Jesse's Hunting > Hunting Articles > Articles > From the Blogs - Learning More about the American Brittany Rescue Organization

From the Blogs - Learning More about the American Brittany Rescue Organization

Brad Swadley - JHO ProStaff - Dallas, TX
October 09, 2008

Who could resist Brittany Spaniels like these are in need of good homes. That's the goal of the American Brittany Rescue organization.

During the local Bass Pro Shops Fall Classic, I had the pleasure of meeting Erlinda Northup, a volunteer with the American Brittany Rescue organization. Her booth was a couple of paces from the Jesse’s Hunting and Outdoors booth, and she was getting a lot of activity as people shuffled through her area. I have to admit, the precocious and well-mannered Brittany, an orange/white male named Jordan, was the main attraction. Through all the people and kids stopping by to lavish love upon him, Jordan never seemed to mind. Jordie took it all in and would at times go “spread eagle” on the concrete floor for a quick respite from all the activity.
As noted in the American Brittany Rescue pamphlet: “Brittany’s are bred to hunt upland game birds. They love to be outdoors and they do require daily exercise. They are naturally smart and curious and when left alone, they may look for ways to go exploring that doesn’t please their owners. They would rather be with the family than alone in the yard. They are devoted to their people and make wonderful family companions”.

I asked Erlinda if she would indulge me with information about the program and she said that she would be happy to do so. Erlinda is a volunteer, assisting as the Texas Foster Home Coordinator for American Brittany Rescue. As noted in their pamphlet: “It was formed in 1991 through a cooperative effort of Brittany owners, breeders and fanciers that believed they had an obligation to their breed and all the dogs within that breed. It is run as a volunteer organization with chapters throughout the United States and Canada and is a non-profit organization. Their goal is to rescue abandoned, surrendered, homeless Brittany’s and rehabilitate them”.

They have a foster process where the dogs are kept with approved foster parents until they can place them in an appropriate adoptive home. Of the approximately 8oo volunteers, the place almost 1000 Brittany’s per year with adoptive families.

Both the foster family and the adoptive owners are put through a review process to ensure that the Brittany’s will be well taken care of and that the new family member will be a good fit. Erlinda started out as a foster parent, but her love for the dogs and the satisfaction she gets from seeing them placed in good homes has driven her to become more active in the Texas Chapter. She briefly walked me through the process, such as going through the interview process to become a foster parent.

An application for either fostering or adoption is filled out. A home visit is then conducted to ensure that the environment is right for the Brittany’s that will be fostered there. For adoptive owners, the process is much the same. The main thing after an application is approved, is that the American Brittany Rescue organization looks at the type of environment the Brittany will be coming into and matches the environment with the type of dog that will fit with that particular owner. For instance, some dogs may have had hunt training and would ideally be placed as an all around companion in a hunting home.

They also have a process called the Brittany Express, on where they are able to use volunteers throughout the United States and Canada to get the Brittany’s to their new adoptive parents. Typically, if a volunteer is going on a trip, they check the American Brittany Rescue website to see if there are any dogs needing to travel that same route. So once multiple people are arranged for their different travels, a dog can make a long trip across the United States to its adoptive family through this network of travel.