www.cockerspaniel rescue.com!

Our new website is a great success! We have just been on the Internet for a few months and already the number of "hits" on the site keep increasing daily. More and more people are finding us through search engines and word-of-mouth. Please help us publicize our rescue efforts to your friends and neighbors.

Special thanks to Debbie Turley, who heads up our website committee, for volunteering her talent and efforts to establish an interesting website. Thanks also to all the website volunteers who work hard to spread the word about our rescue cockers.

Please remember, however, that the website is totally new to all of us, so if anyone has additional suggestions or comments on how to improve our site, please feel free to contact us. Your thoughts and comments are important to us and it means a lot to hear from each and every one of you!

Almost 100 dogs placed last year

It is with a real sense of accomplishment that we announce that Oldies But Goodies Cocker Rescue placed almost 100 dogs in 1998. These animals were either rescued in cooperation with local animal shelters, found as strays, or given up by former owners.

The nearly 100 adoptive families have our most sincere thanks for giving these dogs a second chance to live their lives to the fullest. Our thanks also, to the increasing numbers of volunteers who help Oldies But Goodies Cocker Rescue in northern Virginia. Without their unpaid efforts, the number of rescued cockers finding homes would be much lower. Through these combined efforts, we hope to place even more dogs in 1999.

We continue to hold our Adoption Days.   You can find us at the:

• Tysons Corner Petco on the first Saturday of every month from noon until 3:00 P.M.
• Chantilly Petco at the Greenbrier Shopping Center on the third Saturday of every month from noon until 3:00 P.M.

Each Adoption Day, we present approximately eight rescued dogs who are looking for good homes. We invite all to come see our dogs, talk with our volunteers, and spread the word about our rescue activities.

We're on the Internet!

View the dogs we currently have available for adoption at the following web sites:
Oldies But Goodies Home Page
Petfinder
CockerCondo

and special thanks to other web sites that have given us links:
Cocker Spaniel Adoption Center
Dog-On-It
Mid-Michigan Cocker Rescue

From the Founder of Oldies But Goodies Cocker Rescue ...

It is mind boggling and awe inspiring to realize how many rescued cockers we placed in 1998, and to realize the amount of hard work all of us had to put into that effort. Even more will be required in 1999, but with help from our volunteers, and the general public, we hope this will be possible.

This newsletter and our website are two new areas that will promote news about cocker adoptions. Using this newsletter, we hope to have more frequent mailings to our list of adopters with the hope that you will pass it on to others thinking about a possible adoption. Please share this newsletter with anyone who is thinking about fostering a rescued dog, even on a temporary basis. We really need new fosters so that other dogs can come into the program.

--Debbie R

could YOU foster me?

We Address a Common
Objection to Adopting an Older Dog: "They Don't Live Long Enough "

We've often heard people who are dog lovers say that they don't want to adopt an older dog because they will be heartbroken too soon when the dog dies. We must agree that it seems to us, too, that our old dogs don't live

We think that maturity in a dog is SO positive in SO many ways that any disadvantage pales in comparison. We also think that it is quality of time together that matters more than quantity. We admit that it takes strength to make a commitment to loving a dog who may not be with you very long. Not everyone has that kind of strength. On certain occasions, after losing a beloved older dog, we've wondered whether we ourselves can find that strength again. But, in the end, the question we always ask ourselves is: If we don't adopt the older ones, who will?

Adopting a dog that no one wants because of age is an important statement about compassion. Although it does require strength and conviction, making that statement holds great personal and societal rewards.