Puppy pipeline: Abused, unwanted dogs from Arkansas find loving homes in Rhode Island

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For years, a persistent parade of beaten, hurting and unwanted hounds from Arkansas has rolled into the Ocean State, where the dogs have found salvation in welcoming families and loving homes.

• Many dogs in Arkansas are rescued from dire situations and transported to Rhode Island for adoption.
• Rhode Home Rescue, a volunteer-run organization, has placed thousands of Arkansas dogs in loving homes since 2016.
• Arkansas rescuers like Sabrina Henson dedicate their time and resources to saving dogs from neglect and abuse.

If canines had accents, a lot of Rhode Island dogs would bark with Southern drawls.

For years, a persistent parade of beaten, hurting and unwanted hounds from Arkansas have rolled into the Ocean State, where the dogs found salvation with welcoming families and loving homes.

Call it a puppy pipeline.

One of the Rhode Island rescues that finds homes for a lot of dogs from Arkansas operates on this motto: “At Rhode Home, we fully believe that adopting a rescue not only saves them but saves you, too!”

Rhode Home Rescue has placed 2,304 dogs from Arkansas in homes here since it started in 2016. Every other week, a truck travels the 1,400 miles from Arkansas to deliver dogs of all ages, shapes and sizes. After the cross-country trek, they are placed with Rhode Home’s large group of foster families until they find forever homes, or as dog lovers like to say, their “fur ever homes.”

Big group of volunteers helps out at Rhode Home Rescue

Based in Warwick, Rhode Home Rescue takes dogs from all over, including right down the road in Providence, and has placed 5,141 dogs since 2016, but “we primarily work with Arkansas now, because there is a need, and we have a dedicated transport that comes from Arkansas to Rhode Island every other Friday,” said Nadine McCaffrey, founder and president.

The transport, by Just Us Beagles and Friends, also stops in Connecticut and Massachusetts as it drops off dogs in need of families. Last Friday night, it pulled up to Rhode Home Rescue and delivered nine cute and oftentimes anxious pups that were greeted by excited foster families.

McCaffrey started rescuing dogs as a hobby, but placing all of those dogs required more of her time than she initially expected, not to mention coordinating the big network of dog-loving volunteers in Rhode Island. About 750 people give their time to Rhode Home Rescue, helping with tasks such as transportation and screening potential adopters.

They also staff the frequent adoption events Rhode Home Rescue holds at a variety of sites. Some 125 homes foster the dogs while they await their forever homes.

McCaffrey said, “It’s like one big family.”

In Arkansas, several dedicated people pull dogs out of awful circumstances, get them healthy and send them north. “They’re the boots-on-the-ground people,” McCaffrey said. “They’re the heroes.”

They save dogs that have been abandoned, abused, left in dumpsters or found living in filthy conditions with dozens of other animals. They pull from the jaws of death dogs that were scheduled to be put down.

Attitudes toward pets are different in much of the South, according to McCaffrey. “A lot of people down South treat dogs as property,” she said. “We treat them as part of the family.”

McCaffrey herself adopted a dog, a chocolate Labrador retriever, from Arkansas that was “tied to a tree for two years.”

“When she got here, she was afraid of everything,” McCaffrey said. “Now she’s living her best life.”

McCaffrey brings her dog, Abby, to visit residents of nursing homes, where Abby “has to get pets from everybody, because she’s sure everybody is there to see her,” McCaffrey joked.

“She has become the love of our lives,” McCaffrey said.

Arkansas couple rescued nearly 500 dogs last year

McCaffrey regularly works with four rescues in Arkansas, including Sweet Paws Rescue in Searcy. Founder Sabrina Henson and her husband, Sam, rescued nearly 500 dogs last year, according to Sabrina. But the work doesn’t end in the South; Sam also drove to Rhode Island last Friday to deliver pups.

They’ve rescued dogs in all types of circumstances, none of them good.

“We’ve picked them up off the side of the road covered in blood,” said Sabrina, who sometimes goes beyond the state borders for rescues. Veterinarians will ask Sweet Paws to take dogs that would otherwise be put down. “They don’t want to euthanize those good dogs,” Sabrina said.

While she talked to a reporter last week, Sabrina was driving a dog to a veterinarian. The dog had been hit by a car and needed to have a leg amputated. The owner couldn’t afford the treatment.

Sabrina has gone into houses with police officers to pull out dogs. She’s taken dogs that were so hungry they took to eating whatever they could find, their bellies full of rocks. She and her husband have rescued dogs anywhere from 3 to 150 pounds. “No matter the breed, if there’s a need, we help,” Sabrina said.

Sabrina and Sam bring the rescued dogs to their home, which sits on several acres, and clean, groom and nurse them back to health. They get them shots and get them spayed or neutered.

They rely on donations and dip into their own funds. Sabrina noted that her husband has a full-time job. Her full-time job is rescuing dogs, but it doesn’t come with pay. Last year, they had veterinary bills of $78,000, even though veterinarians often give them breaks, and Sabrina “gloves up” to help with the medical treatments.

Some of the dogs they rescue appear vicious, “ready to bite my face off,” but Sabrina says they all come around when they’re shown care, kindness and patience. When the dogs are ready, Sabrina looks for a permanent home. Often, that means sending them north.

Retired teacher found her ‘spirit animal’

Donna Ferrucci, a retired teacher who lives in East Greenwich, has owned several dogs, but her first rescue came from Sweet Paws Rescue via Rhode Home Rescue.

Ferrucci fell for a 10-month-old shih tzu in June 2023 after happening across a Rhode Home Rescue adoption event.

“I’m telling you, I had to have him,” Ferrucci said of the pet she named Bamboo. “He’s my spirit animal.”

Bamboo was rescued from a hoarding situation where he lived with more than 100 other dogs, as well as rats, Ferrucci said.

Ferrucci has three other dogs, including two other shih tzus. Bamboo fits in well, and the little rescue dog has become great pals with Ferrucci’s big black Labrador retriever named Scout. They even have their own Facebook page, Scout and Bamboo’s Ruff Life Chronicles.

Since adopting Bamboo, Ferrucci has become an advocate for rescue dogs. While working as a substitute teacher, she met another retired teacher, also substituting, who told her she wanted to get a beagle for company. Ferrucci knew whom to call. Sabrina told her she had a “sweet” beagle that was already on its way to Rhode Island.

Another match, and two more lives were saved.

Ferrucci loves all of her pets, but she feels a special bond with Bamboo. She said, “There’s something about taking a dog who didn’t have the best start in life and making them feel loved, supported and safe.”

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