Meet Stephanie Hill of Pup Squad Animal Rescue

Today we’d like to introduce you to Stephanie Hill.

Stephanie, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
Pup Squad Animal Rescue was started in late 2008 by 4 BARC volunteers. They all were volunteers at the shelter for several years and saw a need for a rescue group that focused on pregnant and nursing mothers along with puppies under the age of 6 months old. This was due to the high exposure to parvo and distemper in the shelter at that time and knowing the babies were the most at risk due to low immune systems. Pup Squad was formed and they started taking home pregnant and nursing mothers along with young babies before they were exposed to the shelter environment.

I joined them just one month after they formed the non-profit and saw an instant need for help in all areas! The 4 founders were fostering all of the dogs, running the adoption events each weekend, and trying to build the group all at one time. I came in as a volunteer that was not fostering (at first!) so I decided to help them expand their volunteer database so they did not have to be at the events every weekend after caring for these dogs 24/7 at home. We built our volunteer base up quickly and delegated new roles to new people to help these founders with their workload. We were growing and becoming a well-known name in the rescue world. Not long after, I was asked to join the Board of Directors as well since our board has always been a “working board” with our group’s leaders holding a spot on the board.

After about 4-5 years as the Volunteer Manager, I decided to move into a new role as our head of intake after our intake coordinator at that time stepped down. I had become one of the main fosters by this point, so I had gained a wealth of knowledge on what needed to be done as soon as we took a dog into our group. The role seemed like a natural fit with my fostering experience and a chance for me to help hone in the process for our group’s intake. This has been both a rewarding and a very hard role to take on as you receive all of the intake requests from all of the local Houston shelters and from those finding dogs on the street.

You hear about so many cases and all of the begging and pleading to save each and every one of them. It’s unfortunate as we only can take on what we have the resources and foster homes for. We know all of the other rescue groups are restricted to the same parameters too. There are so many stray animals in Houston and we are all working to save them one at a time.

I met Pup Squad on a total whim when I was shopping around Highland Village shopping center in November 2008. Pup Squad was set up in the window of one of the shops so I went in to meet the sweet babies. I grew up with 2 cats and 2 dogs my entire childhood so animals were a big part of my life. I adopted two dogs (one from the Humane Society and the other from the SPCA) a few months after my move to Houston so I had two rescues of my own. I started talking with one of the founders and I instantly fell in love with their mission. I had just moved to Houston in early 2008 and this was the perfect way to volunteer my time as I got settled into this city. I had no idea it would lead to me gaining amazing friends and ultimately helping run the group one day!

Has it been a smooth road?
There are always bumps in the road while running a business or non-profit! Our bumps in the road with Pup Squad have been mostly around going through hardships of loss of animals. We do everything we can to save them when they come down with an illness but sometimes they are too young and too weak to pull through.

From a non-profit standpoint, we have prided ourselves on being a solid team with very little drama. This is part of why we have been so successful as a rescue group for 10 years!

So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Pup Squad Animal Rescue story. Tell us more about the business.
Pup Squad was founded in 2008 by four former volunteers from BARC, the City of Houston Animal Control facility.

One of the most distressing things about volunteering at BARC was seeing the plight of the puppies and mother dogs. Boxes of puppies would be brought to the shelter because their owners didn’t have the time or resources to care for them or find them homes.

Moms with litters would be picked up from the streets by animal control and brought in on almost a daily basis. But these puppies had little chance of survival once they entered the shelter and it was so sad to see litter after litter of pups getting sick, dying at BARC or having to be euthanized. This was not because they were unwanted… people want to adopt pups! It’s because these young puppies simply cannot survive in a shelter environment.

Deadly airborne diseases, to which they have no immunity, are everywhere. Even if the pups are old enough for one vaccination, that’s just not enough to protect them. Then there are the pregnant and mother dogs, who are almost always euthanized. After seeing this heartbreaking situation over and over, the Pup Squad founders turned to each other and said, “There’s got to be a better way.” And so, Pup Squad Animal Rescue was born.

The goal of our rescue group is to save as many puppies and nursing litters as we can from life on the streets BEFORE they enter the shelters. We also work with BARC, and other area shelters, to rescue litters QUICKLY before they are exposed to the diseases in the shelter environment. And we pledge never to leave a momma dog behind. They work so hard to protect their pups, no matter how tough of a situation they are in, and they deserve our love and care every bit as much as their sweet babies.

I am most proud of our volunteers and fosters because we cannot continue as a successful rescue group without these guys helping us and the dogs! Pup Squad is a special group because of the people behind it and making it work for 10 years.

How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
There have been a lot of changes in the efforts to help Houston’s stray animal population. There are more people than ever behind the efforts to make things happen whether it’s making animal cruelty a punishable offense, working to make our shelters “no kill” one day, or educating the public about spay/neuter to slow down the stray animal population. There are amazing groups like Houston PetSet who formed to help support Houston-area animal non-profits.

Rescued Pets Movement is doing huge things by helping get our dogs and cats out of Houston shelters and into rescue groups in Colorado. The list goes on but we are so proud to finally see great efforts and support in this city.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.pupsquad.org
• Email: stephyhill@gmail.com

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