When going out of business becomes a goal

Sam Sanders and The Little Rascals Pet Rescue

Written by Morgan Bruns, who was a summer intern with the Editorial Content team at Park 48.

Dogs, cats, guinea pigs, reptiles, and rabbits—oh my! Or whatever Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz said. Although they may not have lions, tigers, and bears, Little Rascals Pet Rescue has seen and cared for a variety of different animals over the last two years. This all-pet, foster-based rescue in Martinsville, Indiana, about 20 miles north of Bloomington, was started by a Cook employee who’s had a lifelong passion for animals.

Sam Sanders has been at Cook since 2019. She started as a contractor in the QAC Lab as a microbiologist. She was hired full time in February of 2020. And she was promoted to project manager with the divisional systems and quality team in December of 2020.

Where it began

Sam has always had a love for animals. She grew up on a farm in northern Indiana where she had horses, cats, swine, and pocket pets such as rabbits, guinea pigs, and birds. She also participated in 4-H. Her husband, Dustin Sanders, had a similar childhood. He grew up on a farm, where he mostly had dogs and cattle, and participated in 4-H as well. This shared love for animals was what motivated them to start fostering.

Before Sam and Dustin started their own rescue, they previously provided foster care for a rescue they found through a friend from work. Based in Plainfield, Indiana, this pet rescue catered to dogs with medical needs and senior dogs. They had just purchased their home together when they decided that this was something they wanted to try. Within three months, Sam and Dustin had fostered 10 different dogs. In addition to this duo, Sam’s 9-year-old stepdaughter, Payton, also plays a pivotal role in the rescue.

“She loves getting the new animals in, and she has a blast with a lot of the dogs,” Sam said. “She’s amazing with them.”

Because of this experience, Sam, Dustin, and Payton fell in love with rescuing and fostering pets. After realizing the need for animal advocacy in their county, they decided to start their own rescue together.

“We want to be their help,” Sam said. “We want to be their voice.”

As an all-pet rescue, Little Rascals Pet Rescue is not breed or age specific. Although they primarily rescue dogs, they have also taken care of rabbits, birds, guinea pigs, cats, and reptiles. Because they are foster-based, they do not have a facility that houses the rescues. Therefore, when they have a rescue, its new life starts in a loving home. Upon taking an animal in, Sam and Dustin will foster it until they find the perfect home within their Little Rascals Pet Rescue family. This way, every animal they take in is cared for in a foster home and not left in cages by themselves.

“We will pull in any animal that we can, no matter if it’s a behavioral issue, no matter what the breed is, with the end goal of placing them into a loving, forever home,” Sam said.

The importance of fosters

Because they rely solely on foster homes, it is important to Sam that the fosters only have to provide love, time, and a roof over the rescue’s head. According to Sam, that’s something these animals have never experienced before. Therefore, they provide the foster homes with every supply they might need. This includes crates for dogs, cages for birds, food, toys, treats, bedding, transportation, and more.

They also prioritize communication with the fosters. In the contracts that the fosters sign when taking in a rescue, it mentions that if an individual realizes they can’t keep an animal anymore, Sam and Dustin will take it back, no questions asked. This way, the animal will always remain a part of the Little Rascals Pet Rescue family, which ensures that it will always have a loving home.
This positive relationship with the fosters is important because the rescue can only take in as many animals as they have homes for, and there’s a never-ending call for them to rescue animals.

“The more fosters we have, the more animals and more lives we can save,” she said.

In addition to not being breed or age specific, Little Rascals Pet Rescue doesn’t believe in adoption radiuses. This means that they will rescue an animal from anywhere, at their own travel expense. Over the past two years, they’ve had an adoption from New Jersey, pulled a litter from a humane society in Arkansas, and pulled a pregnant dog from a humane society in Texas.

Little Rascal’s Pet Rescue has a very thorough application process to guarantee that the pet is being placed in a comfortable environment. To begin, potential adopters have to fill out an application, which was created by Dustin. This application includes personal and vet references. Once that is completed, they do a home check. During a home check, Sam and Dustin are looking to make sure that everyone in the household agrees with the adoption. They also check for animal allergies and if there are any other pets in the household, in case that specific rescue prefers a single-pet setting.

It is also important that the rescues are exposed to different environments. Little Rascal’s Pet Rescue wants to be as transparent as possible when placing an animal, because when a pet isn’t raised by someone from a young age, how they will react in different situations is unknown. Before placing a pet, they are tested with other dogs, cats, and kids. They are also tested in public, in car rides, and at stores. Sam and Dustin use this information when posting on their website and social media about each individual pet. This also allows Sam and Dustin to work on behavioral and anxiety-induced issues with the pet before placing it in a home.

