ERC - Emergency Rescue Consultancy

02/24/2025

SURPRISE UPDATE ‼️

The Australian Shepherd from Willard settled into her foster home with 4 The Love of K9s and had 7 beautiful puppies Friday night. We are even more thankful we were able to safely trap her before the winter weather came in and beyond thankful for 4 The Love of K9s for tagging her for rescue. Momma and babies are doing well.

If you would like to make a donation to 4 The Love of K9s to help with all the care and vetting this cute little family will need please see below:

Specify for Sadie and babies 🙏🏼
Venmo:
Paypal: [email protected]

02/18/2025

We wanted to share on update on the German Shepherd. She has been decompressing with her new foster home in Rescue One. Here is what her foster shared about her:

“Valentine is doing amazing! She loves to snuggle on the couch and go on walks with the pack. Seems like she’s been a house dog before. She’s perfect❤️❤️❤️”

We are so relieved to see her snuggled up on a couch before this winter weather hits. It is not lost on us how many will not have this luxury. Please bring your pets inside tonight and for the next few nights. Please reach out if you need help or know of someone who needs help providing safe shelter for fur babies.

If you would like to donate to ERC so that we can help provide resources to our community during these cold temperatures here are our donation links below:

Venmo:
Paypal: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=BU8XUE4BEWLHL

02/16/2025

UPDATE ‼️

We got the Australian Shepherd in Willard last night before the snow and ice rolled in!! 🙏🏼

Thank God for allowing this recovery before the winter weather. Thank you to those that reached out to get us involved. Thank you to 4 The Love of K9s for tagging for rescue/foster.

It takes a community and we are so blessed to be part of this wonderful rescue community!

Many have asked how to help us! We do not charge for our services in any way. To be able to do that we need donations! Just this week alone Brittany has driven all over Springfield, Ozark, to Joplin and back, to Buffalo and back, to Willard and back. Donations are used for gas and equipment! And of course if you are looking to help in a bigger way all of our local rescues need foster homes. ERC has to have rescue commitment before trapping a stray and for commitment to happen from a rescue they need foster homes 🙏🏼 Thank you all for asking how can you get involved!! Payment links for donations below:

Venmo:
Paypal: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=BU8XUE4BEWLHL

02/16/2025

Another case, this time in Willard MO

This poor baby has been wandering around for approximately 3 weeks. I can’t imagine what this baby has endured. Feeding station has been set and Brittany is headed out to set the trap now.

Prayers for a safe and successful trapping and recovery! Especially before the winter weather hits again 😭🙏🏼

02/14/2025

German Shepherd Update!!!

WE GOT HER!!!! Not our typical successful trapping post, but instead this one is thanks to good old fashion big, bright signs and reported sightings! This success is because of an entire community of people!! This girl has been in flight mode for weeks and running all over with sightings reported in Ozark as well as almost every neighborhood in Springfield! Had it not been for every single sighting reported and all the shared posts we might not have ever caught her. Thank you to the community for working with us and not trying to catch her. She was so scared that any little interference could have sent her in the wrong direction. Thank you to every volunteer that helped make signs and have followed all the comments on every different Facebook group out there to track her sightings. We could not have done this without you! Thank you to Leigh's Lost and Found and each of their volunteers for constantly keeping us posted with sightings!! Thank you to Rescue One for tagging her for foster. ERC is blessed to be part of this beautiful community and we are happy to share another successful story.

02/12/2025

Friends, Community! Share this post for and wide, share in your groups, and share with friends and neighbors not on Facebook. Let's get this girl off the streets!

💥 URGENT: Help Us Safely Capture a German Shepherd on the Run! 💥

We’ve teamed up with Rescue One to bring this girl to safety, and we need your help!

She’s been spotted all over Springfield and Ozark, so she could be anywhere. Your sightings are vital—please report them immediately to ’s Lost and Found or directly to me and my team.

🚨 For her safety, please do not call, chase, or try to interact with her. She’s extremely skittish, and each time someone tries, she runs—putting her at serious risk, especially near the highway, which is where she has been seen frequently🚨

How You Can Help:

🔹 Report sightings immediately – Call or text 417-619-1076 (day or night). You can also send reports to the Leigh's Lost and Found team, as we’re working closely together to monitor this situation.

