From WXXI news.

This is connections.

I'm Julie Phillip filling in for Evan Dawson.

Our connection this hour was made at Lollypop Farm and the approximately 4000 other animal shelters across the nation.

Some say they've reached a breaking point.

When you consider that about 3000 kittens and puppies are born every hour in the U.S., compared to 415 human babies?

The reason seems obvious there will never be enough people to provide a home for every pet, but animal shelters have long been working hard to place as many unwanted or stray dogs, cats, and other animals as they can.

Unfortunately, that job is getting much harder for a lot of reasons that have nothing to do with the reproductive cycle.

They're facing increasing cost, staffing issues, a shortage of veterinarians, and a host of other challenges.

Well, at the same time, the number of animals coming into the nation's shelters has been higher than the number going out for the past several years.

And new data from shelter animals count shows a subtle change in where these animals are coming from.

That could spell even more trouble down the road.

Here to talk about all of this, I am joined by Vicky Pape, Lollipop Farm director of animal placement, Wendy Weisberg, founder of Second Hand Dog Rescue.

And because dogs and cats are not the only animals in need of homes, Jennifer Lilly from the Begin Again Horse Rescue in Lima, an agency she founded there is here as well.

Thank you all so much for joining me this this afternoon.

Thank you.

I would like to start with you, Vicki, the current state of affairs at Lollipop Farm.

How does it compare to the other shelters around the nation?

Would you say you're at a breaking point?

Yeah, I would say we're close to a breaking point.

This year alone, we've taken over 150 more dogs than we've taken, last year.

And we are booking out our non-emergency appointments all the way to November.

So we are just inundated with animals that need our help and people, because with every animal, there's a person who goes a. Long way and we will get we will get into that.

So everywhere I go and I have one as well, you hear he is a rescue.

She's a what kind of dog is that, a rescue?

I don't really know what this dog is.

It's a rescue.

You hear that everywhere.

So I'd like to ask, Wendy and then Jennifer, you know what your rescue organization does.

And also, are you also at capacity?

Start with you, Wendy.

So we take care dogs because we are dog rescue.

Although we have helped other species of animals, but for the most part, it's dogs.

We have, found that, the calls to surrender are just constant.

It's never end date.

I get phone calls in the middle of the night asking if I could help, take care of the animal.

And the majority of calls recently have been that just.

I would need to surrender my dog.

But I need to surrender my dog because.

We're going to get into the reasons.

Are are you at capacity?

Do you have enough fosters to handle every call, or are you saying no?

We are saying no across the board.

For large animals, we know we need more fosters.

It can take large dogs.

Okay, we're going to get into that too.

Jennifer horses is a are there changes now with horses as well?

I don't know how long you've been doing this, but are you at capacity?

We are, beginning at Horse Rescue started in 2009.

So we've been at it for quite a while, and we are actually over capacity.

And, we try to stay at a certain level, but we do have overflow capabilities for emergency situations.

And that has been, repeatedly happening this year.

We keep a waiting list of horses are of horses that are waiting to come in, that are non emergent but are definitely need our help.

And we have I can say that we have not been able to intake any horses off of the waiting list, for at least the last four months, because we've had a continuous stream of emergency intakes.

And you can't send them out for fast, do you foster as well?

I know dogs, and.

And it's a lot more difficult to foster horses just because of the expense and the space and, that, you know, is required for a horse.

So it's more difficult for a horse home to extend for a short term foster.

Okay.

So and honestly, a short term foster becomes a long term foster because if we don't have room to bring them in after 2 or 3 months, then, you know, then it's it's a lot more commitment for those fosters to take on, on the expense and everything of the of a horse.

Okay.

All right.

So Wendy brought this up the surrendering.

You know, giving up a pet is not something people most people anyway take lightly.

According to the Canadian Veterinary Journal, even if people are facing, you know, a financial hardship, most pet owners would cut back on all kinds of other expenses first, including their own groceries, before giving up their pet.

But in the most recent shelter Animals Count report from the ASPCA, there was a slight uptick in the percentage of pets being surrendered by their owners in 2025.

Without getting too much into the reasons yet, are you often seeing a lot of an increase in surrenders at lollipops?

Yeah.

So, we see an increase in requests for surrenders.

Last year we had over over 3000 requests for dogs alone.

7000 for animals in general.

So huge amount of requests.

But, we also see strays that are coming in, we see our law enforcement dogs that come in through our law enforcement team and the work that they do.

So it's not just owners that is putting this strain, right?

Right.

There's a lot of other reasons, but that that's the one where they kind of everything else is sort of holding steady.

They're still coming in from all those other sources, which I'll get into.

But they did recognize an increase in owner surrenders.

