You could say that Brandy Gergescz has come full circle in her life as a dog owner – from purchasing in pet stores to rescuing to helping pet shops go humane. Now, the founder of Annie’s Little Angels Small Breed Dog & Cat Rescue is focusing on making a difference and doing her little dog proud.
“My first dog Annie was purchased from Happiness is Pets and she died at seven, which was very young for her breed,” says Gergescz. “I went back for a Maltese and ended up spending $3,000 on surgery on this dog when it was six months old. She had three surgeries before she was a year old. I started researching the breeders and found that Annie had come from a smaller breeder, but Jingles came from someone who bred and sold thousands of dogs.”
From shopping to rescuing
Those pet store dogs came from puppy mills. That was all the inspiration Gergescz needed to go to bat for some of the dogs that needed rescue the most – survivors from puppy mills and those on death row at Chicago-area open admission shelters. She discovered Petfinder 10 years ago and her first foster dog was from a puppy mill auction. She went on from there.
“We’ll often get emails from go-betweens that have contacts with the mills and they’ll send the list of the dogs that are no longer useful to the breeders. Rescues will save the dogs they can,” says Gergescz. “We took in five once from a group in Alabama that had been dropped off at a kill shelter. We’ve rescued from breeders who didn’t sell their puppies early enough and now consider them past their prime. The dogs come to us on transports to Chicago.”
One of her favorite rescues was a Pug-Chihuahua mix they called Piglet (who often snorted like a little pig). She was rescued from Alabama and appeared to be pregnant in photos sent prior to her rescue. Piglet went into labor within a few weeks of arriving and had eight puppies. Gergescz says that two of the puppies were stillborn and revived and one very small puppy died. The other seven survived and were adopted.
“Piglet is the sweetest dog and she had water behind the eye and it would pop out every once and awhile,” says Gergescz. “If she had given birth at the puppy mill, many of her puppies never would have made it. They had so many problems and needed so much attention. At a puppy mill with hundreds of dogs, no one would have cared for them or even noticed anything was going on until it was too late.”
Protests and Pet stores
Along with rescuing from puppy mills, Gergescz is active in educating local residents about pet shops and the dogs they sell. She has participated in peaceful protests outside pet stores and wants to make sure others don’t make the same mistake she made.
“When I purchased my first dogs, I trusted what I was told and I just didn’t know the true story behind Annie,” says Gergescz. “That is why it’s so important to educate people about puppy mills and the dogs sold in pet stores on the Internet and in the paper. It’s motivated me to make a real difference. I have participated in protests in my community and continue to do what I can to get the word out.”
Gergescz started partnering with Dog Patch Pet and Feed, Naperville’s oldest pet store, in late November. She now pulls dogs and cats from Chicago Animal Care and Control and other high kill facilities that are adopted out at Dog Patch. The store sold its last puppy at the end of January and now only adopts out pets that did live on death row. (See Story.)
Saving lives
“The first time I went to Chicago Animal Control, I just cried and cried when I left. We’re such a small rescue and can only do so much,” she adds. “This partnership is great because we’ve been able to save so many more animals (50 more in the first two months). We are still able to pull and foster our own dogs and care for them until they are truly ready for adoption and we find the best home for them. We are also now able to save cats as well because of Dog Patch.
“When I saw all the cats at CACC, I knew we needed to do something,” adds Gergescz. “The cat division of our rescue is called Emily’s Kitty Korner after my friend Emily Serno who is leading the effort. We also work with a second pet shop – Go Dog Go. They foster cats for us at the store and we handle the adoptions. We are also doing adoption events there. We’ve been able to save so many more animals thanks to the exposure we’ve been getting for the animals at the pet stores.”
Annie’s Little Angels will be on hand at Go Dog Go on Saturday for an adoption event that runs from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m. Many of the dogs and cats looking for homes will be on hand for adoption.
As the privately organization continues to expand their reach, they still focus a lot on the dogs that first got their attention, the small breed dogs that don’t fare well in shelters but blossom in foster care. Along with puppy mill and shelter rescues, the group also will take in some owner surrenders. Learn more about the organization online along with how to volunteer or follow them on Facebook.
Do you volunteer or work for a shelter or rescue that has programs you'd like to promote? Do you work in a pet-releated business that has an interesting story to tell? If so, contact me at kathypetexam@gmail.com. Enjoy this article? Receive email alerts when new articles become available. Just click on the subscribe button above. You may also follow me on Twitter, Facebook or read my blog.
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