I have been in and around the rescue world for over 20 years. I have fostered dogs who arrived shaking and wouldn't leave their kennel, and left tail-wagging without a single look back at me on their way to their forever home. Rude, but okay. I have driven across Alberta because a dog needed help. I have donated, volunteered, advocated, and cried in my car more times than I care to admit because a dog I loved went back into a system that wasn't ready for them.
And most times I've learned the hard way, that not all rescues are created equal.
This series is not a takedown. It is an education. Because the Calgary animal rescue world is full of extraordinary people doing extraordinary work with extraordinary dogs, and it is also has a small bubble of organizations that have lost the plot somewhere between good intentions and ego, burnout, and power. Two things can be true at the same time.
The animals always pay the price when that happens. And so do the people who give their hearts to it.
So before you sign up to volunteer, submit that foster application, or send that donation, here is what I want you to know.
The Rescue Vetting Process Goes Both Ways
We talk a lot about rescues vetting potential adopters and foster families, and they should. That screening process exists to protect the animals. But what we talk about far less is this: you get to vet the rescue right back.
You are not just offering your time. You are offering your home, your nervous system, your schedule, and in the case of fostering, you are opening your heart and your life to an animal who may arrive traumatized, reactive, medically complex, or all three at once. You are going to fall in love with them. That is not a risk of fostering, it is a certainty. A rescue worth your time understands the weight of that and supports you and the animal accordingly. Full stop.
A rescue that expects your devotion without offering transparency, communication, or care in return is not an organization you want to be inside.
What to Look at for Before You Donate, Volunteer or Foster With a Rescue in Calgary
Before you commit to an organization, do some research. Visit their website, keeping in mind that websites can be full of aspirational language that does not reflect how things actually operate. Follow their social media. Read Google reviews, knowing that some organizations are very motivated to have negative reviews removed. Ask around in your local dog community. Join Calgary and Alberta dog rescue Facebook groups and pay attention to what people say, and what they go conspicuously quiet about, when specific names come up.
I thought I had done my due diligence by talking to volunteers, fosters and attending adoption events to see how the rescue was run, so don’t beat yourself up if you still end up with the wrong rescue.
Look for things like:
How do they talk about their dogs? Not just in the polished adoption posts, but in the hard situations. Do they share when a dog is struggling? Do they ask for help? Or is every dog presented as a perfect, problem-free candidate for adoption, and then you find out differently when the dog arrives in your home?
How do they treat the people in their community? Organizations with healthy cultures tend to have volunteers who stick around for years. Organizations with poor cultures tend to have high turnover and a lot of vague, uncomfortable stories that people are reluctant to share publicly. I have fostered for two Calgary rescues where volunteers, fosters, and even board members were afraid to raise concerns because they were afraid of the response.
Are they transparent about their finances? Registered charities in Canada are required to file publicly available documents with the CRA. You can look up any registered charity in Canada, including Alberta rescues, at www.canada.ca/charities-registry. This will not tell you everything, but it will tell you something, including whether anyone on the board of directors is collecting a salary that would raise your eyebrows.
Honestly, some amazing rescues aren’t registered charities, there’s a lot of work that has to go into the process; which means there are limitations within the registration for the rescue. For one, Boxer Rescue Canada isn't a registered charity, but they have been one of the rescues I have supported for over 10 years and not only that, cannot see myself not supporting anytime soon.
Ask the Difficult Questions. Every. Single. One.
This is the part people skip because it feels rude and I get it, I just want to be liked too. You just want to help dogs, and stopping to interrogate the organization feels like it slows that down. It is not rude. It is necessary.
You are about to give a piece of yourself to this work. Some rescues know exactly how much that costs you, and they will use it. They will rely on your love for the animals to keep you quiet when things are not right. They will make you feel that asking questions is a betrayal of the dogs. It is not. The dogs are better protected when the humans around them ask hard questions and expect honest answers.
I know this from experience. My most recent foster was returned to the shelter not because the placement was failing, but because someone in a position of leadership did not like being held accountable. I asked for respectful communication, flagged factual errors, and contacted a trainer to build a plan for finding this dog her forever family. That dog went back to the shelter, with the recommendation of a medical work up as suggested by the trainer likely ignored by the rescue. The placement ended before it should have, for reasons that had nothing to do with her and everything to do with ego. That is the pattern this series is about.
Here is what you should be asking before you commit:
About the dogs themselves:
- Has this dog been medically cleared and behavioral assessed? Whatever the rescue does or does not know about a dog's history, a vet record should exist and you should have a copy before the dog enters your home.
- What do you know about their history and reactivity?
- What does this dog need to feel safe in a new environment?