So I wanted to talk about that a little bit.

First.

What are the reasons, Wendy, what what are some of the stories you're hearing?

Well, we've had people always call and say, you've never heard this before, but yes, we have.

We certainly have heard that people's, houses change, covers change their ability to care for an animal.

And they accidentally got pregnant, and, they have a litter of puppies that are now six months old.

And, they need to get them out of their home that people have, are just FYI, that they're homeless, that they have no place to live with their animals.

They've they're living out of their cars or living in tents, and they have animals that they love, but they cannot possibly continue to care for.

And, there's also an uptick of, the same thing with, lollipop as we see the cruelty situations.

There have been so many dogs that are, emaciated, and in horrible conditions and medically just completely unstable that are just being dumped on the streets because people are trying to find a place for them to go, and they can't find a place for them to go.

So there, the story, and, we've, we've had dogs that, are left.

They look like walking skeletons.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Right.

And I know, some of the horses coming to you, too, I would imagine, given the economy, you know, people are struggling to pay for groceries, fill up their gas tank, that taking care of a horse is a real challenge.

Are you seeing a lot more people struggling?

Economically, bringing you animals that they just can't afford to give proper care to?

Absolutely.

I think that that's the number one reason why people ask us to take in, to surrender their horses is, because they can't afford them anymore.

You know, besides just the regular of, you know, veterinary care that's always expensive for horses.

But while groceries have gone up, so has feed and so has hay, and everything costs more.

And so what they may have budgeted, you know, five or 6 or 10 years ago when they got this horse and no longer is feasible.

It's it's not even reasonable.

It's it's like doubled.

So, we have definitely the economic factor.

And then people that do, need to move their horses from there if they move from their homes, they lose their homes, they're moving their homes, and they suddenly have to board their horse boarding costs because of the cost of maintaining a farm and a herd of horses, boarding costs have gone through the roof and they can't say I. I've always been able to afford my horse at home, but I can't afford to board it out.

And so the same challenges you're facing running, you run your own farms, plus you have the rescue organization.

You know, a lot of horse owners are facing the exact same issues.

So, we we heard, you know, after Covid that all the pandemic pets would start, come flooding, you know, flooding back in and and initially, that did not happen.

The statistics don't back that up that, you know, 2122 there was suddenly a flood of pandemic pets coming back in is that has that changed?

Are you seeing any impact from the Covid pandemic pet craze?

No, I wouldn't say that it's related to the pandemic.

Necessarily.

I think our our number, what has moved into the number one spot, for the reason animals come in is housing as we've sort of already mentioned here.

It's not necessarily in relation to I adopted this pet during the pandemic.

And now, you know, something has changed.

It's just across the board, with housing, people facing housing insecurity.

And, you know, just to be clear to this isn't someone who's saying I'm moving in.

Well, it's just inconvenient.

These are people who've been living in their cars, living in tents, as Wendy was saying, people who maybe the only place to go is a friend or family member's couch, and that person has a dog that's not going to get along with your dog or, you know, really.

It's not for lack of trying on most of these owners parts.

They'd really love to keep their pets if they could.

In most cases.

And Wendy, I spoke to you a little bit earlier and you said that the, the, the impact of Covid isn't necessarily people sending them back in, it's that they didn't get the proper vet care altering during Covid.

And now we're seeing the side effects of that.

Yeah.

So during Covid, the thing that I see impacting the current situation is that initially everything was shut down.

So the vets were told all emergencies, no routine vaccinations, no routine spay looters, all those things were put off so that the people who are getting all these pets that they wanted to have during the shutdown are not able to get the routine vaccinations, the routine spay looters, and they're also not socialized because they're shut down.

So the impacts I see, kind of cropped up around 2023, 2024 is that people are calling because they had unwanted litters.

They had animals that were not socialized or they're biting new people that now that everything's opened up again, the dogs are are not used to always this activity is so, you know, they're biting people that come to the house.

Also, during Covid, everybody got pregnant and had kids.

And so the puppies that are turning into adult dogs are now having toddlers right around, and they don't know what to do with it.

And there has been a huge uptake in behavioral, concerns, at least in my experience.

Yeah, yeah.

We did see those pandemic puppies, too, for a while that that hadn't experienced any socialization because the world had shut down.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So and I've also, I've also experienced like I just got a call yesterday for a nine year old swab.

That we adopted out at, I was nine years ago that they wanted it turned out because, they just had family changes.

So they don't want to have that idea.

Old Java.

Okay.

So there's a lot of personal reasons behind every pet.

Now, the three of you are all nod your heads when the other person is talking.

You're part of an ecosystem.

Can you talk about how lollipop and the rescue organizations work together?

