Written by Trenton Ray – Let’s face it, dogs are the best part of the internet these days, and behind every cute picture of a pup, there’s a dog who has a story to tell. Sadly, not all dogs have happy stories and far too often in our community, strays or owner surrenders are put down. However, there’s a new animal rescue group in Brownwood looking to change that. I recently spoke with Toni Burleson, who, along with her cousin, formed NaNook and NaKoda’s Big Paws Rescue.

 

 

  • What led you to starting the rescue?

I have participated in dog rescue privately for 15 yrs. It has always been my dream to have a rescue/sanctuary for dogs. When I moved back to Brownwood in 2010 and volunteered at CTSAC and learned their euthanasia rate remains at 50-60% I knew I wanted to do more. Large/giant breed dogs are the breeds most difficult to adopt out and rescues for these breeds fill up fast so they are frequently euthanized. After two separate periods of volunteering at the shelter with no effort to move away from euthanizing for space my cousin and I decided something needed to be done.

  • What’s the significance of your name?

Nanook and Nakoda are the two rottwielers in our profile images. Nanook and NaKoda were both my trained service animals. Both also were therapy dogs. NaNook passed from cancer in 2010 and NaKoda passed of old age in 2016. The rescue is formed in their honor. Among the many tasks they performed for me personally they also helped me training other dogs in basic obedience and socialuzation. They were both great breed ambassadors.

  • Big dogs often get a bad rap, do you have any stories about them that you’d like to share?

Big dogs do often get bad reputations and quite often it’s due to human error (poor or no training), not teaching children how to be with dogs (climbing on them, stepping on them, sitting on them, taking food or toys, et) and sometimes it’s because humans teach them to be mean or aggressive. Panda for example was an overbred pit bull. She lived in an area where people often bred pits to fight. One of the first things I did for her was get her spayed. She lost her sight and was losing her hearing. Panda was the most trust worthy affectionate dog. She could be trusted with infants and guarded them with her life. However, if she didn’t know your scent you were not permitted in the yard without our permission.

Nanook & Nakoda had flown and traveled all over the US with me and people often flinched at the lady coming with two huge rotties but in the Summers when my niece and nephew came to visit when they were little they could often be found watching the kids and herding them away from the fence line and keeping them close to us.

Rikki one of our current residents was one of the #eastlandcounty14. They were 14 dogs dumped on a hwy. They had odvious signs of abuse and neglect. Underweight, malnourished, old heeled injuries that had never recieved medical attention such as Echo who went to Critter Shack in San Angelo who had a jaw injury that heeled crooked. Scars all over their heads, chests and legs. Rikki was our first pull after we got our 501c3 letter. I had been fostering her for CTSAC so they wouldn’t euthanize her. Rikki didn’t know how to be a dog. At eight months old she had already had a litter. She was very timid. She didn’t know how to play, what toys were or if it was safe to be touched and loved on. After a few months she has learned to be with other dogs and not be afraid. She has recently learned to run and romp basic puppy play and has even been playing with a few toys. Last week for the first time she took treats out of my hands. It’s so heartwarming to see them blossom and learn life can be good with the right humans. Rikki bonds tightly with her people and can’t be left outside because she will escape to find them. She will need a special furever home who understands her past, has lots of patience and wants a shadow!

  • Is it hard when you grow attached to a dog you’re fostering when it has to go to a new home?

It’s a happy/sad event when a dog gets adopted. We are happy they find their furever homes but sad they are leaving us. We give them more time to find their homes. If they never do then they will live their lives out with us.

  • How can readers help?

NNBPR needs our communities help raising funds for a building we can use as a home environment. They have free run of a 10 acre plot and when supervised we take them on the other 70 acres we have for tank swims, hiking, play, etc. A building will allow us to take in more dogs, house train them (potty train, learn indoor behaviors etc) and provide indoor sleeping and lounging areas. We also take donations of food (only Taste of the Wild brand), trifexis for large/giant, toys, beds, blankets, training treats, shampoo/conditioners, etc. We also needs outdoor pen gates, welded wire fence for more pens, tposts etc.

We’ve had a group of school age girls reach out to us to do a t-shirt fundraiser in April – so buy those shirts! We will need other fundraising partners and we’re hoping to find those in our own community. As we grow we will put out community work days for volunteers can come help build pens, work with dogs, etc. We plan to eventually have hiking trails so people can come out with their dogs for a monthly donation and enjoy off leash hikes, swimming, etc.

We want to be a place search and rescue groups can come and train for a small donation, obedience trainers can come and have classes for a small donation and truly be a sanctuary for our animals and a place people can come and enjoy off leash time with their furbabies and all those donations will go to the care and growth of NNBPR. As we get up and running (started January 1, 2018) we will have more fundraisers and adoption events too!