“Our goal is to give any animal that comes our way their best life,” Sam said.

Earlier, I described the applications and contracts that were created by Dustin. In addition to these forms, he also processes them, handles adoptions, and manages emails and their website. On the other hand, Sam works on growing the business through social media. During our interview, she expressed how thankful she is that social media has grown and the impact it has had on her business. Because of their personal website and other social media sites, such as Facebook and Instagram, she can directly communicate with potential fosters and adopters at any time of day.

Social media also allows them the freedom to run this business in addition to working their full-time jobs.

“It’s basically like we’re working two full-time jobs,” she said. “But I wouldn’t give it up for anything.”

Fundraising and events

In addition to social media, Little Rascals Pet Rescue raises awareness through a series of events throughout the year. This includes hosting adoption events at Jimmy Nash City Park in Martinsville, going to Dog Days at the Maze at Beasley’s Apple Orchard in Danville, Indiana, and going to Dogtona!, a dog mall in Hendricks County, Indiana.

Their biggest event every year is a dog swim in Martinsville. For this event, they partner with a local community pool. After Labor Day, the pool is stripped of all chemicals and opened up to Little Rascals Pet Rescue to use as a fundraiser. Then they bring in all of the adoptable dogs, let them off their leash, and let them enjoy the fenced-in pool. They also partner with pet supply stores, groomers, and dog food places.

Sam also mentioned that she hopes to merge this event with another that they do, the Mobile Pet Food Pantry. They host the pantry every three months for all of Morgan County, Indiana, and the surrounding counties. At this event, they provide dog and cat food, cat litter, and a limited supply of other animal food, all for free to everyone who comes. At their most recent one, they went through 4.5 tons of food and litter. Even though this event doesn’t bring in revenue for the rescue, they continue to host it because they want to provide this service to the community. Sam mentioned that they started the food pantry because, although there are amazing pet owners out there, they may not have a way to take care of their animals in terms of food.

“We wholeheartedly believe that every animal deserves its right to a better life,” Sam said.

Outside of the tight-knit trio, they have a large team of fosters, volunteers, and donors in the community. During our interview, Sam expressed gratitude for the Little Rascals Pet Rescue family.

“Without our fosters, volunteers, and donors, there’s no way we could do what we do,” she said.

She has a great network of 15-20 different rescues in central Indiana. Outside of rescuing, they plan to start the Morgan County Animal Coalition. According to Sam, Morgan County doesn’t have a lot of animal laws, and these types of laws would help the rescues in the long run. They also hope to use this coalition as a way to spread animal advocacy in the community.

“With kids, they always tell you it takes a village to raise the kid, and it does,” Sam said. “It takes a village with rescues, too.”

The ultimate goal

When I asked Sam what her future goals are for the rescue, her response shocked me at first. Other than giving animals a chance at their best life or providing animal food for the community—her goal is going out of business.

“Obviously as a rescue you want to be put out of business,” she said. “I know that sounds crazy, but as a rescue you want to be put out of business. As a rescue, that’s the long-term goal.”

Another long-term focus for the rescue is education. In the state of Indiana, it is required for a pet to have a rabies vaccine. However, not a lot of people know that, Sam said. Therefore, they provide information on shot clinics and other resources to people in the community in addition to those in their pet rescue family. By doing this, they’re becoming an educational voice for their county.

Over the past two years, Sam and Dustin have helped 137 animals get adopted. Out of that total, they adopted two for themselves. (Can you blame them?) During our interview, Sam showed me a picture of these two and told me their stories. Their sixth foster dog, Nova, an Australian Shepherd, was shaved with a BIC razor by her previous owners. Now she’s unable to grow hair on some parts of her body.

Their 46th foster dog, Aries, is a German Shepherd. Aries was caught in a hunting trap and lost circulation in his back legs. This caused permanent damage that he still suffers from to this day. Sam also has two cats and a puppy. After hearing this story, I can understand why she said this is one of the most rewarding things she’s done in her life.

“Coming home to these guys every day reminds me why I do what I do,” she said.

For more information about Little Rascals Pet Rescue, you can contact Sam and Dustin by email at littlerascalspetrescue@gmail.com or by phone number at 574.354.2191. They are also on Facebook.

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