Rocky and Rustys Redemption Rescue
It’s alarming how many animals do not have a forever home, or that endure horrific abuse/neglect in our country. One Mauston, Wisconsin couple, Alexis Schaffer and her fiancé, Tim Clark are making a difference one animal at a time in the Driftless Area.
Rocky and Rustys Redemption Rescue, an all-volunteer, foster home based, certified 501(c)(3), state licensed dog rescue organization, all started because Alexis’ two innocent dogs Rocky and Rusty were poisoned. Rusty, now about 10 years-old, was lucky, while his mate Rocky passed away due to the poisoning. After the devastating loss of Rocky, Alexis said their family, decided they wanted to save as many helpless dogs, in horrible situations as they could. “That was over eight years ago that our dogs were poisoned. But after that, we did an event, and that made us want to open our own rescue. And that's what we did. So, we hold a fundraising and awareness event around Easter every year around when the poisoning happened.” said Alexis.
The non-profit states their mission and vision are to save dogs of all sizes and all breeds by getting them healthy and placing them into loving, forever homes, one wag at a time. Although they do not have a physical shelter, the rescue instead operates through foster homes, online databases, and adoption events. The majority of their animals come from owner surrenders, puppy mills, and shelters.
The rescue is committed to providing the dogs that come into their Rescue with the best care, while they wait for their forever homes. That includes acclimating them to life outside of cages and providing the appropriate veterinary care and training needed for each dog.
The rescue has big plans in the works. Alexis said she and Tim recently bought 15 acres, and their goal is to put up tiny dog homes. “That’s what we're calling them. They will be 10’ by 12’ buildings that we're turning into more of a home setting instead of kennels like a shelter would have. We want to reduce their stress so they're more acclimated to a home setting versus being in a kennel”.
Running a rescue takes a lot of resources though. Relying on their dedicated volunteers that include the fosters, Alexis said they rely on donations along with fundraising events like the one held last weekend at the Reedsburg Area Community Arena. The fundraiser was a very large rummage sale, that also featured vendors, a kid’s craft market, and the Flavor Rescue Food Truck. “Our last event was our Easter event. We held a big Easter egg hunt and other activities. The event this weekend is the first big event that we've held since Covid, other than a smaller one at a restaurant,” Alexis noted.
Finding themselves with a ton of left over items from the rummage sale, she was wondering what to do with it all. She had, as she put it, “a crazy idea”. One of the vendors at the event was her friend Beth who owns 17 Again Salon & Spa in Wonewoc. Alexis recalled that Beth had a space above her business that was not being used. Alexis pitched the idea to Beth about opening up a thrift store above that could help generate funding for the rescue. Beth obliged and said, “sure why not”. “I recently had remodeled the space upstairs and thought it would be a good use of the space.” Plans are in the works now for a thrift store named, Cerberus Thrifty Tails: Something old? Something new? No matter what, there’s something for you.
Beth also fosters dogs for the rescue and has adopted 2 from Alexis as well. “Alexis has selfless intentions and does the best she can to advocate for animals that can’t speak for themselves. She is one of the best people I know.”
The rescue had a recent and heartwarming rescue in a dog named Buddy. Buddy a Great Pyrenees, came to the rescue from Tennessee, and his story is one of triumph over a tragic situation. Alexis’ dad Jim and her step-mother live in Tennessee. They had seen Buddy come around and he seemed to be a stray. But Buddy was not well, he had a gaping wound on top of his right hip. “He walked up to their house”, Alexis said. “And he actually walked up to at least three other houses that we know of. My dad started stopping at people's houses to see if they knew who he was. And they were like, ‘oh, no, we saw him, but then he took off’. My dad finally did find his owners. He was missing for at least two weeks and the last time the owners saw him, he had the wound.”
Turns out, Buddy had meandered his way to Jim’s area over that two-week period from about a 20-minute car drive away. Eventually, Jim asked the owners if they knew how Buddy received the wound. They told him, all they knew was that supposedly Buddy had been into their neighbors’ chickens and didn’t know if that had anything to do with it. They also said that they would see their dog, but Buddy would not come to them.
“My little sister Tiffany posted pictures on Facebook to try and find his owners. I saw them, called my dad, and he and my step mom Beverly, started driving around and knocking on people’s doors. My dad had called a mobile vet to see if they could come out to them, but they never returned the call. “So, I started calling around and got a hold of Hooks vet clinic and emailed them a picture asking if they could handle fixing him up. They said no problem bring him here. I told my dad to get him to the vet and I'd post a fundraiser to try and raise funds for his bill,”, Alexis said with a smile.
Alexis got busy on the rescue’s Facebook page, posting the story and photos of Buddy and his dire condition. It was not long before donations to help Buddy came pouring in. “The outpouring of support was pretty decent. We raised enough money to cover his vet bill, though, when we went down there, I owed like $2 and some odd cents,” she said laughing.
“So, the vet said, they couldn’t say for sure what happened to him, but they did find buckshot in him. I mean, who shoots a dog?!”
Eventually, the owners agreed to surrender their dog to the rescue. After receiving lifesaving surgery, a treatment for heartworm, and convalescing at Jim’s place, Alexis and Tim loaded the family up and drove down to Tennessee to get Buddy.
Still on the mend and receiving antibiotics but thriving, today Buddy lives with his foster mom Cherie Green in Wisconsin.
“Unfortunately, well, I shouldn't say unfortunately, but, the hard cases like Buddy’s are what get me. We’ve taken in a lot of medical cases, which is what much of our funding goes towards. In other cases, adoption fees will cover their costs,” Alexis stressed.
Alexis said that she and Tim just enjoy helping animals. She pointed out that although they rescue mostly dogs, they also have cats being fostered, but will help any animal. “Somebody just called me a bit ago about a rooster. So, we do help any animal we can, and if we can't, we try to find somebody that can.”
Trigger Warning: there are some graphic photos of Buddy’s wound.
