Rescuing Cujo helps abused, neglected pets

Tucked alongside the steep slope of Thompson Peak west of Superior, a shady property filled with evergreens and gentle hills has transformed into the new home and safe haven for dogs needing a second chance.

Rescuing Cujo is a canine rescue center that recently relocated to the mountains of Mineral County from the desert landscape of Jamul, California. Director, Rob Harris’ undertaking is to help abused, neglected, and abandoned dogs by providing them with shelter, care, and affection until a loving home is found where they can live in comfort and safety. 

He and his team do this by temporarily housing dogs through their foster program or at their brand-new facility in Superior. Their belief is that all dogs can be saved and provided with a loving home, no matter what size or breed. 

Cujo, the dog whom the shelter was named after was Harris’ first pup. Cujo was a bulky lab/pit mix who topped out at 85 pounds. 

Harris detailed, “His size, appearance, and deep bark scared some people, mostly those who feared pit bulls.” But he had hopes of refuting those stereotypes. With several obedience classes Cujo grew to be a friendly, fun dog, who loved people and playing with other dogs.

Harris expressed, “He showed me how dogs are a great source of love, happiness and companionship.” 

“It was because of Cujo that I decided I wanted to start my own dog rescue…he showed me just how wonderful dogs can be, even those who cause fear because of their size, look, or breed.” 

Since then, Harris has owned several more. 

He shared, “It’s just my love of dogs that made me want to help them.”

So, who let the dogs out? Or rather, how did Harris and his rescue mission wind up in Big Sky Country? Well, the Buckeyes fan who grew up in Ohio, missed having the four seasons. 

After leaving the Midwest, and living in southern California for many years Harris admitted, “The heat was tough on the rescue dogs and humans.” 

Over the years he also discovered a popular show on television called Dogtown. 

Harris said, “It was based at the Best friends Animal Sanctuary in Kanab, Utah. I watched how they helped save dogs, and work with them to make them adoptable. I was also influenced by Pitbull’s and Parolees show. Both of the shows inspired me.” 

At that point Harris was living in Los Angeles. 

He described “I saw so many dogs roaming the city streets, or tied up with a large chain in a yard with no shade, and little water. I would carry canned dog food in the trunk of my car if I came across a dog that looked hungry on the streets. I also saw the beginning of homeless people who had dogs.” 

When Harris was close to retiring, he opted to chase his dream instead of working longer. 

He figured, “I wanted to be young enough to run and operate a shelter and help dogs…and since I love dogs, I wanted to have a shelter on my property where I could be with and help the dogs each day, instead of hearing from the fosters who were housing and helping the dogs.” 

After purchasing his original property back in California, he attended a week-long seminar at the Best Friends Animals Sanctuary titled “How to start your own rescue.” 

Harris noted, “They went through everything from learning how to incorporate, building a board of directors, animal intake, feeding, behavior assessments, exercising…everything that was needed to begin a new rescue. That seminar solidified my position of starting my own rescue.” 

With the overwhelming number of stray dogs in California, and the challenging dynamics between municipal animal controls, rescue shelters, and dog sanctuaries, Rescuing Cujo has worked with fewer pups than they had anticipated. 

Harris stated, “It took us awhile to get our name out there, as expected, and even though our plan was to rescue all breeds and sizes, we ended up rescuing mostly medium to large dogs. There are dozens of rescues in San Diego county, and most of them are small dog rescues.” Smaller dogs are usually easiest to place, with older people, and people in apartments or condos. 

Harris said, “But, for no reason known to us, the larger dogs gravitated to our rescue…. large dogs need rescuing too. Large dogs need able-bodied humans to care for them, and usually a yard to get exercise.” 

Their new facility above Superior is a little smaller than the previous shelter in square footage. Harris described, “Per the covenants, we’re allowed to have up to 20 dogs in the shelter. We have the space for 20 kennels.” 

And currently they have 12 dogs in their care, all of which made the journey to Montana to still remain in the safety and protection of Rescuing Cujo’s program. 75 percent of these dogs were close to being euthanized if Harris and his employees hadn’t stepped in. 

Coming from overrun shelters out of California, he explained, “They were in danger due to having kennel stress, a lack of space in the municipal/county shelter, or behavioral issues where potential adopters would pass on those dogs.” 

He continued, “We had a great reputation in our previous location in that we were labeled a “true rescue”, meaning we rescued dogs from euthanasia who needed our help.” 

Some rescues from his previous location would pull dogs from the municipal and county shelters who were in perfect health and no behavioral issues, then turn around and adopt those dogs out for a high fee. 

Harris acknowledged, “There is no fee for rescues to pull dogs from the local municipal and county shelters.” 

And although they haven’t taken in any local stray dogs yet, they are currently at capacity due to much needed space accommodations. 

Even without all of their kennels filled, Harris remarked, “As a rescue, we keep our dogs until a home is found for them, no matter how long it takes. Several of the dogs in our care don’t like other dogs, so we have to keep a kennel open on either side of those kennels in order to prevent stress with those dogs. That limits our capacity.” 

California is one of the top two states that euthanize the most animals in the country. 

Harris conveyed, “The general consensus is that relinquishments and abandoned dogs are high because of the economy…everything costs more, food, rent, etc.…and its dogs that end up being the victims.” 

In part Rescuing Cujo has a difficult quandary. Although they have moved to western Montana Harris and his crew still have a heart for dogs whose lives are literally on the line. And that’s typically not the case for pups out here in Mineral County, many of them once they have been rescued are often reunited with owners, those that do end up in shelters, eventually get adopted or aren’t at risk of euthanasia. Harris contemplated, 

“When we have space in our rescue, do we keep them open for strays or loose dogs, or do we save dogs that are scheduled to be euthanized?” 

