About Us

What is NorCal GSP Rescue?

NorCal GSP Rescue is an all-volunteer, non-profit organization dedicated to placing unwanted and abandoned German Shorthaired Pointers in Northern California into new homes.

Our Mission Statement:

To bring about a time when every GSP in Northern California has a loving forever home

With your help, we accomplish this by providing veterinary and behavioral care for each German Shorthaired Pointer (GSP) rescue including spaying/neutering, vaccinations, heartworm tests & preventative, intestinal parasite treatment, positive reinforcement training, and behavior evaluations, and any other medical or behavioral care needed. We also: educate potential owners about the breed and its special requirements to ensure an educated decision when selecting the breed as a pet, assist owners in solving problems with their GSP in order to keep those dogs in their current home and encourage owners to use their breeders as a resource of support and information, and educate animal control officers and shelter personnel on how to properly identify a GSP and of their particular personality and behavioral traits.

What does NorCal GSP Rescue do?

NorCal GSP Rescue takes in adoptable dogs from area shelters and fosters them in volunteer foster homes throughout Northern California. Please note that while our world headquarters are in Menlo Park, California, we do not have a physical facility. By fostering dogs in our homes we save dogs' lives and provide the public with healthy spayed or neutered dogs. The foster home provides a transition period between life in the animal shelter and the new, permanent home. The dogs are given the opportunity to learn any needed social skills and to receive the much-needed love, shelter, and medical care they deserve.

When a dog is rescued from the animal shelter he or she receives a health exam by a veterinarian, age-appropriate vaccinations, and a heartworm test and preventative. All dogs of 6 months of age or older are spayed or neutered. Dogs under 6 months of age are adopted under the agreement that they will be spayed or neutered at the appropriate time.

We are committed to a positive reinforcement training philosophy. We provide training sessions and behavior assessments for foster dogs as needed. We also emphasize a commitment to force-free training with our foster homes and adopters and help educate the public.

Most of our rescued GSPs have come from Northern California animal shelters. We prioritize those animals who are in danger of being euthanized. In order to give these dogs a chance, we limit the number of dogs we take from private homes who are being surrendered because their owners no longer have time for them, are moving, and so on. We will accept animals from the public if space is available in an appropriate foster home. If you are looking for another home for your dog or are thinking of giving up your GSP, please refer to the information in our Rehoming section.

How does NorCal GSP Rescue find the best homes for the dogs?

NorCal GSP Rescue finds homes for dogs through postings on this website, postings on pet adoption sites such as Petfinder.com, social media outreach, and adoption events. We keep each dog for a minimum of two weeks in order to assess personality, temperament, and training needs. By doing this we are able to ensure that we place each dog in the most suitable home. Individuals interested in adopting a GSP fill out an adoption questionnaire (application) and are interviewed in order to ensure that the needs of both the individual and the dog are met.

Our Values:

• Love - seeking and seeing the best in our community and our team
• Compassion - tackling our work with kindness
• Expertise - using current knowledge and practices to achieve great outcomes
• Commitment - keeping our promises to GSPs in need