We'll start with you.

Sure.

Yeah.

Well, Lollipop Farm and myself specifically is a member of the Greater Rochester Animal Coalition, which is a number of rescue groups.

That again, in the Rochester area, obviously.

And we get together monthly and talk about problems.

We've done vaccine clinics, we've done, spay and neuter clinics.

So we do we do provide an effort in that sense, to try to get together.

But I think one of the things is, we're all facing such overwhelming, challenges, such as the veterinary shortage, such as housing insecurity.

And so some of these problems, getting together for an hour a month isn't, isn't necessarily going to solve anything.

And we're going to talk about solutions in the second half of this show.

They are not easy.

Otherwise they'd be in place right now.

Right.

So the veterinary shortage.

So and I would imagine that that horses might be even more difficult.

As a rescue organization, do you have partnerships with that that come in and assist for, you know, a lower fee or some kind of break for you or do you have to pay find a vet that's free and pay.

What's the situation like starting with horse?

Well, at least specifically for for us, I begin again.

We work exclusively from our farm with Genesee Valley Equine Vet, and, they're the largest, equine, strictly equine vet in the Rochester area.

And they have six vets on staff.

And so we don't feel, the press of a shortage of care.

We have very attentive emergency care and extremely, knowledgeable, you know, veterinary attention for our horses.

However, we extend our adoptions out to ours in all directions from our location in Lima.

And so some of the outlying areas, especially down in Allegheny County, and south of Buffalo, they have, definitely have a problem with getting vets in there calling us and saying, you know, we have a minimum standard of care that we expect from all of our animals and, for all of our animals.

And so they're, they're saying we can't get a vet out here.

It's going to take us, you know, three months for us to be able to even get vaccinations for our horse or our dental exam and forget emergency services, because, of course, emergency services for large animals has to be all on site, so they have to have mobile units.

Yeah.

So so it can be very challenging to get to some of these places that are more, away from metropolitan areas.

Okay.

And, and you know, there are we could do a whole show on why there's a veterinary shortage.

It's, the cost of education and aging workforce, etc., etc., etc., but, with dogs and we'll, we'll, we'll start with dogs.

How are how are you and other, rescue organizations set up?

I know when I adopted a dog, I had to work with a vet that they had a partnership with to get them neutered and everything before I brought them home.

Is that right?

We do have.

We have partnerships.

Our main vet is York Animal Hospital, which is that we work York, and, they have been excellent for us.

We've worked with them for over eight years and we have a great relationship with them.

They are able to usually feed us is which is, not the norm.

We also work, very closely with, animal care in Webster and The New Day and Dia that opened it's fed support.

And we also have, very good relationship with, Doctor Linda right out at Phelps Animal Hospital, who is a foster for us.

And she also does their care for us.

And we also have worked with doorbell, but and our special, arrangement has been with Genesee Community College.

They have a vet tech program there, and they have we have, signed the contract with a good worker for us to get our pets.

We can get them fixed, their, dental there and also vaccines there, but, it's we try to get everybody fixed and vaccinated prior to the adopting them out.

And the problem we've invited is that people who adopt from us, we require that they, the contract with.

They are sealed within a week of, order to establish, a relationship and also to get, preventative care because we provide, like a month of prevention and then.

You turn things.

Over.

Yes.

And so.

And so our early adopters having.

Trouble thereafter is.

Similar to the.

Horse.

I mean, I have people that tell me they can't get a platelet for months.

And so we've had we've had to help sometimes go, more prevention to that sort of thing for them.

Okay.

And Lollypop Farm, I know you do some of your own veterinary work.

Correct.

Yeah.

What's the situation there?

Yeah.

So we do most of our own veterinary work, but we have been, understaffed with veterinarians.

We've had, kind of one and a half or medical directors been trying to retire for a couple years.

And I don't think veterinarians are allowed to retire anywhere these days.

And we live.

But it's not.

It's.

Yeah.

You are the owner of it's it's a really stressful situation.

So but we have also, struggled, you know, we do with adoption.

We do, a certificate for your first vet visit.

And we used to say 14 days, you know, get them there sooner rather than later.

And that's just not feasible.

And that's gone back a couple of years now that people can't get appointment appointments in that time frame.

So, if we do have someone that we've sent home on medications or, we provide the first month of flea and tick.

So we provide sort of that first month and the first couple weeks, we typically send home two weeks worth of medication in hopes that you'll get to your own vet, but it's not irregular to have someone call us and say, I've got an appointment, but it's not till you know, a month out or two months out.

And in that case, we will provide the medication because we don't want them to go without.

But it's definitely a challenge.

Okay.

