How You Can Help

Volunteering

We are always looking for an extra pair of loving hands! If you can foster, make home visits, screen applicants, contact references, transport dogs, we would love to have you help us. Send an e-mail to befine@earthlink.net.

Click here to meet our wonderful volunteers

Fostering

All rescue groups need foster homes to help them care for pets in transition. Fostering is one of the hardest, but most rewarding, jobs in any rescue. UMR foster caregivers must be able to bring a Maltese into their own homes and work with a confused dog through the housebreaking, health, and fear issues of the initial transition period. We ask our foster caregivers to provide the same love, care, and training that they would for their own pets. A Maltese may stay in the foster home for days or weeks before it is placed. Then the caregiver must be able to let go and send the little one off to a New Beginning, with a new adoptive family.

If you think you might be able to offer a foster home for a Maltese in need, please fill out a Foster Agreement and return it to us. But before you do, please read this story:

A Story written for those who foster

If you would like to be a foster please fill out our foster agreement form and mail it to one of the names at the bottom of the Foster form page:

Foster Agreement Form

Donations

Donations are always greatly appreciated, be they large or small. Many times our rescues come to us with health problems that require immediate veterinary care — everything from basic shots to spay/neuter procedures to major surgery. Rescue groups must pay their vets at the time procedures are performed just like any individual pet owner, and we do not normally receive discounted services. So we can use any financial assistance you would like to provide.

We also have several items for sale in our Malt Shoppe. All money received from Malt Shoppe purchases will go directly into our rescue fund. As time goes on, we hope to have more Maltese-related items available for purchase or as a "thank you" gift from us when you make a donation.

United Maltese Rescue is a Non Profit 501 (c) 3 organization. If you would like to send a donation, no matter how large or small, please send a check or money order, payable to United Maltese Rescue, Barbara Fine, 105 S. Jefferson St., Middletown, MD 21769

Or you can make a donation with your credit card via paypal:

UMR’s Wish List

If you’d like to lend us a helping hand, here are some things you can do…

Transport a rescue from a shelter to a foster, from his old home to our care. Pick up a dog and take it to a vet appointment.

Groom a dog (if you know how) or pay for a grooming. So often the condition of our rescues is deplorable when they come to us. It is a true kindness to have them groomed and not only makes them feel better, but makes them look better to potential adopters as well.

Contact local shelters that have Maltese listed on their websites (or just call to see if they have any Maltese in the shelter). Ask if they need help rehoming a Maltese or if they would appreciate UMR’s help in fostering/placing them.

Donate a 6-month supply of Heartworm meds, a season’s worth of Frontline Top Spot, or pay for needed inoculations.

Help with reference checks and Home Visits.

Have a yard sale and donate the profits (or part of them) to UMR. You can get rid of old stuff, and we can help a few more Maltese.

Pay the cost of an obedience class for a dog who needs help before placement. Better yet, go to class with the dog. Taking a Maltese to obedience is a really enjoyable experience. They are so quick to learn that there is almost instant gratification.

Buy a bottle or two of Rescue Remedy at your local health food store to help our new rescues with the stress of transition. Go to www.equilite.com and purchase some Home Sweet Home or Safekeeping flower remedies to help with separation anxiety, abandonment issues, and rehoming problems.

Offer to "test-drive a Maltese" with cats. We often don’t know whether our little ones can live in harmony with cats. So if you have a cat, take a rescue home with you for an hour or two and see how everyone gets along.

Most importantly, help us EDUCATE the public. Help us get the message out about spay/neuter issues (not only about unwanted puppies, but life-threatening health problems as well). Tell everyone who will listen about the pet store/puppy mill connection, the deplorable conditions at puppy mills, and the heartbreak of finding that your pet store puppy has health or emotional problems that can’t be resolved. Get permission to go to a school and talk to your child’s class. Go to your club or to an organization you are affiliated with and make a presentation. We would be glad to help you find the resources you need.