By William Smith
For the past 12 years, Teresa Kurth has provided a home for lost dogs who have nowhere else to go.
That’s when she started her nonprofit organization, A Little Bit of Country Dog Rescue, in rural Wever. Kurth has lived in the Lee County area for the past 27 years.
“Our kids pretty much grew up here. My youngest daughter wanted to volunteer at the Des Moines County Humane Society, but she wasn’t old enough to do it by herself. So I had to volunteer with her,” she said.
What started as a favor for her child became something much more. Her daughter started losing interest. But not Kurth.
“It turned out I enjoyed it more than she did. They hired me there part-time, and I worked there for six years,” Kurth said.
Kurth has worked full-time as a pediatric nurse for more than two decades and worked at the shelter due to her love of animals.
“It was a paid hobby,” she said.
After leaving the shelter, Kurth told her husband that she wanted to start a dog rescue – if they moved out to the country.
Her wish was answered 12 years ago in Wever. The property had previously been used for breeding English bulldogs.
“So some of this stuff was already in place to make a rescue. I wasn’t licensed right away, but I was still rescuing where I could. And then I did get licensed.”
Kurth places about 80 dogs a year. She tries to focus on smaller dogs but has adopted out just about every kind of pooch imaginable so far. They have plenty of room to roam and live in a kennel area behind Kurth’s house.
“When I worked at the shelter, I saw how scared the small dogs were being surrounded by these big, loud dogs. So I wanted a place for small dogs to go, so they weren’t so scared,” she said. “Small dogs tend to get adopted quickly.”
A Little Bit of Country Dog Rescue has fostered up to 22 dogs at once and has a whelping room for giving birth. Typically, Kirth houses about half that number.
“I don’t really have a limit as long as I can provide proper space for each dog,” Kurth said.
Kurth said that most of the dogs she takes in are surrendered by families who have lost a loved one with a pet. Those pets often have no place to go.
Kurth sympathizes with felines as much as she does canines, but with her setup, caring for cats isn’t an option.
“Cats are going to do whatever they want to do,” Kurth said.
Adopting a dog is a process for Kurth, and she never skips any steps. She wants to ensure that every pooch she lets go has a loving family ready to care for them, and that takes some interaction.
“I just can’t send them to a person’s house,” she said.
Kurth insists the new owners meet the dog first and consider the environment the dog will be encountering. Are there other dogs and cats in the home? How do they interact with other dogs? Are there small children? Do they know how to interact with dogs?
The longest Kurth has kept a dog was a year and two months, which is far longer than most of the pooches’ residency. Puppies tend to get adopted in a matter of weeks.
Kurth would love to take them all herself — but she already has four dogs of her own. No other dogs are allowed in.
“The dogs that enter my house never leave,” she said with a laugh.
Not every adoption works out, and that’s okay, too. She wishes they did, though.
“If a dog is not doing well in their new home, I take the dog back. I don’t get a lot of returns, but it happens on occasion,” she said.
Kurth utilizes other volunteer foster families who work with her and has created a network of rescuers with a single goal: to find the best home possible for the dog. Everyone who adopts has three days to decide if the new dog is a good fit for them.
“I do a home visit when there are other animals; I call their vet to make sure they keep their dogs current on vaccinations and that they’ve been fixed,” she said. “It’s actually very eye-opening, the number of people who tell you that you can call their vet, and their dog hasn’t been there for a year or two. If you’re not doing it with your current pet, you’re probably not going to do it with the new one.”
Kurth has no set hours, and appointments are by request.
To learn more or set up an appointment, visit A Little Bit of Country Dog Rescue Facebook page.