Citing Oregon companion animals ‘crisis,’ Fences for Fido races to meet demand for services, turns to paid workers

PORTLAND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- With Oregon animal shelters and rescues filled to capacity, a regional housing shortage and challenges for low-income families trying to access veterinary care, Portland-based nonprofit Fences For Fido says it's racing to meet unprecedented demand for its services. 

The organization, which typically builds 100 fences a year to improve the quality of life for dogs that spend most or all of their time on chains or in small enclosures, has 63 families approved and awaiting fences. Another 70 new applications—most of them likely to meet the nonprofit’s criteria for a fence—are awaiting review, and more applications stream in at a rate of 2-6 a day.

So far this year, volunteers have unchained 219 dogs and delivered 175 dog houses. Requests for pet food and veterinary assistance also are more numerous than at any other time in the charity’s 14-year existence.

And it’s not just the number of cases that’s challenging an organization operated by an all-volunteer field team.  The cases are urgent, with dogs chained most or all of the time, and with other challenges such as inadequate shelter from the weather or deferred veterinary care for everything from skin rashes to injuries.

“These are all urgent cases,” said Mia Bonadonna, who reviews the applications submitted by families or neighbors hoping to see the dogs’ care improved. “Sometimes I read an application and I have to just stop and take a few breaths. These dogs need help.”

How to provide that help, across a region that stretches from the Willamette Valley to Shelton, WA, and from Lincoln County to Bend and the Warm Springs Reservation, is what the nonprofit’s leaders are trying to figure out.

“Cold weather is coming soon. When we learn about a new case, the first thing we do is deliver a dog house,” says co-founder and board chair Kelly Peterson. “Especially in the colder regions of our area, that shelter is life-saving.”

While working to meet the need for dog houses, securing veterinary care is another challenge, in a region where veterinary clinics are often booked six weeks out. Peterson says Fences For Fido has to triage the cases, finding appointments for the most urgent ones first, and continually seeking out veterinarians willing to add Fences For Fido dogs to their already-full calendars.

Fences For Fido’s outreach volunteers, who work directly with the families seeking help for their dogs, say their clients face multiple hardships, with the housing crunch being most significant. Often dogs are chained outdoors because the family is living with relatives or in other temporary housing.

“We see more households with several generations living under the roof,” says Peterson, who also does client outreach.

With the proliferation of transitional housing services such as safe-park lots where families live in their vehicles while receiving services to secure housing, Fences For Fido also fields requests to build fenced enclosures so clients’ dogs have occasional respite from being tethered or confined inside a car for long periods of time.

While unchaining 3,500 dogs in a decade and a half, Fences For Fido volunteers have streamlined their process. A handful of volunteers with ten chain-link fence panels can create a safe fenced area in a couple of hours. But, with a sudden spike in fence requests resulting in 63 fences on the waiting list, the organization's volunteers can't complete the needed fences before the end of the year and the onset of harsher winter weather.

Having always relied on volunteer fence-builders who devote their Saturdays to building fences, Fences For Fido is turning to paid workers who can erect fences and deliver dog houses on weekdays for the most urgent cases. Options that could deliver needed help at a faster pace all translate to higher costs for the nonprofit. 

“Oregon is facing a crisis with our companion animals, and Fences For Fido is determined to help every dog who needs us,” says board co-chair Patti Loverink. “We are the only unchaining organization in the Pacific Northwest. With services including veterinary care, pet food assistance, and spay/neuter services, we’re unique in providing this breadth of services for animals in need, working to keep families and pets together when life gets hard. If we don’t do it, where else will these families turn?”

Donations can be made at www.fencesforfido.org/donate.

__________________________________________________________

Fences For Fido is a 501c3 nonprofit organization founded in 2009 with a mission to free dogs from chains by giving them fenced yards at no cost to their families. The organization has unchained 3,500 dogs, and every dog is provided with a dog house, spay/neuter, supplemental pet food, and critical veterinary care. The charity serves Oregon and SW Washington communities, including seven tribal reservations. Fences For Fido is the only animal welfare organization authorized by the tribal council to provide companion animal services on the Warm Springs Reservation. There, the organization provides 17,000 pounds of supplemental pet food per month and coordinates with other animal welfare organizations to provide services to dogs and cats living on the reservation.

The organization relies on donations and volunteers. In a typical year, 150 unique volunteers devote 140,000 hours and build approximately 100 fences, with the demand significantly increasing.