- If the placement is not working out, what is the process and what support do I receive?
- Who do I contact if there is a crisis at 10pm on a Saturday?
About the organization:
- What does your volunteer and foster support look like day to day?
- Is there a written contract outlining my responsibilities and yours?
- Who is responsible for veterinary costs while I am fostering, and what is and is not covered?
- Am I permitted to share the dog's story and photos on social media?
- Is there a training program or onboarding process for new fosters?
- What happens if there is a serious behavioural incident in my home?
And the one that tells you almost everything:
- If this dog does not work out in my home, what are my options and what are theirs?
A good rescue will answer these questions without flinching. They may not have every answer immediately, but they will find out and follow up. If an organization hesitates, deflects, or makes you feel that asking questions makes you a difficult volunteer, that is your answer. That is your information.
The Home Check Is Not Optional
A reputable rescue conducts a home check before placing a dog with a foster or adopter. This is not bureaucracy. It is one of the basic ways an organization confirms the environment is appropriate for the animal and that the person taking them home is genuinely set up to succeed.
I learned this lesson clearly during one of my foster experiences. The rescue claimed to do home checks as part of their standard process. When it came to my placement, I was told not to bother sending photos of my space because she trusted me. What I understood later was that she wanted this dog out of her care as quickly as possible. A home check that does not happen is not a home check. It is an organization moving animals fast with as little friction as possible, and cutting corners on the very steps that are meant to protect the dog and the foster alike.
In the same conversation, that person spoke poorly about the foster who had cared for this dog before me. That detail stuck with me. An organization that badmouths the people who gave their time and home to their animals is telling you exactly how they will speak about you once you are no longer convenient.
Green Flags: What Good Looks Like
A rescue worth your time tends to look like this:
They have a written foster contract. They have a training program or clear onboarding process for new volunteers. They assess their dogs medically and behaviourally, to the best of their ability, and they share that information honestly. They conduct real home checks, not optional ones. They match fosters and adopters thoughtfully, not just based on who applied first or who will take the dog fastest. They have people in place to support you when things get hard, and things will sometimes get hard. They problem-solve rather than shame. They respond to concerns with care rather than defensiveness. Their volunteers stay. Their alumni come back. People in the community speak about them warmly and without hesitation.
Most importantly, they treat the dogs as the point of the whole operation, not as inventory, not as content for donation campaigns, and not as a means to someone else's sense of purpose or control.
Red Flags: What Should Give You Pause
- High volunteer turnover with vague or evasive explanations
- Reluctance to share a dog's medical records or behavioural history
- Pressure to take a placement before you feel ready or fully informed
- Home checks that are skipped or treated as a formality
- No written agreement outlining responsibilities and veterinary costs
- Leadership that responds to accountability with hostility
- A pattern of speaking poorly about past volunteers, fosters, or partner organizations
- Communication that shuts down the moment you raise a concern
- An atmosphere where urgency and emotional pressure substitute for process and genuine support
None of these things in isolation is necessarily a dealbreaker. All of them together should make you slow down considerably.
One more thing worth noting. If a rescue operates a physical shelter and is consistently at capacity while actively importing animals from other countries, it is worth asking who that intake is serving. Canada is fortunate. We have fewer shelters than most countries and more soft places for animals to land. But a shelter is still a shelter, and it should never be the default when other options exist.
A Note on Manipulation
I want to say this plainly because not enough people do. I want the message to be clear.
Rescues know that the people who support, foster and volunteer are doing it because they love animals, often deeply and sacrificially. Some rescues use that love as leverage. They will make you feel that asking questions is a betrayal of the animals, or how dare you not trust the team. They will imply that your concerns are less important than the dogs’ needs, as if those two things are somehow in opposition. They will turn cost into a guilt trip, framing every dollar spent on one animal as a dollar taken from another. They will make the emotional cost to you invisible while using the emotional stakes for the animals to keep you compliant and quiet.
Your love for the animals is not a weakness. It is your greatest asset in this work. An organization that uses it to manage you rather than support you does not deserve it.
Trust Your Animal Instincts, Just Like the Animals Do
Dogs know who is safe. They read it faster than we do and they are almost always right. I have started trusting that instinct in myself.
When something feels off, it usually is. Trust it. Ask the question. Expect the answer.
If you are based in Calgary or Alberta and looking for a rescue worth your time, these questions apply to every organization operating in our community. The dogs deserve people who ask them. So do you.
I am not the only one. There are public accounts from other volunteers and fosters in this community that reflect the same patterns. They are not hard to find *ahem Reddit*.
Keep an eye out for the second post in this three post mini series here.
Photos taken at The Street Life to the Sweet Life a great rescue located in Houston Texas.