At their previous location, as soon as they found a home for one of the dogs, they had another dog ready to be saved from euthanasia to take its place immediately. 

He conferred, “We are trying to find a balance between the two options…but until we get our dogs adopted, that issue isn’t a priority, just something to work on.” 

He has also observed, “Nationwide, dog adoptions are very low for the past two years, and owner relinquishments are very high…which results in shelters being overcrowded and shelters euthanizing perfectly healthy dogs to make room for more dogs that are either relinquished or abandoned.” 

Locally however, there are posts on social media of puppies available for sale from residents that bred their dogs, this is a pretty accurate indicator that there isn’t an overpopulation problem here. 

“Now that we’re here in Montana, our primary focus is Mineral County dogs,” affirmed Harris.

“But we also want to help save dogs in San Diego who are in danger of being euthanized. From what I’ve seen so far here in Mineral County, there doesn't appear to be an overpopulation of dog’s problem, where dogs are being euthanized due to a lack of space. From what I can see, and we’re still learning and observing, stray dogs and dogs that have gone missing off their property seem to be the main problem.” 

Rescuing Cujo is scheduled to bring in one local dog whose owner passed. 

“We hear she likes other dogs, so we will be introducing her to the dogs in our care who also like other dogs,” mentioned Harris. “We would love to have all the dogs in our care like other dogs and be able to be next to other dogs, play with other dogs, but that’s not our reality presently.” 

All the new dogs that enter the rescue center, work solely with Harris for the first two weeks. 

He informed, “I do my best to assess their behavior before I subject those dogs to my employee or volunteers...I would rather be the one to receive any bad behavior than my employee or volunteers.” 

After that initial period, they try to train the dogs, or work on any bad behaviors, with the purpose of making the dogs more adoptable. 

Harris said, “We do have one dog in our care that will live the rest of his life with us, so in that sense, we’re a sanctuary for him.” 

Many of the dogs that ended up at Rescuing Cujo have rough backgrounds, and their negative behavior is usually human caused.

Harris reckoned, “Humans are the ones that mistreat, neglect or abuse the dogs. We have had several dogs with such histories, and we do our best to build trust with the dogs and help them.” 

Here in Montana, the board president and one employee, and her husband, all came with the rescue when they relocated to Superior. The remaining board member resides in California. 

Harris said, “We’re loving the property here in Superior, especially the dogs. The trees provide shade, there’s grass for the dogs to run around in, bushes to explore…a big change from our previous location where it was mostly dirt. The humans love seeing the wildlife here, too…we’ve seen one bear, several deer, and turkeys.”

All of their kennels constructed around their bright red outbuilding are four feet by eight feet inside, and four feet by six feet outside. They are connected by dog doors. Harris explained, “The dogs learn to go to the bathroom in their outside kennel, which helps when our dogs get adopted into a home.” 

The outdoor kennels have metal rooves to keep the dogs out of the elements. The rescue center aims get the dogs out of their kennels four to five times every day, either for a walk in the early morning and evening, or for off-leash dog park time for 45 minutes mid-morning and early afternoon. 

Since arriving in May, Harrison shared, “We haven’t had one adoption inquiry for one of our dogs, but we have received five to six inquiries from residents of Montana about relinquishing their dog to us. Up until about two weeks ago, we were averaging three to five calls or emails a week from residents in San Diego county inquiring about relinquishing their dogs.” 

Rescuing Cujo deeply desires to meet the expectations of the residents in Mineral County. Harris confessed, “We need to adjust our mentality of coming from our physical location in Jamul, California, with a population of 6,000, out of three million people in San Diego County, to Mineral County, population of 5100.” 

Harris wants to prioritize serving dogs and their owners in Mineral County. 

He said, “This would include helping dog owners keep their dogs instead of relinquishing them, either by assisting with training, behavioral modification, fortifying existing enclosures to prevent escaping, providing food for dogs, etc.…. which is what we did at our previous location.”

Volunteer opportunities at Rescuing Cujo involve helping walk the dogs, as well as supervising and interacting with our dogs in one of the four dog parks. 

Harris stated, “Helping us walk the dogs takes no more than an hour of the volunteer’s time. Interacting with the dogs in our parks takes just over two hours of their time. The biggest reason we seek out volunteers to help us is that they help us socialize our dogs with new faces, not just the same people they see each day.” 

Their primary focus has and always will be to help dogs who have been abused, neglected, and are in danger of being euthanized. But Harris expressed, “Until we can get our current dogs into loving homes, we won’t have the space to help such dogs.” 

Twelve wonderful pups are waiting for forever homes up at Rescuing Cujo in Superior at this time. Go take lovable Sammy for a walk, play fetch with Gizmo, or give Petey a belly rub. You’ll be better for it, and maybe even convicted to bring one of these sweetheart’s home. Their minimal adoption fee is a donation of $50. All of the dogs that are adopted out are altered, microchipped and current on vaccinations. 

Harris concluded, “We plan on holding adoption events locally and in Missoula, with the purpose of getting our rescue dogs the exposure needed to find them a loving home. The wish of Rescuing Cujo, as well as all rescues, is that all dogs are in loving homes, being cared for, and aren’t being euthanized for no fault of their own.”  

    This friendly boy is named Petey. He is a 6-year-old husky/akita mix who is available for adoption at Rescuing Cujo. (Mineral Independent/Amy Quinlivan)