So we've got these very strained agencies, organizations that rely a lot on volunteer power, a lot on, not the highest paid employees in the world.

What's it like for staff and volunteers right now?

It's stressful.

There's, there's a lot of stress, on staff because you don't get into nobody.

Nobody's in this to get rich.

Everybody's in there, just putting their whole hearts into it.

Being short staffed is stressful because the the work doesn't go away.

It just spreads out to other people.

We've put out foster, please.

Left, right all the time.

Dogs, cats.

Come.

Foster.

Anyone?

And you know the community.

Has their own challenges, so it's it's hard to get fosters right now as well.

So there's a lot of a lot of stress in it.

But, there's also hope.

You know, we always try to keep the hope and we, look at the individual stories that that's what keeps me going anyways is when you see when I. Talk about some of those in the future.

So, Jennifer, how many hours a week is, is taking of your life and how stressed are your your volunteer run?

Correct.

We are.

Yeah, we are volunteer run.

So, we're board of directors owned and run.

So and they're all volunteers.

Of course all volunteers, all have most of them are not retired and they have full time jobs or families to run as well.

So, everybody has different amounts that they can give.

So myself, yeah, I if I counted the hours that I spend not just doing the actual in the trenches work, but I'm answering like I said, I mean, we got a call last night at I got a call at 130 in the morning, that there was, a pony and a donkey in the middle of the road.

And could we come?

And we actually had a representative that went and met the sheriff there.

Okay, luckily, we did find its its place.

Yes.

So had I was not far from home, it just went on a walk.

So.

But we were there.

You know, because they don't know what to do.

You know what a lot of the law enforcement is not.

They don't have the resources or education or experience with large animals, so they don't know how to catch a horse or a donkey safely.

But, yeah.

So it is a big strain.

We're always looking for volunteers.

Besides the volunteers that run this organization, we do have a very small paid staff at our rescue.

Just for the consistency of care of the horses.

We have three part time employees.

And they just take turns with the with the basic care of the horses, but we provide them volunteers.

So that they're not doing it all the shouldering, all the work themselves, the physical work.

And so we are always looking for volunteers to help caring for the horses and also, we have a trainer on staff, so, more, you know, that can help her and be her assistant as well.

Besides the grounds keeping and maintenance and everything else that goes along with the farm, it's we we really utilize a lot of volunteers.

And so we always have calls out for volunteers.

Okay.

And, Wendy, you know, I know that a lot of foster or almost all of them, the reputable ones, anyways, they have a lot of hoops you need to jump through to be a foster home, to be, to be an adopter.

Is there a risk of of standards being lowered because there's such desperation right now for foster and adoptive?

Yeah.

I mean, that's the challenge.

I mean, I have, I have, you know, people in the community that are very passionate about animals and they want to save them all.

And, and we we do our best to take it as well as we can, but we can't just take a foster offer that somebody post that Facebook and and be like, oh, like here, here's the animal.

And and then backtrack and be like, oh my God, you were at the the best person to fix this area.

Well, so it's it's a challenge because because everybody's heart's of the right place.

They want to help, but we have to be able to meet standards at the Department of Agriculture.

December 15th of this past year.

Just raise the standards, like to the ceiling, as to what what we as rescue organizations and also as well and I'm assuming, you guys don't have that.

Lucky you that that did not apply to large animals that went to companion animals only.

Okay.

We're going to take a quick break.

And then I want to get into that a little bit more.

We are talking with Vicki Pate from Lollipop Farm.

She's the director of Animal placement, Wendy Weisberg, founder of Second Hand Dog Rescue, and Jennifer Lily, founder of Begin Again Horse Rescue in Lima.

We will be right back to talk more about, the situation with rescue agencies.

I'm Evan Dawson, coming up in our second hour, it's connection summer sessions focused on food and bev this week.

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One of the most expensive restaurants in the world.

And they went all vegan.

And then they went back and we discussed why and the implications.

Next hour.

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This is connections.

I'm Julie Phillips sitting in for Evan Dawson, and we've been talking with Vicki Pape from Lollipop Farm, Wendy Weisberg from Second Hand Dog Rescue and Jennifer Lily from Begin Again Horse Rescue.

And if you have any questions or comments, feel free to contact us (585) 263-9994 or email us at connections at WXXI dawg.

So we just started talking about some new, regulations from the Department of Agriculture.

Do you want to explain those?

Yes.

I mean, they they now require, there's a lot of paperwork involved.

And all the pipettes we have in our organization need to be sealed and examined by a veterinarian every six months.

So the fact of the matter is, is we have at least 20 to 30 dogs that have a long time, residents of our care and, see that every six months is, is, just a feat in its of itself, just to get the seed there?

