National Brussels Griffon Rescue
What’s the NBGR history? Margie Simon was the founder and president of the National Brussels Griffon Club (NBGC), and she served as vice president of the AKC parent club, the American Brussels Griffon Association (ABGA), for many years.
A life-long rescuer, Margie founded National Brussels Griffon Rescue (NBGR) in the mid-1990s. Her vision and timing were spot on. Following the introduction of the delightful little Griff, Verdell, in the movie As Good as It Gets, which was released in late 1997, there was a very significant increase in the number of people thinking they wanted to own a Brussels Griffon. There was a flood of irresponsible breeders looking to make a fast buck and a good number of new owners who did not know anything about the breed other than it was ‘cute’. Margie’s rescue efforts focused on keeping Brussels Griffons away from puppy mills, pet shops, commercial breeders -- and eventually shelters -- by educating buyers and bringing the problem to the attention of fanciers.
When National Brussels Griffon Rescue, Inc., became a separate entity and a 501(c)(3) charity in 2003, Margie served as its first president. Sadly, we lost Margie in 2019, but we continue our mission in her honor. NBGR maintains a foster-based, all-volunteer, national
What does NBGR do (in general)? Rescuing the dog is the first step. Whether we are working with a family who needs to rehome their Griff or if the Griff is in a shelter, information must be gathered so we can find a suitable foster home. Once a foster home is found, we arrange transportation. The foster family takes their rescue to a vet for medical evaluation and setting a plan of action for medical needs to be addressed. The foster family takes note of, and works with, the rescue on any issues – house training, crate training, resource guarding, socialization, confidence building, etc., to get them ready for adoption.
Meanwhile our adoption coordinators work closely with the foster family to get to know the rescue. Information gathered will be beneficial when reviewing applications and searching for the perfect family for each rescue.
From intake to adoption, it can take several weeks to a several months depending on the particulars. Until the forever family is found, each rescue is cared for and loved in their foster home. Our foster families and our adoption coordinators work very hard to ensure the best, and happiest, match for our rescues and their adoptive families.
Where do your rescues come from? The majority of our rescues come from owner surrenders. We are there when people experience life-altering changes -- a new
network committed to rescuing, medically and emotionally treating, and rehoming
Brussels Griffons who have been abandoned, lost, abused, or surrendered.
baby, a divorce, a move, a loss of ability to care for themselves, various tragedies, sickness, or death.
We pull from shelters and have had a fair number come to us from mill backgrounds. We also work with other rescue groups who transfer Griffs from their rescue programs to NBGR.
Barring a life-altering event, why would anyone willingly surrender their Brussels Griffon? While it is hard for us to understand why someone could let their Griff(s) go, it happens. We want anyone making that decision to know we are not here to judge; we are here to help. We want them to feel comfortable placing their Griff in our program, knowing that we are going to do everything in our power to address their Griff’s medical needs and find them the very best home.
How many Griffs do you help a year? Year to year, we don’t know how many Griffs will require our help, or when or where. Frequently our rescues come to us as singles, but we often receive bonded pairs, and there are times we bring in multiple Griffs from hoarding or breeder-release situations. Since our database was implemented (2006), we have brought more than 1,500 Griffs into our program. Over the sixteen- year period, we have averaged about 99 intakes a year.
What is your biggest expense? Hands down -- veterinary costs. Not only do we have the expense of new intakes, we also have harder-to-place rescues who are with us for extended periods. Additionally, we have our Paws of Winter (POW) residents, our permanent senior and special-needs Griffs who stay in our program, with all their medical expenses covered until they take their last breath.
Besides vetting, what other expenses do you have? Our administration costs for running our NBGR operations. We are strictly volunteer-based; we have no paid employees. We also have no shelter, vehicle, or building expenses.
Our admin expenses include operating necessities, such as:
Dues & Subscriptions (QuickBooks, Claris, Domains, Website)
Legal & Professional (Accounting, IT) Insurance
Office supplies, postage, PayPal fees
What’s the difference between NBGR, NBGC, and other Griff-associated operations?
