About GSRT

 

German Shepherd Rescue Toronto (GSRT) is a small, entirely volunteer, not-for-profit organization dedicated to providing public education, veterinary care and forever homes for abused, neglected and/or abandoned German Shepherd Dogs.

Many Ontario animal controls and pounds destroy dogs after only 5 days and also sell them for animal research*.  It is also still legal in Ontario to gas, shoot and electrocute dogs as "euthanasia".  (* The Toronto Humane Society, SPCAs and Toronto Animal Services, among others, do not.)  Many of GSRT's foster dogs have been rescued from these pounds before they meet this terrible fate.

GSRT has encountered an alarming number of cases of abuse and neglect by past owners of GSDs. We have also been very disappointed to realize that once the cheque is cashed, many breeders of GSDs are no longer interested in the well being of the puppy or dog they bred. GSRT exists to educate people on responsible dog "guardianship", and attempt to clean up the mess left behind by unethical individuals.

Each dog applying to our program is evaluated for temperament and behavior. (On rare occasions we will direct people to German Shepherds who are currently in shelters that we may not have had a chance to assess ourselves.  Therefore temperament evaluations would not have been done by us - but we will advise you of this up front of course and will tell you what the shelter worker's evaluation was and also all comments that our volunteers have relayed to us.) All accepted dogs are spayed or neutered, updated on vaccinations, receive essential medical care and lots of TLC. The dogs are then placed into GSRT foster homes while they await their forever home. Finally, each dog is carefully placed in a loving home with a family that matches that dog's temperament, activity level and specific needs.

As we do not have a shelter, we can only take in a small number of dogs, but we hope to have more foster homes soon so that we can rescue more. We are in the process of applying for charitable status.

*We do not assist breeders' with placing their homebred dogs, but are happy to provide you with some advice and screening criteria to help you find loving homes.*

* We do not take in owner surrendered dogs.*

Please spay and neuter your pets, and please, "Don't breed and buy while shelter animals die."

 

Update: GSRT is very honored to have received the Clarington Pet Connection 2002 Lady Pup Memorial Award.  This award was inspired by the life of a courageous dog - Lady Pup, who was one of Brenda Lowry's (co-founder of Clarington Pet Connection) epileptic Border Collies. She was a very courageous pup who inspired many to go the extra mile for their pups. This award sadly has become a Memorial honoring Lady Pup's tragically short life. Thank you so much Brenda and Wayne.

Lady Pup - July 1, 1999 - August 28, 2001