A lot of times they don't necessarily need vaccinations, but they, you know, once a year they need a 40 x test, which is a, you know, test for heartworm.

And in order for that to continue our prevention.

So are these new things or just expanded?

Yeah.

Yeah.

So the standards are new.

They went into effect in December, as Wendy said.

So there is a lot of paperwork.

There is, you know, some new, some new standards that are going to be a little bit challenging to me.

I think it was definitely time to put some standards in place.

But, you know, I know the specifics of it.

Some of them are challenging.

And having it come at this time in, in the, the, the world, you know, where everything is kind of coming together all at the same time.

So, let's talk about fostering.

What what is the foster family expected to do?

In terms of fosters for us, they are expected, to provide a safe home.

To keep, all the pets, on a leash or at a fancy yard at all times.

To, we provide all the equipment they need.

Although it's the days that they like to for purchase food or that sort of thing, but for the most part, we provide all the equipment and we can provide food and preventions and all that.

And we have events that we have on a fairly frequent basis, if they could please.

But they're animals to those events, if they are appropriate for those events.

To try to get them adopted, get.

To the.

So it does does lollipop do fostering as well?

Oh yeah.

Yeah.

We have over we have a huge list of fosters.

We have upwards of 500 people on our list.

Not that 500 animals are in foster at any given time.

At any given time, we have around 150 to 200 animals in foster care, that we are responsible for, have custody of and are taking care of.

We do provide all of the, food and supplies you need.

Again, if someone wants to provide their own, we certainly will not turn that down.

But, our expectations are, you know, similar, but we, safe, clean home, and transporting them back and forth to veterinary appointments.

We don't do the offsite events as much.

But.

Because you have a lollipop farm.

Right?

Right.

But what happens if, the the foster pet is never adopted, does it?

Does it does.

Does that mean the foster parent is is has that animal for the rest of its life, or do you take it back?

What happens?

Or a combination of that?

Well.

You not in our case.

If a foster is not able to continue to foster that, we will take the animal back and try to place it into a different home.

You know, they're not stuck.

We don't ever want anybody to feel stuck.

If we even need people.

Like, for example, right now, ours is, you know, everybody's going on vacation, but that's a we are we are, you know, shuffling dogs around and figuring out where to put them.

We need short term fosters.

We live out there.

Fosters, one thing that we have, developed.

And I don't know if we do stuff with it, but we have a forever foster.

Yeah, we're going to get into that when we get into some solution.

So, yeah, we're in a bit of a catch 22 here because, you know, you find pets, homes for pets and then people keep breeding them.

The puppy mills are still in existence.

Our mine is from an Amish farm in Ohio.

So, you know, someone decides, oh, one litter isn't going to hurt, our one foal isn't going to hurt.

You know, I just want to do it.

This one does have that experience.

But when you think of how many animals are in the world, what has to give here?

Yeah.

I think from my perspective, one of the things that we do need to see is, there's a lot of rental properties that are just flat out no pets.

And there's ways to make sure you're working with responsible pet owners.

But looking into some of those to allow families to stay together.

And also the irresponsible breeding, I think that a lot of, you know, I get a lot working at Lollipop Farm as long as I have, like, oh, well, I'm sorry, I have a pet from a breeder.

We're not anti breeder.

There's great breeders out there.

But it's the breeding without thought for the genetics, without thought, for the behavior.

And not keeping track of where your puppies are going or what they're doing.

So it's the irresponsible breeding that we see, more of a challenge than.

An industry that needs to be more regulated.

It's impossible to.

Regulate.

It would be nice.

It's a I would say it's impossible to regulate because animals are living things and they reproduce without doing anything at all.

It would be nice if we could, if you produce, if a if a litter is produced by somebody, it would be great if so how they are, they have to be microchipped and like attached to that person for life.

And if that dog ever ends up in a shelter or in a, in a, you know, a rescue or a loss that that microchip gets, that gets the person that produced that dog, and then they'll go.

To the.

Right back.

Yeah.

Right.

Right.

Yeah.

Because because as, as Vicky was saying, I mean, it's the breeding is not the actual problem.

Problem.

It's the, regulated, reputable breeders.

I mean, like, you have breeders out there that will drive, like, across the country to pick up a dog and bring it back to their program.

Those are the that the people that we're having problems with.

It's the people that they take to make a buck.

That are maybe in it more for the money than.

Yeah, it it's really that money market.

They just I mean, I just had a 12 year old dog, week and a half ago that the person who got the saw the dog and he bred, I offered because of my, my foster is a next door neighbor.

I offered a, spare bought for this dog, and the person said, no, I want her to have the puppies.

And then fast forward.

