Texas Independent Rhodesian Ridgeback Rescue

The TIRR Rescue founders, Roy and Cindy Hughes, have created an environment where a dog can be a dog, or sometimes learn to be a dog. Some TIRR dogs are typical rescue dogs, who have unexpectedly lost their family, so they need a place to crash while a forever home can be found. Other TIRR Rescue dogs need intensive physical and/or behavioral care after surviving a trauma (or years of trauma). A $7000 hip surgery so the dog can walk again, YES! A tiny puppy from a stray, malnourished litter, who needs to have a front leg "re-built" so she can lead a normal life, YES! A senior dog who has lived 12 years tied up under a porch in the Texas heat, who simply wants a soft, clean place to rest, but also deserves to know love, and enthusiastically learns to love a recliner, YES! A dog who is so traumatized by the loss of his brother that he destroys every square inch of sheet rock in his path, YES! TIRR Rescue will help these dogs. IT IS THE WAY THAT TIRR RESCUE HELPS THESE DOGS THAT IS UNIQUE. For medical issues, an empty bank account will not impede access to care - the medical care will take place and the TIRR Community will rally their support until the bank account catches up. For behavioral issues, the dogs of TIRR are assessed through Roy's acute understanding of canine behavior. Sometimes the dog's rehabilitation comes from Roy, Cindy, Angela, or a volunteer, each of which bring unique talents to the program, but many times, the rehab comes from a carefully constructed play group of canine peers. It is so beautiful to watch a dog help another dog learn to function in this very confusing and difficult world of humans. Some rescues have fosters, some rescues have shelters, TIRR Rescue has the power of the playgroup.

Our Needs

In the year of 2022, in a post Covid world the challenges of our organization have experienced drastic change.  What once we took for granted now requires great effort to achieve.  Vet appointments require planning and scheduling, costs have increased for vet services and medications.  Fuel to transport dogs to/from vet, to potential owners, and to rare adoption events have doubled in cost.  Budgets planned for an entire year can quickly be depleted in a single quarter.  Unfortunately, the same is occurring for all of us.  Our long-term supporters and contributor resources are more limited than ever.

 Our only hope to maintain quality and quantity of service is to expand our base of supporters and ask not only for your monetary contributions but your assistance in spreading the word as far and wide as possible.  Between now and the arrival of NTXGD on 9/22/22 please contact as many of your friends and associates as you possibly can and let them know of our work and why you support our efforts.  Every contribution is a step towards our survival.  We ask only what our supporters can contribute without difficulty or compromise to their personal comfort.  

 Foremost in our needs is the care of our senior dogs, those dogs with special physical needs and the long-term rehabilitation of traumatized and socially deficient dogs.  These are the dogs that other rescues are not prepared or designed to provide the care that is needed.  This has been our goal since day one and is the unique service that we offer.  Our efforts have preserved the lives of many dogs and greatly enhanced the lives of those who have adopted dogs from our organization.  We hope to share some of these stories with you over the following weeks in the hope they will inspire you to become part of our effort and enable us to continue this community service.

We are proud to serve the North Texas Community, by saving the lives of thousands of dogs over the past 20 years. We are proud to serve the greater TIRR Community, by helping to create happy families across the United States. Thank you for your continued support of our mission - you are the reason we are able to serve the North Texas Community and the dogs who are future Alumni of TIRR Rescue.