Dogs of Portugal is here to redefine the meaning of animal care: It is a radically new, systematic, resources-oriented approach to rescuing, assisting, rehabilitating and adopting of abandoned and abused dogs.
It is a cut with the past: Animal care in Portugal is until today mostly about underfunded and mismanaged organisations composed of the stereotypical “tea-drinking old ladies”; running overpopulated, understaffed shelters with little concern about the overall conditions of hygiene, sanitation, medical care, infrastructure, social interaction and psychological balance of the animals under their care. Whole structures rely solely upon strong leaderships, but lack completely the managerial disciplines that are essential for any institution to realise its vision.
We, at Dogs of Portugal, have a radically new, totally rational and constantly updated view on animal care: We do not run a shelter. We offer to shelters in need throughout Portugal the knowledge, skills and raw work capacity of a strongly motivated team of professionals with extensive experience in animal care and shelter management.
Whereas others just “collect” stray dogs and hope and pray for the best, having no contingency plans of any kind. Dogs of Portugal helps already well managed shelters to develop into world class institutions, by ways of helping them to optimise the management of their human and material resources and their fundraising capabilities, better the efficiency of their infrastructure, increase the number of successful adoptions, among other key issues.
Dogs of Portugal is composed of a core of highly trained young professionals, each of them with years of experience as volunteers or even board membership from some of the most highly regarded animal charities in Portugal. We all work on a non-remunerated basis, giving out of their free time between 10 to 20 hours a week. Only really motivated, seriously committed people can be part of this group.
Every member of Dogs of Portugal is selected for his/her skills, and accordingly develop and manage the programs that are more closely related to his/her area of expertise. There is no place for “amateurism” within Dogs of Portugal: as we began to say, we move within a resources-oriented framework, meaning that we only plan and go forward with projects that have been thoroughly analised and have already allocated the financial and human resources necessary for a successful outcome.
Of course, being an NGO, having absolutely no financial support from any governmental institution, Dogs of Portugal functions on the basis of monetary donations from people and enterprises that are sensible to the cause of rescuing abandoned dogs.
Unlike most animal charities in Portugal, Dogs of Portugal makes a point of honour of showing to our benefactors total transparency and accountability: Giving even the smallest sum of money to Dogs of Portugal allows the donor to receive e-mail updates, newsletters, and all access to our website where all projects will be published and adopted dogs will be shown in their new homes! We are aware of how frustrating it can be to deal with most Portuguese institutions, where emails from customers are ignored as a matter of course: The golden rule of Dogs of Portugal is that all and every enquiry from our benefactors must be answered immediately! Rest assured that we will not make exceptions to this rule.
So here´s the deal: We would like you to become a part of this project, and help us save the lives of hundreds of destitute dogs in Portugal, and to find good responsible owners for dozens of them, too! A contribution of 2, 5 or 10 euros per month can make all the difference: We are working towards having thousands of sponsors, which will allow Dogs of Portugal a steady and dependable income, from which to fund more and more life-changing projects and help finance more and more adoptions! One person giving a one-of donation of 2000 euros would be great, but having 1000 sponsors giving 2 euros every month allows for planning ahead, and there is where we want to go!
Please promote our cause: Join us on Facebook, visit our website, tell your friends and family about us! Help us give the Dogs of Portugal a better life. Because we owe it to them. Thank you!