🔹 Check security/doorbell cameras – If you see her on footage, please message me.

🔹 Take a photo (if possible) without disturbing her – Several GSDs are loose in the area, so confirming her identity is key.

The best way to help right now is to give her space so she can settle in one spot. That allows us to set a trap and safely capture her. No calling, no following, no approaching—just report sightings.

🚧 Signs with my number are posted around town – I’ll be adding more daily.

⚠️ Please screenshot this post so you have my number handy!⚠️

Thank you for looking out for her—we appreciate your support! Let’s get her to safety.

📞 417-619-1076 – Call or text ASAP if spotted!

02/09/2025

Another successful trap, this time in Joplin 👏🏼

This big fluffy golden doodle is now safely trapped! Luckily this was a quick one as the feeding station had already been set for a week. We just came in and set the trap last night and had him this morning.
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We are also working a very dire case in downtown Springfield MO. Many of you have seen the posts of the German Shepherd running downtown Springfield. Right now what we need is reported SIGHTINGS. We need the dog to settle into a safe space. Currently the dog has been running everywhere downtown, including the street. We need prayers for this case to keep the dog safe while it’s in this flight stage and cooperation from the community to not approach the German shepherd at all. Just post a picture and tag us so we can go to work 🙏🏼💪🏼❤️

01/23/2025

Another successful trapping story 👏🏼

The stray at 65 and CC in Ozark is no longer a stray! There are many people to thank for helping to save this baby.

Forever thankful to our fearless leader, Brittany Scherff. Many lives are owed to you. Your compassion and skills are unmatched. Thank you for loving every creature as if they were your own.

Thank you to Rescue One, the volunteer that advocated for this baby and the foster that stepped up to welcome him into her home. Here is what she had to say after he was safe at her house:

This guy has been stray for more than *two years*. He has been living in the field and woods outside of Lambert’s Café in Ozark this entire time, eating trash and carcasses of whatever he could find.
In negative temperatures he curled up into a shivering ball in the middle of the field. When it snowed, he would be under however many inches fell as he tried to stay alive, waiting for another tomorrow; if he got lucky enough to see it, and his lucky stars had almost run out.

As a shameless life-long literary, one of my favorite authors ever is Henry David Thoreau. I felt a name deserving only fitting, as his masterpiece “Walden” is about self-reliance and sustained hope despite defeat, when you have nothing, and no one.

So, meet Walden. 🍂❤️🪵

To paraphrase Thoreau, ”However mean your life is… meet it, and live it. For my greatest skill has been to want but little.”

Freshly trapped and terrified, but wearing his big fluffy heart on his tattered, tired sleeve.
His jaw is broken, and we don’t know yet how freshly, but his crooked grin tonight in his first home in years, out of the elements for the first time in as many, and wagging as you tell him he is home - is something that makes the rest of the mess of rescue worth it. In words I can’t even articulate.

Welcome to the rest of your life, Wallie. Rather than fame, than money, than faith… I give you truth. You are loved. You are safe. 🐾📜✨️

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Thank you for your prayers and continued support! Because of YOU we get to continue helping dogs like Walden. ERC runs on word of mouth and donations. Every time you share our posts, follow our page, or make a donation we are able to reach more people to let them know we are a resource here in the community. From the bottom of our hearts, THANK YOU 🙏🏼

01/23/2025

What has ERC been up to this week?

Many of you have been following the story of the stray dog at 65 and CC. We were able to help set a feeding station and the dog has been returning for the last two and a half days. We set the trap today!!

ERC would not be able to help stray dogs like this without a licensed rescue stepping up to foster the dog. We are happy to say this baby will be going to Rescue One here in Springfield MO as soon as the trapping is successful.

Prayers that tonight is the night and this baby goes into the trap and is a stray no more! We can’t thank you all enough for the continued support. Every social media share, donation, comment, and overall support does not go unnoticed. Your support goes to helping babies just like this one!

01/21/2025

We are so thankful for each one of you that follows, shares our posts, donates, or provides support in anyway. Here at ERC we want to start being more transparent about what we are up to and let the community know that we are here to help! Here is a story of how social media and you sharing our posts helped save a dogs life!

