestyle/homegarden/50726557. html?elr=KArks7PYDi. Homeward Bound receives a dollar for every candle that is sold.

Much More Than Me: Help raise awareness and donations for our rescue by purchasing t-shirts from http://muchmorethanme.com/. Much More Than Me is a T-Shirt company that reinforces the concept of less focus on the self, and more emphasis on giving back, compassion, and acts of kindness to others. As part of this overall concept, they have created shirts that promote education about dogs in rescue. 10% of each sale will go towards Homeward Bound. While you are there, be sure to look at Underdogs: Valuable Information and Stories of Transformation by Caryn Casey - it some of the stories are about Homeward Bound dogs! (The book is also available to order at Barnes and Noble and Amazon), but if you purchase it through muchmorethanme.com, a portion of proceeds on the sale of each book will go to rescues and shelters nationwide.

Hand Drawn and Custom Stationary from Doodlebug Press:
Want to send out an announcement about your new family member? Order cards from Doodlebug press and support Homeward Bound Rescue at the same time! Doodlebug Press was started in 2003 by Sharon Bittner in Shakopee, Minnesota and offers an assortment of creative, original, and affordable announcements and invitations. Just log onto www.doodlebugpress.com and find just the card you are looking for. Sharon does custom work too! When you are checking out at Doodlebug Press, be sure to use the promo code: HB_PROMO. With the promo code Doodlebug press will give you a 5% discount off of your total purchase and donate another 5% to Homeward Bound!

SPREAD THE WORD!
Let other people know about our organization, especially if they are wishing to adopt or foster a pet! Also, inform people about why it is crucial to spay/neuter all pets. There are thousands of cats and dogs in Minnesota alone that are euthanized each year because no one has room for them.