We're, an emergency vet spending $4,000 because the dog had puppies stuck and no viable puppies came out of it.

I just love your dog.

For.

Horrific situations.

Yeah.

So?

So for dogs and cats, one of the main things to to get more fosters is just to have, more landlords who are a little more open to, allowing pets in the building.

You're not going to have that same solution for horses.

What do you need to see to to find more homes for these animals?

Well, we also have a foster program.

We actually, our adoption is actually a foster.

So, we retain ownership of all our horses.

Okay?

It's the only legal way that we could say this horse could never be sold or given away in the future.

Because that's what happens with horses a lot is their usefulness is done with that family, and they sell them or they give them away.

We can vet the adopter, as you know, to the ends of the earth, but we can't say what the you know.

What they're going.

To do with it.

So by retaining ownership of the animal, then, we have control over that legally.

So our adoption contract is actually called a permanent lease agreement.

Okay.

And then we have the our foster programs.

We have two of them.

We have a short term and a long term.

So the short term is if someone can offer a horse, say, training or extra TLC care that we might be as stretched to be able to provide, then they'll keep the animal and it's available for adoption while it's in their care.

And then we have another foster program that is for more.

I, I don't want to say end of life, but these senior horses that are less adoptable, they're not rideable anymore.

They're just pets.

They might be higher maintenance because they don't have teeth, they need more food or they need medications.

And so with those horses, then we actually pay all medical bills on those horses and they pay all routine costs.

The, you know, just their everyday farriers and deworming and feedings.

But we pay any veterinary costs, including the euthanasia and and removal, which is a big expense in horses.

You can't just take them to the vet and have them euthanized so and and disposed of.

So are there any solutions that would make your life easier, that would help find homes?

For these horses?

Really, we're we're dealing with a much smaller pool of people that are suitable homes.

We have a very extensive screening process, including multiple visits.

And we do home visits to every single farm that is going to adopt our horses.

Our volunteers drive two hours each way to go see these farms.

So because we have such a stringent screening process, and it is a small pool of people, it's just exposure, you know, it's just letting more people in the horse world know that rescue horses aren't all broken.

We have some wonderful horses that go on to be really success.

Stories on your website.

So I want to get into those stories, but I want to go back to Wendy because I know that among the most difficult pets to place are older, just like she said, old aging horses, but aging dogs, large dogs are also hard to place, right?

Especially dogs too that need to be.

Maybe the unicorn single dog, no other, dogs.

And, we we we wanted to instead of making it a barrier, we wanted to open up a pathway for people who might have all the heart for a dog, all the love for God.

But we have the financial ability to have a dog.

And we have, somewhere around 20, dogs in our, in our rescue right now that qualify for our forever foster program where they can be, adopted by a family.

But again, we retain ownership, just like, beginning in the horses.

And we, we provide all the veterinary care.

They just have to provide, like the incidentals, like the we we just ask that they provide, like the food, and treats and that sort of thing.

And toys.

But we provide all the equipment, we will transport the animals to the vet.

We will if they go on vacation because of their.

You know.

So you're going to support the pet owner, financially and otherwise, for the.

Entire lifetime of the.

Pet.

So.

Right.

And I imagine Lollypop Farm has a number of creative type solutions to get animals into homes as well.

Yeah, we have similar to, we have, like a hospice foster, we call it for a pet who is aging.

And that's usually throughout their life, we do fosters for animals that are available for adoption so they can wait that time while they look for a home in foster care.

We have several different, opportunities for all kinds of creative things.

But we we also still really, really struggle with the larger dogs, and especially those who can't have other pets in the home.

And, you know, seniors, sometimes seniors will, grab it somebody's heart.

So I wouldn't necessarily say seniors are particularly the hardest.

We're really struggling with, those maybe 1 or 2 year old who have a lot of energy and haven't had any training yet, grown up.

And they're ready to have, like, you know, a bulldozer come through your home but in the most loving way possible.

And, and we know they're going to be just gems with just a little rounding on the edges.

So some behavioral do you provide behavioral type supports.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So we have behavioral support for our adopters in several different ways.

Every adoption has we partner with a group called Pet Academy, which is a virtual 24 hour support.

And then we also have our own behavior team.

So you're depending on the specific animal and the specific animals need, you may be partnered with a behavior team member right off the bat.

Or you may have pet Academy.

And then if you have something that you need to speak to someone in person, then we connect to you.

But yeah.

And that's, you know, you can call us for that behavioral support at any time throughout the pet's life.

We also have partners that we recommend in the community that we know of specialize in certain things.

So lots of different options.

But, you know, you're providing veterinary care, you're providing support.

Your, you know, none of this is cheap.

Yeah.

Where is the money coming from?

