What was once a group of neighbors who shared a passion for our dogs and socializing with them and one another -- DASH -- is now an official non-profit organization sponsored by a private foundation and the generous donations of friends, family, previous adoption clients and Dallas-area dog-lovers who share a mission: to help us find a home for every lost, neglected, abused or abandoned dog.
DASH exists through the generous donations of people like you, and through the boundless efforts of it's founders and volunteers.
Our pets are all evaluated for adoptability, given training if they need it, spayed or neutered, and treated for any existing health issues. For micro-chipping, Operation Kindness is offering their services for $15.
We have an extensive adoption application, which you can find on the contact page, designed to insure that no harm, neglect or abandonment ever befalls a dog we've come to love.
The fee for each adoption is $300 to $350. Adoption fees cover the cost of vetting as well as administrative costs and operation costs for our rescue efforts.
If you need to surrender a dog, requests must be sent via email. Evaluations will be made on a case-by-case basis. We are NOT a shelter and do not have the means to accept every dog. There is a $250 minimum surrender fee and dogs must have recent veterinary records proving current vaccinations, spay/neuter and heartworm test results. This fee is considered a donation and is non-refundable.
One at a time, foster dogs followed, and each and every one was placed in a loving home. I have always made room in my pack, in my home, for dogs. My "Adoption Counseling" skills were fine-tuned while I worked part-time at Operation Kindness from 2007-2008. The experience and knowledge I gained was unmatched, and I developed my own style when trying to ensure the best outcome for each dog in the shelter.
While I worked at OpK, I often saw dogs "returned" for what I would consider "no good reason." This increased my passion about ensuring the best future home for a dog. I would rather turn a potential adopter down than second-guess a dog's happiness.
At DASH our adoption application is long and detailed, but I believe that if someone does not have 30 minutes to fill out our application, then they are not my first choice to place a dog for up to 15 years. My goal is and always will be to find the best family for a dog while finding the best dog for a family.
Emily Stephens
Emily Stephens, 8, can honestly say she has been rescuing dogs more than half her life. At age 3 she began helping her aunt Sara care for dogs while they found homes for strays in the neighborhood. Emily knows her way around a kennel, can train basic commands for dogs and puppies, has worked at several marketing, fund-raising and PR events for DASH and has also helped nurse parvo puppies back to health.
Emily is an excellent photographic subject for posing with our rescue dogs and giving viewers a perspective on a dog's size as well as its temperament with young children. Emily won a contest at her school for a 2nd grade fundraising project with her stationery sale entry name of "Paw Prints," whose proceeds benefited a local charity.
Emily loves all breeds but her two favorite dogs are her own dogs, Abby, a black-lab/golden retriever mix age 10 and her own Australian Shepherd rescued from DASH, Ponder, age 18 months.
Emily is currently in the 3rd grade and also owns a cat named Sammie. She plays softball, soccer and loves reading, gymnastics, hanging out with her friends and spending time with her family.
Mason Holloway
Mason Holloway is studying for his Series 7 exam while simultaneously working at DASH full-time. Mason has loved and owned dogs his whole life and has experience in raising and training dogs of all breeds.
He loves pit bulls and wants to be an advocate for the breed. His work with Australian Shepherds and herding dogs has taught him a lot about training and bonding with working dogs to encourage them to be calm, loving family pets.
Mason has made dozens of rescue trips for DASH all over Texas and works tirelessly in our "doggie den" (indoor kennel area) as well as on adoptions and training.
Mason enjoys rap music, skateboarding, snowboarding, hiking with the dogs. Mason plans on attending college classes beginning mid-semester while completing his study for the Series 7.
When his hockey career ended from a kidney injury in January 2009, Charlie wanted very much to commit his naturally passionate nature to something "different." Beside ice hockey and football, dogs were his favorite hobby, and thus the idea for North Dallas Dog Rescue now DASH was born.
Charlie was raised around dogs of all breeds his whole life. He loved Boxers and Huskies the most, and also had affection for dachshunds. Once he met his first Australian Shepherd he became a huge fan, as well as of border collies and all the herding breeds.
Charlie had an impact on everyone he met. He always had a smile on his face, a wise-crack to make and a sparkle in his eyes. He poured his heart and soul into DASH, being in charge of massive "packs" at a time, cleaning eternal messes and handling much of the training. For a 19-year-old this was quite a feat: 14-hour days, every day, from the day we opened the rescue in July 2009.
Charlie helped with the adoptions of 120 dogs and puppies in the 5 months DASH was operating in 2009. When we multiply that number by the families who have a new member to love, we cannot begin to count the lives he helped “save” when his own was close to the end.
A previously undiagnosed seizure-disorder took Charlie away too soon. However, all his family and friends and dogs are dedicated to continue rescuing dogs in his memory. If there is a heaven for dogs and people, then Charlie is surely there: playing "hard to the net" hockey and running with, snuggling with and taking care of ALL of our dogs of the past.