End of last week when we were setting the trap for Spur and you guys shared our page so many times, those posts reached a family that needed our help in Clever, MO. Brittany was contacted by a husband and wife that have been feeding a dog for nearly a year and trying to gain his trust. They have been giving it flea and tick meds monthly as well as dewormer in his food and doing the best they could for the pup but they didn't know where to turn to get help to get him contained, safe, and out of these cold temps.

Their son is a vet and had offered to get all of the dogs vetting done when they could catch him. Spurs story and the story that Leigh Moody aired on TV last week led them to ERC and they reached out for help. The feeding station was already well in place as they had already been feeding him for almost a year, so Brittany was able to quickly set the trap the very next day and he went in later that night, right as it started raining and getting chilly. This baby now has a heated area to sleep in and will not be out in the cold weather anymore.

He is still decompressing as no one has touched this poor guy in over a year until we caught him, so he is unsure of human interaction still, but the wonderful people that have him now will be working with him to get him more comfortable with humans and I'm sure he will be a different dog in no time! We are so thankful for this family for being the solution! They cared enough for this baby to feed him, provide him medications, have a plan for getting him vetted, and reached out for help to get him safe. Thank you for choosing ERC to help you be part of his story.

01/18/2025

Happy Saturday!!!

We promised more to the story of Spur. Reunions are so very special. Spur was checked out by his vet on Thursday afternoon and received a clean bill of health! His vet was so surprised for how good he looked after being gone for 10 days! His family only has to focus on building his stomach back up and increasing his weight again at a good pace.

We can’t thank each of you enough for sharing the posts, following us on social media, and of course everyone who donated to the cause.

Because of you and the increasing number of shares for Spur we were contacted to help another family and worked all day yesterday in Clever with them. Stay tuned to hear another successful trapping story!

For now, please enjoy Spur’s reunion with his family and grab the tissues 🥹

Braylin Greer

01/16/2025

SPUR IS REUNITED!

More to come tomorrow, but had to share the good news 🥹

Thank you to everyone who helped support getting Spur home!!!!

01/16/2025

SPUR UPDATE

In the early hours of this morning (1/15) Spur came to the feeding station to eat! The ultimate goal with live trapping is to anchor the lost dog to a space they have determined to be safe. With Spur returning, he has determined this area to be safe. A live trap has been set. Brittany and his owners are close by keeping watch. Spur needs all the prayers and good vibes that he enters the trap! This could be his last night out in the elements and his family’s last night without Spur home 🙏🏼

01/14/2025

Many of you have been following the story of Spur, the dog lost after a car accident on 1-44 on January 6th. ERC is happy to report we are working with the family and a feeding station has been set up. As of last night (1/12) around 7:30pm, Spur has been visiting the feeding station to eat throughout the night. First and foremost, please do not disturb the area he has been seen or the feeding station. Please do not call out to him or chase him. If you see him the best course of action will be to snap a picture and send location information immediately. Please continue to report sightings. We are hopeful to reunite Spur with his family soon!

01/07/2025

If you have an outside animal that would benefit from a dog house with straw, please reach out and let us know. I have a few dog houses available and would gladly give them away to a dog in need. It is too cold right now to not have some shelter.

11/04/2024

Lost Dog Recovery: Why Patience & a Calm Approach Matter

We recently had a success story with a lost dog, thanks to the calm approach taken by her owner, guided by careful instructions. This sweet girl was scared and wary after getting out on Halloween, and being a more nervous dog around people. Many well-meaning people tried to help by driving around and searching for her, or seeing her and trying to follow her, which only caused her to run and hide even more. With lost dogs, especially those that are fearful, it’s crucial to avoid pursuing or trying to locate them directly. These actions can unintentionally push them into unsafe areas or make them too frightened to approach anyone. Here’s how the owner managed to bring her home safely with a low-stress approach:

🌸 Get Low & Stay Calm
When the dog was spotted lying in someone’s yard, the owner didn’t rush or call her name. Instead, she stayed low, laying down in the dog’s line of sight at a safe distance, avoiding eye contact, and using calm body language.

🧴 Use Familiar Scents & Favorites
She offered familiar items – the dog’s ball, a frisbee, and even a bit of tuna to lure her in gently. These comforting scents and tastes helped the dog recognize her, reducing fear and building trust.