Well, in beginning any case, we're very grassroots and, it's just feet on the ground.

All of our, income comes from fundraisers and donations.

We actually, eight years ago, we started beginning in tech shop, and it is probably the largest used sub, store for, horse equipment and supplies, in New York State.

Now it's grown so huge.

We have a 12 room house farmhouse that came with our farm, and we have turned almost the entire house besides.

And this is in Lima.

This is in Lima, right on the on our farm.

And, and it is everything and it is donated.

So the entire horse community between from Buffalo to Syracuse and South, they, they drop, we have a donation room and people drop off things all the time, sometimes really valuable saddles and harnesses and carriages we get and all sorts of products, clothing, artwork.

So that actually, that just that store alone made us $80,000 last year.

So there's a lot people can do short of adopting a horse or foster to support you.

And then we do fundraisers all year.

We try to do at least one fundraiser a month.

In the fall, we've got our biggest fundraiser, which is a brunch and silent auction, at the Wildwood Country Club in Rush.

And so that's, we were collecting donations, you know, silent auction items for that all the time.

But it's a it's a constant fee on the on the pavement, pushing, pushing, pushing with our hand out, you know, just like all not for profits are doing.

And it's, there's a lot of I hate to say that there's a lot of competition between them because we don't want to compete with it.

Everybody does has the same heart and is doing the same good work.

So it's but there's only so much to go around.

And I would imagine that's a huge issue because it seems like every day I find out about another dog rescue organization and they're all doing fundraisers and events and seeking fosters.

Are you seeing a lot of, I don't want to call it competition, but it is.

There is sometimes competition.

I mean, I would like to say, I mean, I, I leave the long, to, you know, groups that, have chats going on at Facebook or, text chains, that sort of thing.

And there's at least, 8 to 12 other rescues that we work with very closely.

If we get a what's a regular class, we put it out there to give you help.

This this dog or I will come.

And I could transport this dog for you if you guys could.

We could take this dog.

And, like, we have a, cooperative with Buddy Love Rescue.

In, October, we're going to be doing, big fundraiser with Broc Straub Club out in Webster, and we're going to have work out with the puppies and puppies that are run around.

And, while you work out with over there and we're going to have vendors and that sort of thing, and there's just one of many fundraisers that we are doing.

So it's all donation.

Based and I mean basically whatever I make pretty much goes into the dogs.

I don't, I don't really have anybody that I have to take care of myself.

And everybody's always yelling at me to take care of yourself.

I leave you with the but the actually you ask yourself first, but you know when you do, when you do a dog rescue, you just try to just stretch whatever you have as much as you possibly can.

You even give any kind of rescue really.

Does Lollipop Farm have, do you get grants, government funding, things like that?

We do get grants, but not not typically government funding, or grants.

On occasion.

We'll get one here or there.

You know, some of those are in the news, and I know it feels like lollipops always fundraising.

We are we are always fundraising.

And I think, you know, one thing I go back to is you may see on our telethon we raised X amount or we got a grant for this amount, but, we're taking care of thousands and thousands of animals every year.

And so when you go back to the veterinary bills and the cost of caring for all of those, that's what it all goes to.

Okay.

So in addition to finding homes and all of the challenges you're dealing with, fundraising in a difficult economic time is another another one of them.

So we have, you know, not quite ten minutes left, but I would love to talk about some of the good things that are happening.

I and one story in particular caught my attention on your website, the Begin Again horse Rescue.

And that was Timmy.

Timmy D I was quite a few years ago.

Now it's it's it's half of your the top of your list of.

Could you, tell that story?

And then if you have another one you want to throw in as well, like a, a real nice success story about an animal that.

Timmy was a horse that was surrendered to us, the, the people that had the horse, we don't know where they, they got the horse from, but they had the horse, and the horse was not thriving with them.

They couldn't afford to feed it needed more food than they could feed.

It needed more than the average horse.

And and he was they were in a very muddy area, and they had no place to keep him out of the mud, and his skin was infected, and he wasn't getting the care that he needed.

And so we took in the horse as we would and, we found the horse had a lot of physical problems.

Some of them were just due to his age and his status in life, and some of them were due to the environment that he had been living in a neglectful environment.

They weren't able to provide for him.

So we put the horse back together and gave him the health.

I think we had him for a good six months before he really was starting to bloom.

He was an older horse.

We could tell that this horse had had a lot of training and care at one point in his life, and what we had no, no clue about where he came from.

And we got a call one day from someone that says, I think you have my horse.

I've been searching for him for four years.

He that she had given the horse, it was her daughter's show horse.

He was an ache, a quarter horse that had been shown at Congress level.

And it was her which is high and the very, very high level of, of showing.

