RezQ Dogs provides haven for the injured, neglected

DODSON As Anita Wilke opens the gate to the property that houses RezQ Dogs, the dogs inhabiting about a dozen outdoor kennels bark and howl, jumping up on the chain link to get a better view of the visitors.

Many of the dogs at RezQ have come to the property about five miles west of Dodson on the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation as strays, some as owner surrenders or after being picked up following an injury.

Jai, an Australian shepherd mix, flops down in his kennel, panting at 100 miles per hour after enjoying an early afternoon run. He's active and outgoing, barking to greet the people who walk by him, but he needs socialization and training.

Chevy, a 4-year-old St. Bernard, was brought to RezQ because his owners had too many dogs. He lies in the cool dirt, languidly watching the action around him, but is quick to greet people.

Brownie, a German wirehaired pointer mix, was brought to RezQ from the Rocky Boy's Reservation, finally caught after 18 months of attempts. During that time, she gave birth to five litters — 32 puppies.

And there are two litters of puppies, "bottle babies" found in dumpsters.

Thirty dogs have found refuge here. The facility, built in the yard of founders Jim and Anita Wilke, has been a haven for injured, stray, neglected and surrendered dogs since 2007.

Most of the dogs come from the Fort Belknap and Rocky Boy's reservations. Fort Belknap animal control brings many of the dogs, the Wilkes say. Some animals come from Hill County when their likely fate would be euthanasia.

"They know when you save their lives," said Anita Wilke, president of RezQ Dogs. She long ago quit her full-time job to work for the rescue.

"They have to know," echoed her husband, Jim, who continues to work full time. "They must."

The rescue began by accident in 2007. Jim's daughter called him to tell him that animal control had two puppies that they would destroy if nobody adopted them. Jim went to pick up the puppies, but discovered there were six adult dogs, too, including a pregnant female.

He brought them all home.

"It's tough when they're all looking at you with hope in their eye," Jim said, recalling that incident.

Overnight, the pregnant female gave birth to 12 puppies. The Wilkes, who already had a couple of dogs of their own, suddenly had 20 more to care for. They drove stakes in the ground and set up chain-link fence, their first kennels.

Before that incident, the Wilkes would take in a dog here and a dog there, knowing that Fort Belknap Fish and Wildlife Department had a high euthanasia rate.

In 2010, RezQ Dogs became an official 501(c)3 nonprofit corporation. The rescue takes in between 300 and 400 dogs a year, the vast majority of which are transported to other rescues and animal shelters for adoption. A few cats, foul and even a guinea pig here and there have found their way here, too.

But 30 dogs is just about their capacity. On the afternoon the Tribune visited RezQ Dogs, a phone call comes from Greg Sears, animal officer with Fort Belknap Fish and Wildlife, about a dog that had not been reclaimed by its owner. Anita sighs and says she'll pick it up tomorrow.

According to Sears, RezQ takes anywhere between 10 and 30 animals each month from Fort Belknap Animal Control. Strays that are likely owned by someone are kept for five days before being turned over to RezQ. Sick or injured dogs or owner surrenders are sent immediately.

"Our euthanasia (rate) has gone almost to zero from about 99 percent," Sears said, noting only the sickest or very injured dogs now need to be euthanized.

For the Wilkes, the work is hard, and the commitment huge. The couple hasn't been on a vacation together in about seven years, Anita says. About two years ago, Anita was able to get away for a couple of weeks to visit her native Poland.

RezQ has no other staff but a small cadre of volunteers who help when they can. The rescue also has a robust Facebook presence. With a budget between $80,000 and $90,000 each year, RezQ Dogs relies exclusively on donations.

RezQ often gets some of the most desperate cases: Dogs come scabbed over with mange or with porcupine quills embedded in their faces. Some have never eaten dog food before or spent their lives living essentially wild.

The specter of burnout is present.

"Dealing with dogs is the easy part," Anita says. "Dealing with people can be hard."

Jim echoes that sentiment. "If we ever get out of it, it won't be because of the animals."

Rescuing and educating

The past couple of years, another obstacle has come before RezQ Dogs, one that's different from bottle-fed puppies, injuries or neglect. This obstacle is flooding, and it's becoming an annual event.

The summer floods have required the Wilkes to evacuate themselves and the dogs from the property, forcing them to find temporary shelter for all of them. The monetary damage runs into the thousands.

The Wilkes are looking for another property where they won't have to worry about flooding. They want 80 acres but will take 40. In addition to the dogs, the Wilkes have nine horses that need pasture.

Having a permanent facility can help in multiple ways, they say. Building indoor kennels that can be disinfected are superior to the outdoor kennels they have now. On occasion, a dog contracts parvovirus, a deadly, highly contagious disease. An outdoor kennel that housed a dog with parvo cannot be used for a year.

The Wilkes hope building a more animal-friendly facility will help with dog training and rehabilitation, too.

Some of the animals come to RezQ Dogs severely antisocial or feral. It takes work to get them to trust people.

Libby, a now-three-legged dog found in a trap, has been slow to acclimate herself to humans.

"She's gotten better, but it's a real slow process," Jim said.

Brownie, the female who had five litters of puppies before she was caught, has been a surprise. Each time she had a litter, the people whose trailer she was living under caught the puppies and sent them to RezQ. Catching Brownie was more difficult, but finally she wandered into a live trap.