🌿 What "Do Not Chase" Really Means
When we say "do not chase," this doesn’t just mean physically running after the dog. Even by your presence alone, if the dog feels threatened and moves, you’re effectively "chasing" them. Remember, a dog’s hearing and vision are far sharper than ours—they will notice you long before you see them. Simply driving around or searching the area can make them anxious enough to flee, so avoid this approach whenever possible. Searching is generally not advisable in most lost dog situations.

🍂 Wait for the Dog to Approach
The owner patiently allowed the dog to come closer, letting her sniff and eat from her hand before making any move to touch her. This trust-building step was essential. Once the dog felt safe, she stayed close and didn’t want to be put down again.

Lesson: If you see a lost dog, resist the urge to chase, corner, or call out to the dog. These actions, although well-intentioned, often backfire, pushing dogs into hiding or even dangerous situations like busy roads. Instead, remain calm, use food and familiar items, and let the dog come to you. If they retreat, you must also retreat. Pursuing from this point is the biggest mistake any owner makes in trying to recover their scared dog on the run. It's important to leave them food, but then you must leave the area and seek professional help from someone who can trap your pup for you.

If you ever find yourself in this situation, contact ERC and we can guide you in the right direction or step in to help to trap your dog and get them back home to you safely, and with as minimal stress to them as possible.

Follow for more helpful lost dog tips.

ERC is a federally recognized 501c3 public charity and we rely on the support of our community. We do not require any sort of donation from the people we help, and do not ask for anything in return for helping bring their dog home. Many do donate after their dog is back home, which is greatly appreciated, but many cannot and those dogs still need our help too. We would love to have your support monthly or as a one time donation to help offset the costs to help these dogs get back home too. Our fuel cost is our biggest expense, and our high value foods that we use are the next biggest expense. We always offer to pay for the foods that those helping us to recover a dog buy to put out for the dog were working to catch, but we need help to be able to continue to offer this. Thank you to all our supporters and future supporters!

To donate:

Venmo:
( https://www.venmo.com/u/EmergencyRescueConsultancy )

PayPal: [email protected]
( https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=BU8XUE4BEWLHL )

Use Venmo to connect with Emergency Rescue Consultancy () - Emergency Dog Trapping Services. Using humane methods only. 501(c)(3). Every dog deserves a chance, your monthly/one-time donation helps us to help them.

10/18/2024

Ghost Dog is Safe – We Did It! 🐾

Thanks to the incredible support from this community, Ghost Dog is finally safe! Your kind words, shares, and donations made this 6-hour round trip possible, and I’m forever grateful. This wouldn’t have happened without you! 💙

A huge shoutout to Harberbarger for sending me his post initially, and to Mary Young for being his "forever advocate". Mary was not only his voice, by making the post to find him the help he needed, but she also stepped up to help me with the trapping and was the perfect feeder who followed all the steps to make this rescue successful. Thanks also to Josh and Lisa Frank, the campground staff, who kept campers from interacting with Ghost so we could bring him to safety.

And when we needed a rescue, Rescue One stepped up to the plate and said they would take him in. If you aren't following their page, please do, they are a great organization that helps so many animals. And last but not least a big thanks to Rusty's Rescue Pets who offered to sponsor Ghost's vetting and grooming! If you're not already following these 2 amazing organizations, please do. They both do so much good and help so many animals in this area. Truly blessed to have them here.

The journey wasn’t easy. Ghost was so scared when we caught him, freezing in fear, unable to move, his back leg mid-step. It broke my heart, but I knew that soon he’d feel love and security. After a short stay at my house overnight and through the next evening, he slowly started to trust—and he let me get all the stickers off of him! After that, he decided that he kind of liked me, and kind of wanted to stay next to me wherever I went.

The photos of him in the house were taken right after I finished brushing him, isn't he gorgeous? And so photogenic, too! 😍

The other photos are from the trap cam the night we caught him.

If Ghost Dog’s story touched your heart, please consider becoming a monthly supporter of ERC. We rely solely on donations to help dogs like him get off the streets and into loving homes or back to their families. We do not charge for our services, no matter the distance, time, or energy spent to help a dog in need, and we are so grateful to those that help us help them each month.

To donate:

Paypal: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=BU8XUE4BEWLHL

Venmo: https://venmo.com/u/EmergencyRescueConsultancy