How to Contact a Rescue Organization for Great Danes

Contacting a Great Dane rescue can be time-consuming, and the results will vary, depending on your purpose. If you want to adopt a Great Dane, you should have no problem as long as your home is a good fit for such a breed. If you want to give up your Great Dane, you may have a harder time, because you need to find a Great Dane rescue that has space available and accepts dogs from private owners; many take dogs only from shelters. If you have found a Great Dane, you may be able to get advice from the rescue about locating the dog's owners. You may have to call several Great Dane rescues before you get the help you need.

Instructions

    • 1
      Great Danes are often called gentle giants.

      Contact the national Great Dane Club. See the link in the Resources section. You'll find a list of rescues under the menu button Health and Welfare.

      Start with the rescues listed for your state, but be prepared to contact those that are farther away. Look up Great Dane on the American Kennel Club website as well. In the menu, you'll see Great Dane Rescue, and there is another list of Dane rescues. If you still haven't found what you need, try Petfinder and Adopt-a-Pet. On each site, do a search for Great Danes, and then click on the rescue to get its contact information.

    • 2

      Be patient. Rescues are all-volunteer organizations. In addition to caring for the animals they take in, the volunteers have their own pets to care for, families and jobs. Not many rescues are able to reply as quickly as you might like.

    • 3
      A rescue volunteer's work is never done.

      Contact each rescue using its preferred method as indicated on its website. Most will require email contact initially, but some prefer phone. Respect whatever the rescue prefers, because it is intended to streamline the volunteers' work and allow them to respond as quickly as possible. Some rescues are deluged with calls and emails daily. If you are emailing, carefully write out the specifics of your inquiry. Give as much detail as possible in as few words as possible. They are more likely to be able to help you if they know more about your situation, but they also have limited time.

    • 4
      Rescue volunteers see a lot of misery and get stressed and overwhelmed.

      Be polite. Rescue volunteers often are harassed and threatened by distraught pet owners who may be worried about their pet or expect the rescue to take full responsibility for the pet. These volunteers are in rescue because they love animals and want to help, but they get tired, angry and stressed, just as you do.

    • 5
      Sometimes general rescues work with Great Danes, as was the case with this "angel."

      Try a general rescue or animal shelter if you aren't able to work with the Great Dane rescues for your needs. Sometimes rescues take in a variety of breeds and mixes but still may be in a position to help you.