Our History
Golden Bond Rescue of Oregon, Inc. grew out of one woman’s passion for the plight of abandoned and homeless dogs in 1990. Having learned about canine rescues from the Golden Retriever Club of America, Jennifer Bondley searched in vain for an organization she could help in Oregon. To her dismay, the nearest golden retriever rescue was in Seattle.
Golden Bond was born not by intent, but out of a call from the Humane Society of the Willamette Valley requesting help to save one golden retriever with an ear infection from being euthanized.
Jennifer explains:
“I wasn’t exactly prepared to start a Rescue, but I had no idea when I would be, so I took in this 2 year old male. I took him to the vet, treated his ear infection and had him neutered, and I knew then that the requirement for neutering and spaying was the first policy our Rescue would implement. “
“I placed an ad for the dog in the newspaper and screened potential adoptive families over the phone. I advertised for volunteers and, by the end of 1991, I had placed fourteen dogs in new homes – and fostered every one of them myself. In ’92 I took in 44 more, and we found them homes.”
In 1992 a Corvallis attorney adopted a dog and then became a volunteer himself. With his help, Golden Bond incorporated as a not-for profit organization. By 1993, volunteers were doing home visits to families wanting dogs and evaluations of abandoned and neglected animals.
Jennifer continued to manage Golden Bond’s affairs until 1996. By that time, volunteers were processing applications, providing foster care, transportation and other adoption services.
By the time Jennifer departed, nearly 500 golden retrievers had found new homes through an organization which started with a single cry for help for one dog only six years earlier. After Golden Bond’s reorganization in 1997, a board of directors assumed organizational control and set the course for years to come.
Asked her opinion of what Rescue has become, Jennifer says:
“You have to realize you can’t help every dog – you have to focus on the ones you can. I’m really proud: the organization is saving Goldens every day – and isn’t that the point?