Our Story

In January of 2014, my daughter, while attending college in LA, sent me a photo of her volunteering at a local dog rescue. She was walking a beautiful German Shepherd Dog (GSD), and I wondered why that dog would wind up in a shelter before it was rescued. So, I started to follow the websites of SoCal humane societies and noticed how many GSDs were being euthanized in the kill shelters of LA. At the same time, I watched how fast the same types of dogs were getting adopted in the Northwest, with adopters waiting in line 3 to 4 deep for the same GSD.

Shortly thereafter, the 501(c)(3) nonprofit, Great Northwest German Shepherd Rescue of Oregon, was formed and had it's first rescue dog named Zorro, a masked hero. He was saved from a county shelter in Portland, OR, and was successfully re-homed to a couple living on 16 forested acres in Eugene, OR.

The second rescue and first dog from the high desert of Apple Valley, CA, was named Ranger, another masked hero. He was re-homed to a couple on 5 wooded acres in Two Harbors, Minnesota which backs up to thousands of acres of BLM forest land. After Ranger, many more dogs were rescued from the grips of euthanasia in SoCal high desert shelters. The dogs' only crimes: being unwanted and homeless. These animals were brought up to Oregon, boarded, fostered, socialized, trained, and adopted to families from all over Oregon and Washington since July 2014.

In 2015, we started collaborating with other non-profit Southern California rescues to find Oregon and Washington families to adopt stray and homeless German Shepherds and mixes from the central, south, high desert and eastern towns of Southern California.

In 2017, we also started rescuing German Shepherds from the euthanizing shelters of Oregon to be transferred to a collaborative rescue for training, rehabilitation, and re-homing in AZ, Colorado, and the Midwest.

In 2018, GNWGSRO is also providing a private match-making service for adopters and those who wish to surrender their dog directly to another family looking for a dog like theirs. We are also continuing our collaboration with other rescues by sending those rescues potential adopters and by helping those rescues with fund raising efforts and financial needs when possible.