Transparency

Camp Cocker is a non-profit organization that can only function due to the efforts of our volunteers and the generous donations of our many supporters.  Since we are able to function due to your donations, we also feel that transparency is the most important trait of any charitable organization.  We are extremely grateful for everyone's donations and want to make sure that our supporters know their donations are being put to use! 

It is because of this that we openly encourage our supporters to check our tax returns.  You can click on the corresponding buttons below to see them.  We feel that everyone should check the tax returns of any non-profit they donate to.  If you can not find the group's tax returns, you can look them up on Guidestar, or write the organization to request their return (known as Form 990).  Remember, all 501(c) non-profits are legally obligated to provide their tax return to any member of the public that requests it. 

Thank you all again for your help in working towards our goal!   It truly takes a village to rescue just one dog and with your support, we can keep changing the world for every shelter dog that we rescue.

Euthanasia policy

Camp Cocker Rescue never wants to euthanize a dog we have rescued.  That is the last thing we ever want to do.

However, there are times when we have to make hard decisions that is best for animal, or best for the general public's safety.

We do not euthanize for space.

We do not euthanize for financial reasons.

We will euthanize dogs for medical reasons where there is no medical solution that can offer them an outcome for a comfortable and pain free life.

We will euthanize dogs for aggression; however, there is a wide array of aggression labels that a dog can potentially get and it is not a one size fits all label.

There are dogs that have resource guarding that have the potential to bite, but if adopted out to the right dog savvy person, who can commit to managing the resource guarding for life, then this is an outcome we would hope for.

There are dogs whom due to no fault of their own, were unsocialized as puppies and by the time we rescue them as adult dogs, they are fear biters.   Some of these dogs can be managed, some can be gently socialized to trust new people, however it can be a lifelong process for each dog, no dog is exactly the same and no dog's progress is ever the same.  Our hope is to place these dogs with dog savvy adopters who can commit to ongoing socialization and force free dog training, as well as commit to managing any introductions to new people.

If any of our dogs bites someone, we must evaluate each situation based on multiple factors.   Even the nicest of dogs are capable of biting and there are multi faceted reasons to prompt a dog to bite.

We first must determine the severity of the dog bite and evaluate the dog's ability to have bite inhibition.  We use the one to six dog bite scale, created by Dr. Ian Dunbar (a veterinarian, animal behaviorist and dog trainer). 

We also evaluate the events that led up to a dog bite, what prompted the dog to bite.  We evaluate if there are ways to prevent future dog bites by managing the dog and with safety protocols in place by any humans that may interact with the dog. 

Some dogs and aggression triggers can be managed and some cannot.  Aggression is a widely used label but not all dogs deserve the label.   Euthanizing a dog for severe aggression is not something we like to do, but it is something we feel compelled to do in order to be responsible and keep the general public safe. 

We take euthanasia very seriously, it's the last thing we ever want to do for any dog we rescue.   However, there are times when euthanasia is necessary, either for a humane reason to get the dog out of pain when there is no medical solution, or for a socially responsible reason when we learn we have a severely severely aggressive dog that gives no warnings and has no bite inhibition.