VOSD Sanctuary & Hospital is a unique place across the world for both its philosophy and scale from dogs.
There are several distinct characteristics of VOSD that make us unique in the world not just for what we do and how we do it but at the scale at which we do it as well.
Nobody’s dogs are VOSD’s dogs: VOSD is the only known organization in India that takes dogs which are already on death-row or will be euthanized/ exterminated/ die at another shelter or with a rescuer and/or have multiple failed adoptions. Quite simply if the dog can’t live without VOSD then it is VOSD’s dog. 100% of the dogs that come to VOSD need lifelong care. Not just rescued dogs, VOSD is also the home of retired service dogs of the Karnataka Police, Reserve Police, Railway Police, Kerala Police and army dogs and horses.
No dogs are euthanized at VOSD: At VOSD no dogs are ever euthanized because of lack of space, money or resources. EVER. EACH dog has the best, most sophisticated, most expensive, medical care in India. While in India no shelter is called a kill shelter, the fact is that killing dogs in their care is a way of life for most dog shelters. A typical shelter will exterminate a dog if it has one or several of these conditions:
Suffers from chronic diseases such as kidney failure or congestive heart failure
Contagious diseases such as parvo, distemper or even kennel cough,
Disabilities such as permanent blindness
Very expensive rehabilitation such as prolonged cancer or hind leg paralysis
Very old dogs
Sick pups
Dogs that have shown extreme aggression towards people/ dogs
Sanctuary means freedom from cages chains and hunger: In the VOSD City of Dogs, no dog is ever kept chained and no dog deserving to come in is ever refused. Today the City of Dogs is in its final shape and is 60,000+ square feet of constructed area over more than 3.5 acres with 170+ high-quality enclosures for up to 1400 dogs to live here under the shade of 600+ trees carpeted with green grass. Dogs get 100% human-grade food with daily supplements for all dogs. Not a single dog in VOSD lives in chains or a cage.
Sanctuary means forever home: Dogs that enter shelters leave them in one of 2 ways – either they get adopted or they die waiting. At VOSD neither is true. We only take in dogs that could not be taken in by ANY adopter. Then we bring them to their forever home with personalized attention to EACH dog.
India’s home for dogs with no hope: On an average each day a dog comes to live its life in the City of Dogs. Dogs are brought by flight, road and train from over 30 cities each year. VOSD is the home in India of dogs with no hope. Dogs that are blinded with acid, run over and paralysed, sexually assaulted, slashed with knives, tied to train tracks – from across India find refuge in the City of Dogs.
VOSD’s outcome rate (% dogs saved) is 100%: A closer comparison to VOSD’s philosophy is the pure no-kill shelters in the US such as
Austin Pets Alive! – Texas
Outcome rate (% animals saved) 90%, VOSD 100%
Animals 200+, VOSD 900+
Members of the Metro Denver Shelter Alliance – Colorado (8 shelters)
Total animals 1000+, VOSD 900+
Outcome rate 85%, VOSD 100%
Personalised care for each dog: VOSD believes not only in housing our dogs in the most comfortable manner but looking after them the same way that they would be in a real home. That level of individual love and attention for each and every dog comes from a team of 30 residents that live 24×7 with our dogs and this includes a team of caregivers – who are highly motivated individuals which have made taking care of dogs their life’s aim. These individuals have given up their corporate career to live with the dogs. It is they who socialise with the dogs understand each dog’s unique personality and need and cater to it. This is a job function unique to VOSD.
We are proud of the system that we have created, unique not only in India but across the world. What makes VOSD unique however is not the scale of our operations but the quality, nature and depth of our care.