NBGR acts as the official rescue organization for ABGA. Other than that arrangement, none of the groups are connected, except for our shared love of the breed.
National Brussels Griffon Rescue (NBGR) is a non-profit, all-volunteer rescue
group dedicated to
.
rehoming Brussels Griffons who have been abandoned,
lost, abused, or surrendered
National Brussels Griffon Club (NBGC) is a membership club for
Brussels
Griffon fanciers with a wide variety of interests, including AKC confirmation,
obedience, agility, tracking, rescue, therapy, service, and companionship.
In addition, NBGC invites all owners of a Brussels Griffon to join in order to
learn more about the breed and meet other Brussels Griffon owners.
American Brussels Griffon Association (ABGA) is a member of the American
Kennel Club (AKC). As the Parent Club for the Brussels Griffon in the United
States of America, it is responsible for setting the standards by which Brussels
Griffons are judged at American Kennel Club dog shows. This group is
primarily made up of members who breed and/or show.
Why is helping NBGR important? NBGR’s success is the direct result of the dedication of our NBGR family and friends. It truly takes a village to have this many years of successes.
Our donors’ generosity enables us to cover our necessary expenses. Every dollar donated matters to the rescues who have come to us and to the Griffs who will need our help in the future.
Our foster homes provide a safe, loving environment while we address each dog’s medical needs and get to know his or her personality so the adoption coordinator can arrange the best fit with an adoptive family.
Our adopters open their hearts to give our rescues the family and the loving, safe home all dogs deserve. Their adoption also opens up space in a foster home.
Our adoption coordinators juggle multiple rescues, through different phases of the process, simultaneously. Quite often they are finalizing an adoption for one rescue while starting the entire adoption process with one or more newcomers.
They often serve as foster moms for the toughest cases, and it’s not unusual for them to have at least one long-term foster living with them. They spend hours poring over applications, interviewing applicants on the phone, getting updates from foster families, writing bios, updating the database, and promoting adoption on social media. Our volunteers who do shelter checks, provide transportation, and work behind the scenes to keep our website, database, and social media running and fresh. They keep working even if they are sick, recovering from surgery, dealing with family health issues, or are just plain burnt out. They take time away from their family, friends, and their pets to see that our rescues thrive in their new homes. Because of their focus and persistence, we have a very high success rate with our placements.
What’s a misconception about NBGR that we should know? That we make a profit off of our adoption fees. NBGR asks for an adoption donation of $300 to $600 depending on the age and health of the rescue. We try to collect the higher amount for our younger, healthier rescues to help offset the expenses of our older rescues. In 2021, on average, we spent $601.19 for intake on the dogs who came into our program. But the medical, surgical, and maintenance expenses don’t end at intake. For the 64 rescues we had in our program in 2021 – which includes our Paws of Winter dogs, dogs who were already in our program prior to 2021 who are/were adoptable, and dogs who entered the program in 2021 – we spent an average of $1,068 on vetting per rescue.
Another misconception is that we get deeply discounted or free vetting. We have a very few vet clinics that give a small discount for our rescues. Most of the time we are paying the same amount for vetting as any client in the clinic.
What is something fun or successful you can say about helping Griffs? We celebrate each adoption. Whether a rescue comes to us with no issues and adopts out quickly or if a rescue has a host of issues and takes longer to adopt, we celebrate each and every rescue as they begin their adventures with their new families. Nothing brings us more joy than to see our rescues thrive. We include in this our long-term (POW) rescues who have found their spot with our wonderful long-term foster homes and are living out their lives being loved and nurtured.
The combined number of years NBGR adoption coordinators have placing our rescues is over 70. The experience gathered over the years by our adoption coordinators is one of the reasons we have such wonderful success with our placements. In each case we take our time to match the best home for each rescue.
Do you have additional questions about NBGR? Feel free to contact NBGR president, Connie Lawrence, at 713-203-7862 or conniel@andell.com. We welcome any questions or concerns you may have about NBGR and would love to have you consider joining us as a volunteer.