"We thought she was going to be wild. Once we had her, she's fine with us," Anita says.

Rapidly reproducing dogs like Brownie present another challenge. Catching and rescuing the puppies does little when the mother has another litter in a few months.

Partnering with other groups, including Spay Montana, RezQ has helped organized spay/neuter clinics at the Fort Belknap and Rocky Boy's reservations. RezQ has also been able to provide distemper and parvo vaccinations at those clinics.

At clinics in June at Fort Belknap and Rocky Boy, nearly 200 dogs were spayed or neutered, according to Sandy Newton, program manager for Spay Montana. Clinics are planned this fall on both reservations.

If RezQ Dogs has made a difference on the two reservations, the work is far from over.

At 2 weeks old, Hector and Talia are bottle fed and a little fussy about it. A RezQ volunteer in Havre saw a post on Facebook offering to give the dogs away. The dogs had been found in a dumpster on the Rocky Boy's Reservation, according to the post.

The volunteer drove through the night to claim the pair, who have been at RezQ for a week.

The Wilkes use dog milk replacer, which costs $120 for five pounds, to feed these young puppies. The litter of six that is several weeks older than Hector and Talia went through five pounds in three to four days, they said.

Still too young for their first shots, the puppies now are doing well. Talia doesn't feel like eating, but Hector slurps up almost a full bottle.

Like many of the dogs that come to RezQ, their breed is unknown, "rezadoodles," as Jim calls them.

"How do you get burnt out with so much cuteness?" Anita asks as she feeds Talia, who squeaks and snorts and scratches with her claws.

Eventually, these puppies may be transferred to another facility, where they'll be adopted. RezQ only facilitates about 50 adoptions each year. About 30 dogs a month are transferred to facilities in Kalispell, Missoula or Helena.

The dogs that are adopted from RezQ typically go to homes that are within a 12-hour drive. If an adoption doesn't work out, RezQ will take the dog back.

That's the case with Ginger, a 4-year-old, pit bull-type brought to RezQ by the animal control officer Sears. She was covered in porcupine quills.

"I've never seen a dog with so many porcupine quills," Anita said. "She was weak and had lost weight."

Ginger lay down and allowed Anita to pull the quills out.

Two placements have not worked out, but the Wilkes are confident Ginger can find a permanent home.

Filling a role

Many assume the Wilkes rescue dogs because they love animals.

But it's more than that, much more.

There's a value in modeling humane treatment of animals, teaching children that is the acceptable way to treat dogs.

Anita recalls doing bite prevention clinics in the schools and how second-grade students would matter-of-factly recall incidents of their dogs being shot or run over. To them, physically mistreating an animal was common.

"Kids lack empathy if they see animals being abused," Jim said.

Jim disputes the excuse that "it's just a dog."

"All that says is they've never bonded with a dog," he said.

Dogs save human lives — protecting owners and serving law enforcement and the military.

"When properly taken care of and treated as a family member, they fill a role," Jim said.

Lisa O'Leary, a veterinarian at Bear Paw Vet in Havre, says thanks to RezQ, their clinic has essentially become a no-kill shelter.

Before RezQ, Bear Paw Vet acted as the animal shelter for Hill County.

"RezQ has been wonderful for us because we've not had to euthanize animals that are not collected by their owners," O'Leary said.

Hill County now pays to spay or neuter the animal, and it is then shipped to RezQ to be adopted.

Bear Paw Vet provides the medical care for animals RezQ picks up, caring for sick or injured animals.

Recently, a dog was surrendered to RezQ because it had gotten into porcupine quills. The owners didn't want to pay the dog's vet bills.

"Others are lameness, parvo or (care for) puppies," O'Leary said.

Last year, RezQ took in a larger-than-normal number of injured dogs that needed surgery and extensive care. By the end of 2014, the rescue had a $20,000 in vet bills for emergency surgeries and treatments, Anita said.

PAWS of Chinook is another animal rescue that operates on the Hi-Line, but few communities have animal shelters. The need for animal rescues is great, O'Leary said.

"I think Anita provides a tremendous service. She and Jim put a lot of work into what they do, and a lot of care," O'Leary said. "I do think she's making a dent until we change how everybody else does things. It's going to take a while."

The Wilkes express a feeling of responsibility toward the animals while admitting they never dreamed of running a dog rescue. Growing up in Poland, Anita was unable to have a pet. Jim, who grew up in the area, says he always liked animals but wouldn't have guessed he'd be caring for them in this capacity.

When the Wilkes married in 2003, they adopted a dog, a German wirehaired pointer. They initially planned to breed dogs, but the dogs they adopted had health problems that prevented that. Those dogs remained with them as pets while they rescued more.

They recently lost one of those original dogs, a huge blow that caused them to scale back their social media activity.

Yet the dogs still come. Two days after the Tribune interview, two new dogs were posted to RezQ's Facebook page.

"There's still so much that needs to be done," Anita said.

More dogs to rescue, more to spay or neuter, more education for their owners.

"We are kind of western here," Jim says, looking over the kennels in the yard, "but we've saved a lot of lives."

The rescue is "nothing fancy," Anita adds.

"If we could catch a break or two …" Jim says, trailing off.

Catch a break, like the break RezQ has given hundreds of dogs.

To learn more

To find out more about RezQ Dogs, see adoptable pets or make a donation, go to www.rezqdogs.org or Facebook.com/RezQDogs.