About Us

Mission Statement

Viola Valley Dogs is a no-kill rescue that strives to rescue as many homeless animals as possible through adoptions, while providing education and low-cost options regarding spaying and/or neutering, vaccinations, care, and training.

About Us

Viola Valley Dogs was founded in April of 2003 by Ralph and Linda Coursey.   The need for a no-kill rescue was greatly needed in this area.  Linda started working with the local Humane Society and the euthanasia of so many dogs was unbelievable.  She then began to bring dogs and puppies home (clearly overwhelming Ralph). 

Ralph is now the primary caretaker of these dogs, feeding and providing fresh water daily.  He has given each and every dog a special nickname and treats them all as his children.  He can get even the most untamed dog to trust him. 

Linda coordinates the intake of the strays and surrenders, as well as pulls from various "kill shelters" in our area.  She administers shots and wormer to each and every dog when they are due. 

Emily joined forces in July of 2004.  She was "sucked in" by an adorable 8 week old Great Pyrenees mix that she volunteered to foster (much to her husband's dismay).  Within about a week, she decided to adopt little (not so little any more) Charlie and decided that she would bring him over to Viola Valley Dogs as often as possible so Ralph and Linda could see his progress.  One thing led to another, and Emily now spends just about every weekend helping take care of the dogs.  Emily works to leash train the dogs, screens applications, created and maintains the various websites, and coordinates adoptions through the websites and adoptathons.  Emily has since moved to NC and is continuing to work on the websites and adoptions.

Wendy joined in 2007.  She aids in public relations, fostering, and adoptions. 

We all aid in adoptions, the manual labor of cleaning pens, feeding, and transporting animals to various adoptathons or veterinarian appointments.

In a short amount of time we have taken this small rescue and created something greater than we could have imagined.  Since April of 2003 we have taken in well over 1,400 dogs and adopted out around 1,250 to date.  We now take in puppies and hold the in isolation for a minimum of 2 weeks before taking them to Precious Friends Puppy Rescue in Clarksville.  We hold various adoptathons in our area.  Any pure-bred (or mix-breed that looks more pure-bred) dogs we may get, we attempt to send to breed specific rescues (as we feel that may have a better chance at adoption).  We have a website on Petfinder.com and 1-800-Save-A-Pet.com.  We have also worked with Grreat Dog Rescue and adopted several animals through them. 

We received our 501(c)3 status effective for March 23, 2005.  Now all donations are tax deductible.  We hope to obtain grants to provide spay/neuter clinics, as well as educational materials to the community.

All adult dogs listed on our website have been spayed / neutered.  If you adopt an animal locally that has not been spayed / neutered then you will be required to pay a $25 deposit until we receive proof that your animal has been spayed / neutered.  Our adoption fee for adult dogs will vary, this is to cover the costs for spay/neuter surgery, shots, miscellaneous vet. expenses, and food.  The adoption fee for puppies is $75 plus a $25 spay/neuter deposit.  All puppies will have received their first round of shots and have been wormed.