NEBRASKAland Magazine is dedicated to outstanding photography and informative writing with an engaging mix of articles and photos highlighting Nebraska’s outdoor activities, parklands, wildlife, history and people.
Issue link: http://mag.outdoornebraska.gov/i/604047
DECEMBER 2015 • NEBRASKAland 49 reputation as high-energy dogs and their personalities can also make them difficult to place. "A lot of times the pointer breed will be really susceptible to what we call kennel shock," Ford said. "They start to lose weight or become depressed, and they don't show well. "They're such social dogs, and if they're not getting all of that exercise and attention they need, they start to deteriorate and then people really won't take a look at them. I try to swoop in there and get them out of there and bring out their best again." Of the 70 to 80 million dogs owned as pets in the U.S., an estimated 3.9 million enter animal shelters each year. While most are reunited with their owners or adopted, about one-third are euthanized. That number is declining thanks to groups like the Great Plains Pointer Rescue, which takes pointers from shelters in Minnesota, Iowa and Nebraska and sends them to one of more than 20 volunteers who give dogs a foster home until a permanent home can be found. Nearly every breed of dog has a similar network of local and regional rescue groups, and other no-kill shelters serve any breed. Conaway has fostered six dogs for the rescue during the past two years. He admits he's almost "foster failed" each time. That's the term coined for those who adopt dogs they are fostering. He and Dana get attached to the dogs and it's hard to let them go, more so for his 11- and 12-year-old children. But if they chose to keep a dog, they wouldn't have room to foster any more, and that would leave the rescue short of a home it needs. "When you meet the families that adopt these dogs, it makes it easier," Conaway said. They keep in touch with the new owners, and Conaway is always happy when they send photos of the dogs after a successful bird hunt. "Yep, if someone just gave them a chance they'd have a heck of a hunting dog," he said. There are no guarantees a hunting breed adopted from a shelter or rescue will hunt. But the same holds true for a puppy from a well-bred hunting line. Ford admits that some simply don't have the nose or the desire to hunt. When situations allow, however, Ford asks volunteers like Conaway to take dogs to the field and see if they have the ability and desire to hunt. "If they do want to hunt, we find them a hunting home because that's where they'll be happy," she said. For the rest of the dogs, Ford looks for people with a sense of humor and energy required to own a shorthair or English pointer, and also a home where the dog will live indoors and be part of the family. "We're just another option for people to look at," he said. "There are some dogs out there that have already been trained to do what you want. They're great dogs, they're already house trained ... they've got everything under their belt." Not bad for leftovers. ■ Sadie works through the grass in search of pheasants with Conaway and Bobby Nelson on a tract of land enrolled in the U.S.D.A. Conservation Reserve Program and the Commission's Open Fields And Waters Program near Lincoln.