And it had been her daughter's and he had developed some lameness issues.

So they retired the horse, and he was just living out his days with them.

Well, they had a neighbor that had an autistic child and who loved horses.

And so they gave the horse, lent the horse.

No contract involved, to this family.

And a year goes by and they go, they said, you know, we haven't heard from Timmy's people.

Let's check up.

And the people were gone and they had no idea where the horse had been given to, where he went, what had happened to him.

And she was searching for him for four years, and they saw him up for adoption on our website.

And she called and and.

I hope.

She took him.

Right.

Oh, absolutely.

Absolutely.

She came right out the next day and she and her daughter, who was then grown and, they just fawned over him and they took him home and he, he lived out the rest of his days.

So it's stories like that that really make this worth it.

Right before we go around the room a little bit more, I, we do have an email from Alex in Webster, who's hoping one of you can help him out a little bit.

We rescued a cat from the city when the owners of the facility were the people who were feeding him, banned the residents from feeding the cat.

He was chipped.

The vet and I both reported it on the chip website.

The owner never got in touch with us or the vet to claim the cat.

Now the cat is like a person without a country.

We have possession but not ownership of the cat.

Many vets won't treat him for liability reasons.

How do I update the information associated with the chip to be my contact info?

Or do I have to see a vet who will treat the cat to put in a new chip?

I don't even.

Know.

Yeah.

So, it, the complicated answer is it may depend on the chip company.

If he wants to email me at vp@lollipop.org, I'm.

I'm happy to help him navigate that.

But most of the chip companies, some of them, you have to put in a request.

And after 30 days, if there's no, contact, if the the other owner hasn't reached back out, then you can update the information.

Some of the chip companies have some different, processes to go through, but most of them do have a process for you to transfer ownership.

So, I'm happy to have you share.

My contact.

Information.

Right now.

It is something we've dealt with.

Yes.

But it does depend a little bit on the chip company.

And after a certain amount of time, that pet can be considered abandoned and then rehomed.

So, Okay, so there is a path out.

The cat can can have a country.

Yes.

Yeah, yeah.

So the question is, do they want to keep the cat.

VP at Lolly at Lollipop dot dot org.

All right.

A success story from you Andy.

I mean there are so many.

I mean, one of the ways is always this course.

And of course, the cry possibly.

Oh, you're going to make us all cry.

You know, I, we had rescued a dog that, was going to be euthanized at the shelter, and he was completely then handleable he could not have a collar on that evolution.

We got him into the edges of the house by carrying the crate into the house.

And for three years, he lived without, b collar or leash.

We were able to touch him.

He slept out.

My bed would be next to me.

I had, a sarge, and, he, ended up getting a tough but wonderful lady.

Oh, good.

So send has a home.

And he has a home thanks to you.

And she has gotten him used to a collar and a leash and, she does great things with him.

Okay.

Good for Sarge.

So we have about a minute and a half, so there's time.

What of what have you got for this?

I know it's a positive note.

Well, I'll just go.

One of our most recent.

We had a case that some people may have heard of with, over 60 Chihuahuas and one of those Chihuahuas.

Unfortunately, they're very fearful.

He slipped out of his foster home, you know, their tiny little Chihuahuas, and he was actually on the run for over 30 days.

And the rescue treasures trapping team, we partnered with them.

We worked really closely with him.

And to wrap it up quickly, he, needed some medical support.

Obviously, when he was, found.

But he is now home with one of, one of those trapping team members, and she calls him Andy.

And, it's slow going because he hasn't.

He's experiencing a whole new world, but, he is just as spoiled as anyone could be.

Good for him.

So, the 60 Chihuahuas and Chihuahuas are.

I was surprised.

They're like the top dog that is is brought into a shelter for some reason, and we don't have time to get into that.

But how are those 60 Chihuahuas doing today?

Yeah.

So, they have they're in varying places.

We had a lot of rescue groups that stepped up, thankfully.

Because dogs like that do take, some extra time.

They take some extra patients and the shelter is not really the best place.

Because it's loud.

And for a dog who's been through a situation like that, it can be terrifying.

But they are doing great.

You know, they most of them have found homes now, all of the ones we had have found homes.

And, it takes a patient adopter, but they're on their way.

They're on their way.

All right.

Well, thank you so much.

This has been really informative.

And helpful, especially to Alex who owned the chip cat.

But we are out of time.

We've been talking with Vicki Pape from Lollipop Farm, Wendy Weisberg from Second Hand Dog Rescue, and Jennifer Lily from Begin Again Horse Rescue and tech shop in Lima.

Thank you so much.

And thank you for listening and thank you to our great production team.

Have a wonderful afternoon.

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